THE OYSTER IN SEASON. 251 



sum of a like amount for carriage to the shore. All oysters 

 sold at Billingsgate are liable" to this eightpenny tax. The 

 London oysters and I regret to say it, for there is nothing 

 finer than a genuine oyster are sophisticated in the cellars 

 of the buyers, by being stuffed with oatmeal till the flavour 

 is all but lost in the fat. The flavour of oysters like the 

 flavour of all other animals depends on their feeding. I 

 have eaten of fine oysters taken from a bank that was 

 visited by a rather questionable stream of water ; they were 

 very large, fat, and of exquisite flavour, the shell being 

 more than usually well filled with " meat." What the 

 London oysters gain in fat by artificial feeding they assur- 

 edly lose in flavour. 



The harbour of Kinsale (a receptacle for much filth) 

 used to be remarkable for the size and flavour of its oysters. 

 The beds occupied the whole harbour, and the oysters 

 there were at one time very plentiful, and far exceeded the 

 Cork oysters in fame (and they have long been famous) ; 

 but they were so overfished as to be long since used up, 

 much to the loss of the Irish people, who are particularly 

 fond of oysters, and delight in their " Pooldoodies ' and 

 " Redbanks' as much as the English and Scotch in their 

 " Natives" and " Pandores." (z) 



Exclusive of oysters bred in Essex and Kent, vast 

 numbers are brought from Jersey, Poole, and other places 

 along the coast, and are fattened in beds. The export of 

 oysters from Jersey alone is very considerable, having 

 amounted on an average of the four years ending with 

 1832 (j ) to 208,032 bushels a year. The Jersey fishing 



(z) "The Harvest of the Sea," pp. 259-60. 



(j) In a footnote the author of "The Oyster," &c., states: 

 " The exportation has by this time (1863) nearly doubled, but these are 

 the latest statistics we can arrive at." "In 1876," says M. S. 



