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fish is preferred to any other. In my statement I am 
supported by the fact that there is no gradual increase in 
the taste of the people for foreign-cured fish. 
In such a depraved taste the Negro is not an exception, 
for of Balasore, in Bengal—I here extract from Dr. Day’s 
paper previously referred to—it is stated by the Collector 
that— 
“ Fish sold in the markets is so stale that no European would 
touch it, and most of it is putrid . . . The people in this district 
do not salt their fish, they dry it in the sun, and eat it when it is 
quite putrid. They like it in this way, and there is no reason 
why they should be interfered with.” 
Oysters. 
Edible oysters are found in beds, on the rocks running 
out into the sea, which are uncovered at low tide, and on 
trees (mangrove). The trade in oysters is large, but chiefly, 
in fact altogether, confined to the coast, as its delicate 
nature, even when cured as the natives affect, does not 
admit of long keep. 
The trees on which oysters are usually to be found in 
the tropics are of the mangrove family, the nature of which, 
with their aérial roots, admits of their growth in the flow of 
the oyster spat, which is thus at times in part intercepted, 
adheres, and develops into what is commonly spoken of as 
the tree-oyster. Mangrove oysters are not as much sought 
after as bed or rock oysters, although they are collected for 
the sake of their shells, for the purpose of conversion into 
lime. 
Bed-oysters are more extensively sought after. A 
solitary canoe at anchor over oyster-beds may be seen 
at times with no occupant. He has dived with his basket, 
and grabs in the mud (so long as his breath will allow him 
