20 MUSSEL CULTURE 



principally upon such authentic statements as are 

 at my command. 



Tyningham Sands, Dunbar. — These beds, 

 which are about three-quarters of a mile long, 

 have been in an entirely exhausted condition for 

 many years. Formerly they supplied bait to the 

 fishermen of both Dunbar and North Berwick. 

 There seems to be some doubt as to the existence 

 of an old charter granting possession of the beds 

 to an Earl of Haddington. The beds are entirely 

 unprotected. 



Patches of mussels occur in the neighbourhood 

 of Berwick and at Rattray Head, but they are in- 

 significant compared with the beds across the 

 border on Holy Island and Warren Sands. The 

 latter places, however, have now shared the fate 

 of the Tyningham Sands. 



Musselburgh Beds. — At the mouth of the 

 river Esk extensive beds are believed to have 

 existed at one time. The name of the present 

 town seems to owe its origin to this fact. The 

 various mills erected on the river produced such 

 a pollution of the water that the mussels were 

 destroyed. Patches still exist near Portobello 

 and the Black Rocks. The water of the Esk is 

 being purified. 



