288 FOUNDERS OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



also on the Pacific at San Francisco and elsewhere. In 

 some of these locaHties the beds are exposed at low water, 

 and the oysters can be collected by hand. Elsewhere they 

 are always submerged, and the oysters are dredged from 

 the bottom or fished up by means of long double rakes known 

 as tongs. But these methods, which can scarcely be called 

 cultivation, do not differ materially from our own oyster- 

 beds and layings at Whitstable, Colchester, and elsewhere 

 on the English coasts, and do not show the differentiation 

 in method and division of labour which have been success- 

 fully evolved by the French ostreoculturists. 



Turning now to mussel-culture, this also is seen in its 

 most elaborate form on the west coast of France, where in 

 the great, shallow, muddy bay known as Anse de I'Aiguillon, 

 a remarkable system of cultivation on stakes connected 

 by watthng, and known as " bouchots a monies," has been 

 carried on for many centuries. It was established by an 

 Irishman called Walton, who was wrecked there in 1235 

 from a small vessel containing sheep. He was the only 

 survivor, but managed to save some of the sheep, which 

 are said to be the origin of some highly prized flocks still 

 found in that district. Reduced to great straits to make 

 a living, this man is said to have woven rough nets of grass, 

 which he spread on stakes on the wide expanse of mud exposed 

 in the bay at low tide in order to capture sea-fowl. He 

 noticed that his nets became covered with young mussels, 

 which were thus protected from being buried in the mud, 

 grew rapidly in size, and afforded food to himself and his 

 neighbours. This suggested the planting of stakes inter- 

 laced with twigs to afford attachment to the mussels, and 

 so the bouchot system, which now extends for miles, and 

 affords a flourishing industry to various villages, such as 

 Esnandes and Charron, became estabhshed. The boucho- 

 leurs of the present day still maintain the ancient method 

 of planting their wattled stakes and collecting and trans- 



