394. THE OCEAN WORLD. 
here a brief summary of M. Coste’s voyage of exploration on the 
French littoral. 
The parks at Marennes, in which the oysters are placed in order 
to acquire the green colour which characterises them, are basins 
stretching along both banks of the Seudre for many leagues. They 
are locally known as c/aires, and differ from the oyster-parks of other 
countries in this particular—that, while the ordinary parks are so 
arranged as to be submerged at every return of the tide, the basins of 
Marennes are so arranged that they can only be submerged at spring 
tides ; that is, at the new and full moon, when the waters rise beyond 
the ordinary level, 
The basins or claires occupy from 250 to 300 square yards of 
superficies ; two sluices permit of the entrance and withdrawal of water 
at will, so as to maintain it at the level most convenient to the 
industrial wants of the place, or to empty it altogether when it is 
necessary to cleanse the basin, pave the bottom, and furnish it with 
a fresh supply of oysters. : 
When these necessary works are completed, advantage is taken of 
the first spring tide to fill the basin. When the tide begins to ebb, 
the sluices are closed, so as to retain sufficient water in the basins ; 
and while thus shut up, salt held in solution is deposited. 
When the basin has been filled with sea-water for the necessary 
time, and the bottom is sufficiently impregnated with salt, it is 
emptied and left to dry; and now, the soil being prepared, it only 
remains to furnish it with oysters of a mellow and ripe age, in order 
to give them their green hue. Towards the month of September, at 
low water, the whole sea-side population of Marennes go to gather 
oysters on the pavement left uncovered by the ebbing tide, or by 
using a dredger in the deeper parts of the c/azres where the water still 
remains. A temporary magazine for the reception of the oysters thus 
gathered is erected on the banks, which the water revisits twice a day. 
The young are reserved for cultivation on the parks or caires ; the 
fullest are sold for consumption in the neighbourhood; but the 
quantity of oysters raised at Marennes is insufficient to supply the 
demand. About a third of the provision intended for the caires 
comes from the coast of Brittany, of Normandy, and La Vendée. 
“These foreign oysters,” says M. Coste, “ never attain the fine flavour 
of those bred in the locality. It is necessary to keep them for a long 
time in the clazves before they are sufficiently ameliorated, and, even 
when they become green, they retain traces of their primitive nature, 
remaining hard, in spite of the new qualities imparted to them by 
cultivation ; a certain bitterness remains, which is easily distinguished 
