RELATIVES OF THE OYSTER. 1 99 



extinct. Here, too, the most common shell is an oyster 

 of sri^antic size. 



o o 



In a Letter from Mr. Stanley, relative to the Emin 

 Relief Expedition, that renowned Explorer, amongst other 

 highly interesting matter, says : " In favour of the river 

 was also the certainty of obtaining food. Such a fine 

 broad stream as this, we argued, would surely have settle- 

 ments on its banks : the settlements will furnish food by 

 fair means or force. The river retained a noble width 

 from 500 to 900 yards, with an island here and there, 

 sometimes a group of islets, the resorts of oyster fishermen. 

 Such piles of oyster shells ! On one island I measured a 

 heap 30 paces long, 12 feet wide at the base, and 4 feet 



high On the gth of July we came to the 



rapids of Gwengwere, another populous district. Near 

 here I saw a stratum of oyster shells covered with 3 feet of 

 alluvial soil. How many scores of years have elapsed since 

 the old aborigines fed on those bivalves ? I should like to 

 know, and w r hat was the tribe's name, and w r here, if any 

 exists, is the remnant ?" 



In the "Intellectual Observer," vol. i, p. 483, is an 

 account of an "Oyster-shell' island, by M. Aucapitaine, 

 on the east coast of Corsica, composed of layers of shells, 

 bearing some resemblance to the shell-mounds of St. 

 Michel-en-l'Herm, in La Vendee. This island is formed 

 of still-living species, and is between three and four hun- 

 dred yards in circumference, the greatest elevation about 

 thirty yards, and the mean elevation rather more than two 

 yards above the level of the sea. The Romans are said by 

 the fishermen to have deposited the shells of the oysters 

 there, which they salted for exportation, but M. Aucapi- 

 taine does not believe in the artificial origin of the island. 



