68 
the acon faces the bow, grasps the sides about the middle 
firmly with both hands, rests his left knee on the floor of 
the boat, and putting his right leg (encased in a long sea. 
boot) over the side he plunges it into the mud and pushes 
the boat onward. He is able to propel it at a great rate 
over the soft mud, and when he gets to a channel of water 
where the acon floats he works with paddle or pole until 
ne again reaches mud and is able to use his foot. 
There is also a larger kind of boat in use. It is known 
simply as “‘ bateau plat’’ and is used to transport large 
quantities of mussels. (See Pl. III, fig. 1.). 
Originally the bouchots formed V shaped figures; but 
now the poles, which are trunks of small trees about 12 
ft. long and 6 or 9 inches in diameter, are placed about 2 
ft. apart in parallel rows at right angles to the shore and 
are driven for several feet into the mud. The rows are 
about 30 yards apart, and each has several hundred posts. 
The bouchots have been increased greatly since the time 
of Walton, and now extend for miles along the coast, 
chiefly in the neighbourhood of the villages of Hsnandes, 
Charron, and Marsilly. It was Charron that I visited. 
The rows of stakes or poles are placed now in at least five 
zones of which the outermost or furthest from land (t 
may be 3 miles or so from highwater mark) is called 
‘bouchots d’ aval,” the next 1s ‘‘ bouchots batisse,” the 
next ‘‘bouchots du bas” then ‘“‘ bouchots batards”’ and 
finally the row nearest the land is ‘“‘ bouchots d’ amont” 
but each of these named kinds may really include several 
sets of bouchots. Each of these sets 1s composed of the 
above mentioned long lines of posts driven into the mud, 
in some cases—the bouchot d’aval—plain and in other 
cases interlaced with flexible branches and twigs placed 
a few inches apart and known as ‘“‘clayonnage.” There 
is a space at the bottom of the poles free from clayonnage 
