374: THE OCEAN WOULD. 



swallowed them ; the interesting bivalves had lost nothing of their 

 excellence, and the examination did not prejudice the consummation. 



Oyster fishing is pursued in a very different manner in different 

 countries. Bound Minorca, divers, with hammers attached to the 

 right hand, descend to the depth of a dozen fathoms, and bring up in 

 their left hand as many of the bivalves as they can carry, two fisher- 

 men, usually associating for the purpose, diving alternately until the 

 boat is filled. On the English and French coasts the dredge is 

 employed, as represented in PL. XII. This operation is necessary 

 to keep down vegetation, which would stifle the oysters ; the engine is 

 of iron, and is very heavy. It is thrown overboard, and descends to 

 the bottom of the sea, which it ploughs and scrapes up, detaching the 

 oysters, and throwing them into a net attached to the dredge. In this 

 process oysters, large and small, are torn from their native bed, some 

 going into the net, but a larger number, old and young, are torn from 

 their native bed, and buried in the mud. It would be difficult to 

 imagine a more destructive process ; and when the habits of the oyster 

 are considered, it is evidently one admirably contrived to, destroy the 

 race. 



In France oyster dredging is conducted by fleets of thirty or forty 

 boats, each carrying four or five men. At a fixed hour, and under the 

 surveillance of a coastguard in a pinnace bearing the national flag, the 

 flotilla commences the fishing. In the estuary of the Thames the 

 practice is much the same, although no official surveillance is observed. 

 Each bark is provided with four or five dredges, resembling in shape 

 a common clasp purse. It is formed of network, with a strong iron 

 frame, as represented in Fig. 172, the iron frame serving the double 

 purpose of acting as a sucker, and keeping the mouth open, while 

 giving it a proper pressure as it travels over the oyster-beds. When 

 the boat is over the oyster scarp, the dredge is let down, and no more 

 attractive sight exists than that presented by the well-appointed 

 Whitstable boats on one side of the estuary, or the Colne boats on the 

 other, as they wear and tack over the oyster-beds, bearing up from 

 time to time to haul in the dredge, and empty its contents into the 

 hold. The tension of the rope is the signal for hauling in, and very 

 heterogeneous .are the contents sea- weeds, star-fishes, lobsters, crabs, 

 actinia, and stones. In this manner the common oyster fields on both 



