710 A. JE. Verrill — The Bermuda Islands. 



some were obtained, they were so few and small that the search was 

 soon abandoned as unprofitable. 



Silvanus Jourdan wrote as follows : " There is great store of 

 Pearle and some of them very fair round and orientall, and you 

 shall find at least one hundred seede pearle* in one oyster." 



The Micssle. (Area JVoce L.) 



It is curious that the name " mussle " should have been transferred 

 to this shell, which is fished up in considerable quantities for food. 

 It is mostly obtained by means of " nippers " in shallow water, for it 

 often grows in large clusters, firmly attached to rocks, etc., and to 

 each other, by a very strong byssus. Usually it is intermixed with 

 "oysters" in the clusters. It is still abundant in Harrington Sound 

 and many other places, and perhaps it has not decreased to any 

 great extent. It is not particularly well flavored and is rather 

 tough, and therefore is not in much demand. 



A true mussle (Modiola tulipa), large enough for the market, is 

 also found here, but I could not learn that it is caught for food, nor 

 does it seem to be abundant. 



The "rock cockles" (Chama, sp. and Spondylus, sp.) are some- 

 times collected to some extent for. food, but not regularly. The}' 

 are fairly well flavored, as I ascertained by trial. 



Some of the large species of Tellina are also used as food under 

 the name of " clams." But the large and common bivalve called 

 " Spanish Clam " ( Codakia tigrina) is considered poisonous. 



33. — Introduction of Domestic Animals, 

 a.— The Wild Hogs. (See p. 589.) 



In a previous chapter the introduction of the wild hogs has been 

 described as probably due to pirates or buccaneers who visited the 

 islands in the 16th century, rather than to the accidents of ship- 

 wrecks, for in case of shipwrecks any hogs that might have been 

 saved would probably have been afterwards killed and eaten by the 

 people who escaped. The chances of hogs escaping from a total 

 wreck on the distant reefs would be very small. 



Henry May and his party, in 1593, found them there. He said : 

 " In the South part of this Island of Bermuda there are hogs, but 

 they are so leane that you cannot eat them, by reason the Island is 

 so barren, but it yieldeth great store of fowle, fish and tortoises." 



* It seems from another account that this referred to a single lucky find, 

 which was not repeated. 



