262 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



the Medina. (;;z) A bed of oysters was discovered off 

 Eastbourne, some years since, the fish being of a very 

 superior and delicate flavour. The price was i/- per hun- 

 dred, but it rose to z/- ; and another large bed, which was 

 valued at ^5000, was found about three miles off the 

 mouth of Dartmouth harbour, about the same time. 



" I cannot be expected to take the reader on a voyage 

 of discovery all round the coast, nor to the Channel 

 Islands, to taste the oysters which Providence has spread 

 out for our enjoyment with such a lavish hand. But there 

 is one little spot on the shores of Cornwall which I cannot 

 pass over, because from it came one of the colonies on the 

 banks of the Thames, from which the Whitstable boats 

 still draw their annual supply. Into Mount's Bay the 

 Helford river, upon which stands the little town of Hel- 

 ston, empties itself, opposite Mount St. Michael's, into 

 the sea, and in the estuary of that little river a person of 

 the name of Tyacke, within the memory of the ' oldest 

 inhabitant,' rented certain oyster-beds, famous amongst 

 Cornish gourmets for a breed of oysters, which, it is said, 

 the Phoenicians, ' a long time ago/ had discovered to be 

 infinitely preferable to the watery things they got at home. 

 These Helford oysters are regularly brought to London ; 

 but when Tyacke rented* the beds they were unknown to 

 the good citizens who frequented the oyster taverns, of 

 which the Cock in Fleet Street is but a last lingering type. 

 Determined to make his venture, Tyacke loaded a fishing 

 smack with the best produce of his beds, and coasted along 

 the southern shores till, passing round the Isle of Thanet, 

 he found himself in the mouth of the Thames. Little did 

 the elated oyster dredger think that that mouth would 



(m) " A Guide to the Isle of Wight," by the Rev. Edward Venables,. 



M.A. 



