258 Our Food Mollusks 



any other state. The supply is thus in a measure con- 

 tinued. Oysters are not found exposed, as in the Caro- 

 linas and Florida, because the normal fall of the tide is 

 so slight. Growth being rapid, clusters form in a very 

 short time, but when these are culled after tonging, the 

 beds produce large and well- formed oysters. The ex- 

 tensive waters of Lake Borgne to the north, into which 

 Lake Pontchartrain empties, are too fresh for oyster 

 growth. 



If one will consult his map, he will find, about twenty 

 miles to the east of St. Bernard Parish, and a slightly 

 greater distaHce south of the Mississippi shore, a long, 

 crescent-shaped group of islands known as the Chan- 

 deleurs. These, with the Errol group to the south of 

 them, constitute a sand-spit nearly thirty-five miles 

 long that encloses Chandeleur and Isle au Breton 

 sounds. 



Strange sensations also await the explorer of these 

 uninhabited and utterly lonely islands. Climbing to the 

 top of one of the greater elevations some twenty feet 

 above the water he sees about him a succession of 

 mountains and valleys of silicious sand, many of them 

 bearing mammoth vines and scattered grasses. For some 

 reason that is difficult to define, one seems to stand among 

 formations having all the appearances of great hills, val- 

 leys and plains, but all in miniature ; and the vivid imag- 

 ination of childhood, lost and mourned by those who 

 have had too much to do with realities, comes back un- 

 bidden in a flood. Here, at least, in all the world, it is 

 possible for a day to step back through the years, and, 

 care-free, to explore the wonders of fairy-land. 



On the east, surf from the open Gulf breaks on a wide, 

 firm beach, the monotony of which is broken by stranded 



