CHAP. ix.l THE BOUCHOLEUK. 413 



making a fence of 225,000 metres, extending over a space of 

 8 kilometres, or 5 miles, from the point of St. Clemens to the 

 mouth of the river of Marans. 



The Bay of Aiguillon, as has already been observed, is a 

 vast field of mud, and, when left dry at low water, it is 

 impassable on foot. To enable him to traverse it at low 

 water, the boucholeur uses a canoe. This canoe, formed of 

 plain planks of wood, is about nine feet in length and eighteen 

 inches in breadth and depth, the fore-end being something like 

 the usual shape of the bow of a boat. The boucholeur places 

 himself at the stern of the canoe, rests his right knee on the 

 bottom of the boat, leans his body forward, and, seizing the 

 two sides of the canoe with his hands, throws out his left leg, 

 which is encased in a strong boot, backwards to serve as an 

 oar. In this position he pushes his left leg in and out of the 

 mud, and thus propels his light boat along the surface to 

 whatever part of the field he wishes to visit. Notwithstanding 

 the windings and twistings of the confused maze formed on 

 the surface of the bay by the bouchots, long habit enables the 

 boucholeur, even in the darkest night, to distinguish his neigh- 

 bour's establishment in the crowd. The boucholeur uses his 

 canoe not only in transporting his mussels from the bouchot to 

 the shore, and attending to the various operations of the mussel- 

 field, but also in conveying to the proper spot the stakes and 

 hurdles necessary for the construction and repair of the 

 bouchots. The furrows left by the canoe in the mud might, in 

 the summer time, by hardening in the sun, render the propul- 

 sion of his canoe across the field a very arduous task to the 

 boucholeur. Nature has, however, provided an admirable 

 remedy for this possible evil. A small crustacean, the corophie, 

 appears in great numbers in the mud-field about the end of 

 the month of April, and during the summer months levels and 

 overturns many leagues of these furrows, and mixes the mud 

 with water, in searching after the innumerable multitudes of 



