[31] OYSTER AND MUSSEL INDUSTRIES. 855 
housewife, before putting her bread in the oven, breaks off a piece of 
dough from each loaf; the baker charges himself with the duty of mak- 
ing all these bits of dough into loaves of bread, gratuitously. Nothing is 
more interesting, for a sensible and observing man, than to be present 
on the arrival of the weir-men and fishermen, at the unloading of the 
fish; a course of lectures on morals would not be worth as much as this 
lesson of fraternal humanity. Whether by day or night, the same indi- 
gents, ranged in rows and furnished with baskets, and stationed near 
the place of unloading, receive from each of them, according to what he 
brings, the first fruits of his fishing, one a handful of mussels, another a 
few fish; this gift is bestowed with politeness, with questions which show 
the interest each one takes in the unfortunates whom he knows, who, per- 
haps, are his parents; the fisherman fears that he will bring upon him- 
self trouble by refusing them or treating them rudely; often he even has 
the gift carried to them on a horse or cart which his wife has brought 
to the landing place to receive the results of the fishery. Bread fur- 
nishes them subsistence; the surplus of fish and of mussels is sold, and 
the revenue therefrom serves to buy for them fire-wood, candles, in fact 
everything that they may need. 
‘‘ This population, entirely Catholic, fairly represents those large estab- 
lishments in North America and Germany of the Moravian Brothers. 
Everywhere are found plenty of work, good morals, cheerfulness, content- 
ment; the households are happily managed, quarrels seldom occur; 
hospitality is here looked upon as a religious duty; honesty is the foun- 
dation of all education; and the traveler, astonished at all he sees, almost 
dreams that he has found a better world.”* 
We present here according to a statistical report made in 1846, by 
M. @Orbigny the elder, the estimated cost at that time of conducting 
one of these establishments, and the annual expenses and profits of 
the 340 bouchots which were being operated by the three communes of 
Esnandes, Charron, and Marsilly. 
Cost of equipment of 340 bouchots. 
Francs 
159, 400 stakes driven, at 300 francs per hundred ....-..-..-. 478, 200 
90, 000 bundles of twigs intertwined, at 150 frances per hun- 
ARGO wots psivlcis! Vint etd shacid sein tel Datta meincloy cemeeete afet & 135, 000 
160 canoes with apparatus, at 40 frances each ...-....-.-. 6, 400 
160 pairs of boots for fishermen, at 33 francs per pair. .... 5, 280 
166 aveneau nets, rigged, at 15 frances each ........-. --- 2, 490 
400 allouret nets, at 15 francs each...--...----..----.--+ 6, 000 
200 boundary stones (bowrnes), at 20 franes each ...-..--- 4, 000 
2,000 bourolles, at 1 frane each.....-------.-- Pee eas het 2, 000 
600 pairs hampers, at 3 francs a pair.-..-.---..--- +++: 1, 800 
*Les habitants des communes littorales de Vanse de V Aiguillon, etc., au Gouvernement, 
etc. La Rochelle, 1835, p. 25. 
