第128页 / 共416页

In reality this is a great submarine mountain chain that is

believed at one time to have belonged to the continent of North

America. The outside edge of it is in the welter of the shoreless

Atlantic, and from this edge there is a sheer drop into almost

unsounded depths. These depths have got the name of the Whale

Hole, and many a fishing skipper has dropped his anchor into this

abyss and earned the laughter of his crew when he could find no

ground.

Along the top and sides of this mountain range grow vegetable

substances and small animalcules that provide excellent feeding

for the vast hosts of cod that yearly swim across it. For four

hundred years the cod have visited these feeding grounds and been

the prey of man, yet their numbers show no falling off.

To them is due the wealth of Newfoundland, the Miquelon Islands,

Nova Scotia, Labrador, and Prince Edward Island.