THE OYSTER 



made to transport brood oysters to Europe ; but so far 

 the promoters of the scheme have not been successful. 



Dredging for oysters, and from boats, is not always 

 necessary ; most of the American fish are picked up from 

 the beach like cockles. At Arcachon, perhaps the finest 

 natural bed in the world, the tide goes out so far that 

 what, at flood-tide, is a large bay, becomes at low water 

 a vast sand-track, intersected, however, by narrow streams 

 from two to seven fathoms deep. At the bottom of these 

 streams lie some of the best oysters, and dredging can be 

 carried on from land. 



The Arcachon fishermen have to wage war against 

 what is called the whelk-tingle, as do ours against the 

 dog- whelk ; and the Americans find almost as great a 

 scourge in the oyster-catcher or sea-pie, a stork-billed 

 bird that eats oysters as thrushes eat snails. 



One more word about the British oyster-fisherman. 

 He cannot be brought to believe that oysters produce 

 typhoid fever, and doubtless he would find medical men 

 ready to back him up. According to his own account he 

 has seen a man's head swell to the size of a bushel-basket 

 through mussel-poisoning ; he has had his own hand in a 

 sling for weeks, through being pricked by a burr ; he has 

 seen someone else helplessly drunk, merely through eating 

 a few red whelks ; he may even have seen the sea-serpent ; 

 but never, never has he known of a case of oyster-typhoid. 

 And surely he is in a position to know ! 



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