and the Places where found. 335 



their names from the perfons by whom they were difcovered. 

 Some of them are a furlong, fome a quarter of a mile, and 

 fome half a mile in length ; and their breadth is equally va- 

 rious. M. Todfen afcribes, and with great propriety, the 

 excellent quality of thefe oyfters to the water which in the 

 fpring is fwept by a continued eaft wind that blows from the 

 continent through the canal and fluices. The oyfters of 

 thefe different banks are not all of the fame kind ; in fome 

 they are large, in others of a moderate fize, and in many 

 only fmall : the laft, were they left to grow older, woulfl 

 never attain to a larger fize. The large oyfters are called de- 

 futat-aujlern, the reft laufmanfaujlern. Till the year I794> 

 the royal chamber of domains let thefe oyfter-banks to the 

 higheft bidder for the term of fix years ; but as this period 

 was too fliort for the perfons who took the leafe, and preju- 

 dicial to the fifhery, they were let to the prefent leflee, 

 M. AfmuflTen, merchant in Tondern, during his natural 

 life, from the year 1795, for the yearly fum of 7505 dollars, 

 which muft always be paid in advance. He has bound him- 

 felf to furnifti yearly \\'i\ barrels of oyfters to be delivered 

 from time to time, but each time never lefs than four, and 

 never more than eight barrels, carriage free, at Haderfleben, 

 for the royal family. This city is diftant about ten miles 

 from the village of Hover, where the oyfters are landed, and 

 which is a mile from Tondern. The leffee is permitted to 

 fifli for and fell oyfters only during the four laft and the four 

 firft months of the year. The inftruments ufed for fifliing 

 up thefe oyfters are of the fame kind as thofe employed in 

 other countries. The moft common is a kind of drag-net 

 made of thongs of fcals-flcin worked together, and faftened to . 

 an iron frame which fcrapes up the oyfters. Thefe nets, 

 when the fifliermen have arrived at the proper place, arc let 

 down bv means of ropes made faft to the iron frame. 

 M. Afmuftcn ufes at prefent eighteen veffels, which are per- 

 feftly fimilar to thofe of which figures have been given by 

 Duhamel. The fifiiermen bring their lading either to the 

 above-mentioned village of Hoyer or to Huium *, which is 



fevea 



• I have been told by a friend that prayers for the prefervation of this 

 H h » oyftcr- 



