THE FRENCH OYSTER-FISHERY. 35 



speculation. In Scotland we have none of them, but eat our 

 oysters just as they are brought from their native rocks ; and 

 though certainly inferior to the genuine " Pyefleet " or 

 " Wahieet," yet they are no despicable dainty. The prin- 

 cipal Scottish fishery is that at Prestonpans, in East Lothian. 

 From this place have been sent to fatten, in bays near the 

 mouths of the Thames and Medway, thirty cargoes in one 

 season, each cargo consisting of 320 barrels, and each barrel 

 containing 1,200 saleable oysters, which brought in about 

 2,500/. ; the quantity consumed near the spot, and in Edin- 

 burgh, brings somewhat more ; and this branch of trade gives 

 occasional employment to about forty boats.* In Ireland, 

 " the entrance to the Bay of Belfast, and the loughs of Strang- 

 ford and Carlingford, furnish a valuable supply of oysters, 

 which are conveyed for sale to considerable distances. The 

 Carrickfergus oysters are large in size, and so much in de- 

 mand, that their price in the Belfast market is generally from 

 twelve to fifteen shillings per hundred of 120 oysters. It is 

 occasionally twenty shillings ; and we have known one in- 

 stance in which as much as thirty shillings was paid."f 



In France, British oysters, which are reckoned the best in 

 the world, obtain a preference over their own, which never- 

 theless are the source of a very lucrative trade. The most 

 esteemed are found on the coasts of Brittany, J and the 

 largest on those of Normandy, whence they are trans- 

 ported, at a great expense, to Paris during the autumn and 

 winter. The value of the trade may be estimated to some 

 degree from the following details : — At Granville, a small 

 town on the coast of Normandy, there were, in 1817, seventy- 

 two boats employed in this fishery, which commences in the 

 beginning of October, and ends about the middle of April ; 

 and during all that time gives work not only to the fishermen, 

 but to many women and children, who carry the oysters to 

 the "parks," in which they are preserved until their sale is 

 effected. This trade yearly produces from 200,000 to 300,000 

 francs ; and, so long as it continues, the harbour of Granville 

 presents a very animated scene. It has employed, between 

 the years 1816 and 1828, from 70 to 119 boats annually, 

 averaging upwards of 400 tons in all, and manned on an average 

 with 500 men. At Cancale, another town on the same coast, 

 there are commonly seventy boats employed in the same 

 way, averaging in all about 700 tons, and manned with 

 nearly 570 men. In the year 1828, the number of oysters 



* Encyclop. Brit. Supp. iv. 268. 



f Patterson's Zoology for Schools, 172. 



+ Rondel. Hist, des Poiss. ii. 27. 



i) 2 



