23 



by the labour of the holder and his family. The opera- 

 tions are varied, and several are such as may be carried 

 on by the older children ; the wife looks after most of 

 the operations on the park itself, raking and re-arranging 

 the oysters each low tide ; she also helps in the liming 

 of the tiles, sees to the separation of the brood oysters 

 from the tile-collectors and gathers and prepares the 

 oysters for sale. Incidentally she is the family treasurer 

 and usually has to be consulted in all money transactions. 

 The children assist their mother according to their 

 ability, in their early years cleaning tiles and washing 

 the oysters and gradually relieving the parents as they 

 grow up. 



Cultural operations are in the main carried on by 

 female labour, the men being called upon chiefly for the 

 heavier work, such as the transport of tiles to the parks, 

 the fixing and packing of the collectors and the repair 

 and renewal of the fences and enclosures. The duties 

 of which women and children are capable although 

 intermittent continue more or less the year round ; those 

 requiring the labour of men are seasonal and of limited 

 duration. Hence while oyster culture is the sole or 

 principal occupation of some parkers, for many, probably 

 the majority, it constitutes a supplementary calling, 

 seeing that the bulk of the work can be carried on by 

 the family and that the actual labour on the park is 

 possible only at low tide. At high tide and when the 

 weather is stormy the parker is comparatively free and 

 may and usually does carry on another trade. The bulk 

 of the parkers are fishermen and with the recent and 

 sudden development of a great sardine industry at 

 Arcachon, most of the parkers are engaged in this 

 fishery — indeed in view of the poor prices for oysters 

 prevailing of late years a number of parkers sold off their 

 stocks and, whenever possible, their concession rights 

 as well in 1907- 1909 to obtain money to purchase the 

 motor driven boats essential to a profitable prosecution 

 of the new fishery. Many were unable to find buyers 

 for their rights apart from their stock and in such cases 



