THE OTSTEE. 75 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE OYSTEE ABEOAD. 



British Oysters in Ostend Quarters ; the Whitstable in a Slow 

 Coach ; Holstein, Schleswig, and Heligoland Natives ; Nor- 

 wegian and Bremer Oysters ; American Oysters ; French 

 Oysters ; Dutch Oysters ; Mediterranean Oysters, and Clas- 

 sical Judges. 



T AM not wi'iting a book for the man of science. I 

 -*- could not if I Tvould. It is for those who love oysters 

 for the eating that I have turned author ; and all the 

 facts which are strung together in the last chapters were 

 put there for their delectation, and not for the sake of 

 raising the smile which I saw just now pass over the 

 face of my friend Sawbones when I mentioned oyster- 

 poultices. Just because I am not scientific, but only 

 practical, I shall not trouble myself to notice any of the 

 many species of oysters, both at home and abroad, 

 which, though pretty in themselves, never find their 

 way to the table, which is the sole field of my dis- 

 coveries. 



I shall therefore begin my list of foreign oysters 

 with the best of them all, the next of kin to our Native, 

 and next to it the best oyster in the world. 



1. The Ostend Oyster is nothing more than the 

 real British oyster, cleaned and fattened in the Ostend 

 oyster-beds. It has a fine, thin, transparent but deep 

 sheU, the upper shell being quite flat \ it is very full, 



E 2 



