The Northern Oyster Field 177 



small boat among its rocky islands, that rise straight up 

 from the water, or in its innumerable bays, with their 

 steep, wooded shores, may easily discover them for him- 

 self, if he will explore the backs of the little beaches 

 that he comes upon here and there. The same is true 

 of the coast of Nova Scotia. The shells that he finds, 

 often covered by a growth of large trees above them on 

 the bank, are usually those of the soft clam ; but there 

 are also many heaps all along the coast made almost en- 

 tirely of oyster shells. The immense pile on the Dama- 

 riscotta, for example, is composed largely of them. This 

 proves that the oyster is indigenous to these cold north- 

 ern waters. The shells are not those of a northern or 

 of an extinct species, but of our modern American 

 oyster. 



In addition to the evidence afforded by shell heaps, 

 the records of the early colonists contain many refer- 

 ences to extensive oyster beds on this northern shore 

 that they found on their arrival, and from which, for 

 many years, they obtained food. Ingersoll says that 

 there is abundant evidence that, at the time of the com- 

 ing of Europeans, oysters were flourishing in the Bay of 

 Fundy, at Mt. Desert Island, at the mouths of Georges, 

 Damariscotta, and Sheepscott rivers, in Maine; in Ports- 

 mouth Harbor and the Great Bay of Durham River, in 

 New Hampshire; in the Parker, Rowley, Ipswich, 

 Charles, and Mystic rivers, and at Weymouth, Barn- 

 stable, and Wellfleet, in Massachusetts. 



That oysters in a natural state do not now exist north 

 of Cape Cod as formerly, is due to two chief causes. 

 Their numbers were greatly reduced by excessive tong- 

 ing, and silt, washed from cultivated fields, was de- 

 posited at the river mouths, thus making it impossible 



