OSTREADJE. OYSTEU. 135 



the oyster-beds, and doubtless this has been the case 

 in places ; but on some parts of the coast it is abso- 

 lutely necessary to dredge during the summer, which 

 is the close time, to keep the beds free from sand, 

 weeds, and mud, which accumulate so much that the 

 spat is injured ; but the principal cause of the scarcity 

 of the oysters may be attributed to the low tempera- 

 ture of the water during the spatting season ; the last 

 few summers having been cold, and the weather so 

 changeable. 



Between London and Glamorganshire there is a 

 large trade in pickled oysters, and we are told that 

 seventy-two million oysters are annually consumed in 

 London alone.* 



In Scotland, the Cockenzie fishermen derive a good 

 portion of their annual income from the oyster trade, 

 and dredge for them at high and low tide. The crews 

 of the boats keep up a wild and monotonous song (in 

 which they believe there is much, virtue) all the time 

 they are dredging, and assert that it charms the 

 oysters into the dredge. f The same authority further 

 states, that as a class, the fishers of the Scottish coast 

 are very superstitious. They do not like being num- 

 bered whilst standing or walking. It offends them 

 very much to ask them whilst on their way to their 

 boats, where they are going to-day. They consider it 

 unlucky to see the impression of a very flat foot upon 

 the sand, and they will not go to work, if in the morn- 

 ing, on leaving their houses, a pig should cross their 

 path. An experimental steam fishing-vessel has been 



* ' Journal of Society of Arts/ Aug. 24th, 1883. 

 f ' The Fisher Folk of the Scottish East Coast,' Macmillan's Magazine, 

 October, 1862, No. 36. 



