SEA MUSSEL MYTILUS EDUUS. 235 



of Aiguillon he would find hundreds of men and women busily engaged day and night, 

 whenever the tide permits, attending to their mussel farms. The spectacle of the army 

 of mussel culturists going to and from their work is said by Coste(i883) to be most 

 curious and grotesque, impossible to portray. With their peculiar types of foot canoes, 

 which will be described later, they glide back and forth over the slippery surface of the 

 mud like a flock of birds driven by the tide, in and out of the mazes formed by the 6,000 

 palisades which cover the marsh. They speak of the various operations of the industry 

 in agricultural terms, such as sowing, planting, transplanting, weeding, pruning, and 

 harvesting. 



Patrick Walton, the founder of the method of mussel cultivation now practiced in 

 France, was a native of Ireland and a sailor by trade. In the fall of 1235 his ship was 

 driven by a northeast gale onto the rocks at the point of Escale near the port of Esnandes. 

 Of the three sailors aboard the ship, Walton was the only one saved, and that was due 

 only to the timely help offered by the fishermen who lived on the coast. Having lost 

 practically everything that he possessed, and being without means for returning home, 

 there was nothing to do but look for a means of subsistence in that place. Previous to 

 his arrival the French fishermen had made poor success at earning a livelihood from 

 the sea, but Walton with his great ingenuity was able to devise a means which not only 

 gave him bountiful support but has proved a lasting legacy to all the inhabitants of that 

 coast. 



With the mind of an investigator Walton, seeing the great lake of mud before 

 him, examined it to see if it could be turned to any profit. The problem of getting 

 over the mud through which it was impossible to walk was solved by the invention 

 of his "aeon," or foot boat. This device is made of a plank about 10 feet long 

 by 2K f eet wide bent up in front to form the prow. The sides and stern are each 

 composed of straight boards about 1% feet wide. The boat is further reinforced by a 

 shelf in the stern and a narrow thwart close to the bow. A board may extend across 

 the middle to serve for a seat or it may be replaced by a wooden stool. A paddle and 

 short pole complete the equipment. When the boatman wishes to travel over the 

 mud flats he faces the prow of the boat, puts his left knee on the bottom, and thrusting 

 his right leg, incased in a long sea boot, over the side of the boat, pushes it along (fig. 

 221, 4S, opp. p. 236). By this means he is able to glide over the mud at a very rapid 

 rate. Coste (1883) says the speed attained with one of these boats is equal to that of a 

 trotting horse. With this foot boat the inventor was able to explore every part of 

 the marsh. He could propel it over the mud by means of his foot, through shallow 

 water by means of the short pole, and when deeper water was reached he could use 

 the paddle. 



The first thing which attracted Walton's attention was that a large number of 

 land and sea birds were in the habit of skimming over the water in the evening. He 

 promptly determined to catch them as an object of trade. In order to do so he 

 invented a second device, the "alluret," a large net 1,000 to 1,200 feet long and 10 

 feet wide suspended in a vertical position on stakes driven into the mud for a distance 

 of 3 or 4 feet. Birds flying into its meshes became entangled and were held securely. 

 After his nets had been up a short time Walton discovered that young mussels were 

 attached to the stakes in great numbers. He observed that they grew more rapidly 

 than those on the mud and furthermore were better flavored. With this new discovery 



