544 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



asphalted basins, of 80 metres in length by 21 in width, 

 serve as pares for reception of oysters, for sending them 

 off, and for their preparation for travelling. They are 

 divided into seven compartments, in which the oysters are 

 classed according to their size and origin. They commu- 

 nicate with the river by a canal, and the water in them can 

 be renewed when required. 



For some years this establishment has enjoyed a real 

 importance ; from M. Turlure's own statement, there are 

 10 millions of oysters in the pares and rivers taken together. 



The establishment of MM. Charles, as described 

 above, is completed by other basins dug out above the 

 river, beyond the dune which divides private properties 

 from the public maritime domain. A canal between the 

 sea and the pares, at the extremity of which is a floodgate, 

 serves to distribute the water which supplies this establish- 

 ment, and which can be renewed nine or ten days out of 

 fifteen. 



The basins are not all used for the same purpose ; one 

 is set apart for those oysters which are undergoing purga- 

 tion and fasting, as a preliminary to being shortly sent 

 away ; others contain cases and metallic hurdles, on which 

 the spat, or even oysters on the point of becoming eatable, 

 are spread. These same pieces of water also serve to shelter 

 the spat reared in the river during the winter season, when 

 severe cold is apprehended. 



Although the reservoirs communicate with each other, 

 and are supplied by the same water, yet they give different 

 results. In one, the furthest from the mouth of the channel, 

 the bottom is composed of mud and clay, and in it the 

 oyster easily gains from 45 o^- to 500 in a year. The neigh- 

 bouring pare, which is only separated from the other by a 

 narrow strip of land, can scarcely nourish the oysters 



