510 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



ducecl oysters at Scarborough Headlands, in tbe Cocheco River, and in Great Bay, an inclosed area 

 of shallow tide-water a few miles up from the mouth of the Piscataqua River, and from the harbor 

 of Portsmouth. At the two former localities no oysters have ever been known alive, but in Great 

 Bay they are not yet quite eradicated. 



This interior basin is perhaps 10 miles long and 5 to 7 wide. Large portions of the shores are 

 left as dry flats at every low tide, yet there are channels deep enough to allow large vessels to go 

 up to Newmarket and Exeter when the water is favorable. This spot was renowned among the 

 Indians for the oysters living there, and considerable shell-heaps attest the constant use made of 

 the bivalves. The beds occupy the channels at a dozen or more points, where the water over them 

 is hardly more than 10 feet deep, and fresh. The tide-way, as a rule, is strong, and the bottom 

 tough, clayey mud. The oysters are very large, have the appearance of extreme age, and are 

 heavy, rough, sponge-eaten, and generally dead. In taste this oyster is flat and rather insipid, 

 which is attributed to the too great freshness of the water. 



That remains such as I have described prove that the mollusks of whose shells they are made 

 up once lived in the adjacent bay, I think no one could possibly deny. The chief mollusk is the 

 oyster. Now it happens, as I hinted before, that it had been forgotten, and even denied, that this 

 precious bivalve was indigenous north of Cape Cod. Of this, however, there seems to have been 

 plenty of evidence besides these heaps of shells. 



As long ago as 160f>, when Chainplain and Poitrincourt visited Massachusetts Bay, they noted 

 the abundance of " good oysters " as one of the attractions of their landing place, which commen- 

 tators have decided was probably Barnstable. From this earliest mention down I find that all 

 the descriptions and records of the Massachusetts colonists count the native oysters as an impor- 

 tant part of their natural riches, and some interesting incidents are put down in this connection. 



CAPE COD TO DELAWARE BAY. The outer side of Cape Cod, a smooth, surf-hammered 

 beach of sand, is unsuitable to oyster growth, but the first rocky islets at the southern end or 

 "shoulder "of the cape are tenanted by these mollusks, however, and can be traced from the 

 Sandwich all along the eastern shore of Buzzards Bay, at Red Brook, Pocasset, Monument, and 

 far up Wareham River. In colonial days the present townships of Rochester, Mattapoiset, Marion , 

 and Wareham, which are ranged around the head of the bay, were known as Rochester, and tra- 

 dition says that the place was named after the city of Rochester in England (famous for shellfish) 

 because of the abundance of oysters, quahaugs, clams, scallops, &c., along the shores. 



The lower end of the bay, in the neighborhood of New Bedford, is not so well adapted, and 

 consequently poorly stocked. In Newtown Pond, on Martha's Vineyard, oysters were native, but 

 thin and insipid because of the freshness of the water. In the Westport River, just west of New 

 Bedford, a large natural bed formerly existed. Beyond this there is a gap in oyster-growth until 

 the mouth of the Taunton River is reached. 



For 12 miles from its mouth this river produces natural oysters, which also grow around the 

 point separating it from Cole's River, where are a few beds. With the exception of the secluded 

 lagoon called Kickamuit, between Warren and Bristol, no more natural beds are to be found until 

 we get around to Warren and Barringtou Rivers, which are filled with them as far as the tide goes 

 freshly. Crossing the head of Narragansett Bay, living beds occur at Gaspe" Point, in Cowesset Bay 

 and at Wickford on the western shore. Extinct colonies once existed near Newport and elsewhere 

 at that lower end of the bay, while at the upper end tradition points out many places long since 

 depopulated. Thus the whole upper half of Providence River was full of them originally, even to 

 the city of Providence and that pretty " cove," now inclosed by a park, near the railway station. 



