Plate 2 



Lieut. P. dc I^ioca — envoy of 



French Govt, to U.S. 1862 — First Report 



Revue Maritime ct Coloniale 



Trans, by S. F. 



U.S. Comm. Fish. 1873-1874 



"The people of the United States use clams in a variety of culinary preparations, the 

 most popular of which is, undoubtedly, a kind of soup especially esteemed in Boston. 



"In Rhode Island and Massachusetts clams serve as a pretext for fetes of a very peculiar 

 kind, called clam-bakes. The following description is taken from a work on natural history 

 published in the United States: 



"The clam-bakes which take place every year near Bristol, as well as in several other 

 localities of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, have their origin in an old Indian custom. 



"The aborigines of these States were accustomed to assemble in great numbers every 

 year for a feast consisting of clams and green corn cooked together with sea-weed. The 

 modern clam-bake is an improvement on the old one. A circular hearth or bed is first 

 made in the sand, with large flat stones, upon which a fire is kept up until they are red hot. 

 A layer of sea-weed is then placed upon them, and upon the sea-weed a layer of clams about 

 three inches thick covered by more sea-weed; then follows a layer of green corn in the husk, 

 intermixed with potatoes and other vegetables; then a layer of poultry cooked and seasoned; 

 then more sea-weed; then fish and lobsters, again covered by sea-weed. This arrangement 

 is continued according to the number of persons to take part in the feast, and when the pile 

 is completed, it is covered with a linen cloth to prevent the steam from escaping. When 

 the whole is cooked, each one helps himself without ceremony. These feasts are delicious 

 beyond description, and it is said that no one is ever made ill by them. In former times 

 the most renowned warriors came from afar to take part in them, and now they are at- 

 tended by persons of the highest social standing, sometimes to the number of several hun- 

 dreds." 



(Courtesy of Providence Journal.) 



