848 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [24] 
wreck, that Walton began this construction. The scattered stakes 
which he had used up to that time, but which were often torn up by 
wind and sea, or broken down by vessels and blocks of floating ice, 
from which causes he frequently lost in one day the fruit of months of 
labor, led him to have recourse to appliances more complex, stronger, 
and less apt to be affected by the action of the tides, and which would 
offer alarge surface to the young mussels. Hethereforedrew at low-water 
mark, following an imaginary line running from the Castle of Esnandes 
to that of Charron, where now are to be seen extensive meadows, a V, 
the apex of which, partially opened, was turned towards the sea, and the 
sides of which, extending along the coast about 200 meters, were turned 
towards the shore, forming an angle of about 45°. On both sides of 
this angle he imbedded half their-length in the mud strong stakes, 10 to 
12 feet high and 2 to 3 feet apart, which were joined at intervals by bands 
of twisted branches so interlaced that they formed solid palisades and 
resisted the waves of the sea. At the vertex of the angle formed by 
the two wings he left openings of from 3 to 4 feet, where receptacles were 
to be placed to hold the fish, which, as the tide flowed out, would follow 
the way bordered by this double hedge; thus his invention served a 
double purpose, being at the same time an artificial mussel-bed and a 
fish-trap. And so even at this day we see the bouchot fishermen, faithful 
to all the details taught them by Walton, going in their canoes (acons ) 
before the sea recedes, to station themselves behind the entrance of each 
trap, in.their hands a net called avenau, to devote themselves to fishing 
until the tide leaves their boats, and they can then fill them with mussels, 
and bring them back to port by gliding over the mud. 
It is quite a curious spectacle to witness the return of this singular 
fleet, composed of hundreds of canoes, gliding here and there through 
all he openings in the palisades, where they disappear during their work, 
slipping along the surface of the mud like a flock of birds driven by the 
tide. Itis impossible to describe the grotesque maneuvers of this strange 
looking fleet. These acons or foot-canoes (pousse-pieds) are nothing 
more than plain wooden boxes, about nine feet long by about 18 inches 
deep, the front of which is shaped into a kind of prow. The fisherman 
places himself in the stern, supporting his right knee on the bottom, 
leaning forward, seizes the two sides with his hands, leaving his left 
leg, clad with a long boot, hang over the side to serve as a propellor. 
When he has thus balanced himself, he plunges his free leg into the 
mud, which serves him as a point of support, withdraws it, then pushes 
again, and, by repeating this maneuver, he propels his boat easily and 
guides it wherever his presence is required. By long habit these fisher- 
men have learned to distinguish, even in the darkest night, their own 
bouchots from those of their neighbors, notwithstanding all the mazes 
of the immense labyrinth which is formed on the marsh by the 6,000 
palisades which cover it. 
This was the ingenious though simple device which Walton invented, 
