13 RAMBLES OF 



all the cupidity of the crabbers. Two dollars a dozen 

 is by no means an uncommon price for thorn, when 

 the season first comes on : they subsequently come 

 down to a dollar, and even to fifty cents, at any of 

 which rates the trouble of collecting them is well 

 paid. The slaves search for them at night, and then 

 are obliged to kindle a fire of pine-knots on the bow 

 of the boat, which strongly illuminates the surround- 

 ing water, and enables them to discover the crabs. 

 Soft crabs are, with great propriety, regarded as an 

 exquisite treat by those who are fond of such eating} 

 and though many persons are unable to use crabs or 

 lobsters in any form, there are few who taste of the 

 soft crabs without being willing to recur to them. As 

 an article of luxury, they are scarcely known north 

 of the Chesapeake, though there is nothing to pre- 

 vent them from being used to a considerable extent 

 in Philadelphia, especially since the opening of the 

 Chesapeake and Delaware canal. Daring the last 

 summer, I had the finest soft crabs from Baltimore. 

 They arrived at the market in the afternoon, were 

 fried according to rule, and placed in a tin butter- 

 kettle, then covered for an inch or two with melted 

 lard, -and put on board the steam-boat which left 

 Baltimore at five o'clock the same afternoon. The 

 next morning before ten o'clock they were in Phila- 

 delphia, and at one they were served up at dinner in 

 Grermantown. The only difficulty in the way is that 

 of having persons to attend to their procuring and 

 transmission, as, when cooked directly after they 

 arrive at market, and forwarded with as little delay 



