292 AN IMPORTANT INDUSTRY. 



are uncovered only during spring-tides, and instead of 

 being formed, like the others, of basket or wattle work, 

 consist simply of a row of piles, planted about nine feet 

 apart, and in what seems the best position for catching 

 and preserving the* nuissain. or mussel-spat, which is 

 afterwards transplanted, as we shall see, to the mussel- 

 farms further in-shore. 



We owe to M. Coste a lively description of the in- 

 dustry supported by this interesting culture. 



In order, he says, to supply the distant markets, the 

 bouchotiers bring ashore their cargoes of mussels, which 

 the women carry into the neighbouring caves or grottoes ; 

 there they are cleaned, and packed in hampers or baskets, 

 which are conveyed in carts or on the backs of pack- 

 horses, by night, to Rochelle, Rochefort, Angouleme, 

 Poitiers, Tours, Angers, and Saumur. Ninety carts and 

 one hundred and forty horses make annually upwards of 

 thirty-three thousand journeys to these and other towns. 

 Moreover, forty or fifty boats come from Bordeaux, the 

 isles of Re and Oleron, and the sands of Olorme accom- 

 plishing in all some seven hundred and fifty voyages per 

 annum, and distributing the rich harvest of Aiguillon at 

 places inaccessible to the horse and cart of the villagers. 



A well-equipped bouckot supplies every year, according 

 to the length of its wings, from four hundred to five 

 hundred charges. A charge weighs upwards of 300 Ibs., 

 and sells for about four shillings. A single bouchot, 

 therefore, produces a harvest equal in weight to 130,000 

 or 140,000 Ibs., equal in value to .100; and at this 

 estimate the whole bay will yield a gross yearly revenue 

 of <480,000. These figures afford some idea of the 

 alimentary wealth of the sea-shore ; and both in England 



