THE OYSTER AT HOME. 259 



the Forth. During the last century, and the earlier portion 

 of this, the proprietors of the barony were able to main- 

 tain control over the fishermen, and to regulate the fishing. 

 . At that date a number of salt works existed 

 along the shore, and the oysters taken near them were 

 termed " Pandores," which in Edinburgh still designates 

 the finest oysters. (_/") According to Frank Buckland, 

 the oysters on the west coast of Scotland have a very beau- 

 tiful shell, quite different from those on the east coast of 

 England, and the beard of the oyster is always black, and 

 this is also the case with the Irish, American, and Lisbon 

 oysters. 



Some of our principal beds are those of Whitstable, 

 Rochester, Colchester, Milton, Faversham, Queenborough, 

 and Burnham. Colchester has been celebrated for its 

 oysters from a remote period, and they were deemed an 

 appropriate present from the authorities of the town to 

 ministers of state and other eminent persons. We hear of 

 their having been sent, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 

 to Leicester and Walsingham. (g) At the Annual Col- 

 chester Oyster Feast, held in the Town-hall, October, 1862, 

 Mr. Miller, M.P., mentioned that Mr. Goody, clerk to the 

 Colne Fishery Company, with himself and a few other 

 gentlemen, had appealed to the Treasury, because it was 

 apprehended that Belgium, to which a large number 

 of oysters are sent, was about to impose a duty which 

 would inflict a serious injury upon the town. However, it 

 was found from the interview that there was no immediate 

 prospect of the anticipated danger, and a treaty was con- 



(/) " Report on Oyster Fisheries," 1876. Letter in Appendix, by 

 Edward Vale, factor for Sir G. G. Suttie. 



(g) Cromwell's "History of Colchester," vol. 2. 







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