8 



and prohibited the use of rakes in gathering the oyster 

 as well as the piling of them in heaps on the flats as this 

 entailed the death of all small oysters rejected by the 

 buyers. At this time the Arcachonnais, owing to the 

 difficulties of transport, were in the habit of opening the 

 oysters before despatch, sending away the flesh in various 

 receptacles which they transported to Bordeaux on pack 

 horses. Bullock carts and then lighter horse-drawn 

 vehicles followed at a somewhat later date enabling the 

 oysters to be transported in their shells in better condition 

 and to greater distances. The demand increased steadily, 

 more fishermen devoted themselves to the trade, the old 

 restrictive rules of the Bordeaux Parliament fell into 

 disuse during the stormy days of the Revolution and in 

 1800 we read that the annual despatch of oysters to Bor- 

 deaux amounted to 5,000 cart loads, each containing 60 

 baskets of an individual capacity of 250 oysters. The total 

 annual export was at this time as much as 75,000,000 

 oysters of a value of about 225,000 francs, i.e., at the 

 average rate of 30 centimes (3 annas) per 100. From 

 this time onwards unrestricted fishing, spurred on by 

 the large profits obtained, became ever more active. 

 Hundreds of boats dredged in the channels with feverish 

 haste ; hundreds of men tramped over the flats raking 

 together every sizeable oyster they could see and in 1836 

 even steam power was tried on a dredging boat. Year 

 by year saw a gradual degradation of the flats owing to 

 the continuous and unrestricted removal of the hard 

 material, almost entirely dead shells, to which the living 

 oysters were attached. No effort was made to return to 

 the beds any of this cultch ; year by year in the spawning- 

 season the spat had increasing difficulty to find foothold 

 and the set of spat began to decrease appreciably. In 

 1 83 1, an excellent trunk road was opened between the 

 basin and Bordeaux rendering transport still more easy 

 and entailing further stimulus to the reckless exploitation 

 of the oyster beds. About this time the value of the 

 oysters exported from Arcachon was still about 70,000 

 francs, a great falling off from the value in 1800. From 



