73 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



there was no immediate prospect of the anticipated 

 danger, and a treaty was concluded with Belgium, iu 

 which a special reservation had been made in respect 

 to oysters* The oysters sent to Belgium are fattened in 

 the Ostend beds, and then called " Ostend oysters ;" 

 though, in reality, they are British. They are very 

 small and plump, and are highly thought of by the 

 oyster-eaters in Paris ; their flavour is certainly quite 

 equal to the natives, at least I thought so, and the shells 

 appeared thinner. Oysters, mussels, and periwinkles, with 

 shrimps, are the fisheries which engage a good number of 

 fishermen at Leigh, near Southend. The Leigh shore 

 has been found particularly well adapted to grow and 

 fatten oysters.f 



Whitstable was a fishing-town of note in the reign of 

 Henry VIII., and was called in ancient records' " North- 

 wood." Leland, in his ' Itinerary,' thus describes it : — 

 "Whitstable is upward junto Keni, a ii miles or more 

 beyond Faversham, on the same shore, a great fisher- 

 towne of one paroche, belonging to Plaze College, in 

 Essex, and yt staadeth on the se-shore. Ther about 

 they dragge for oysters." 



The dredgers of Whitstable do not trust entirely to 

 the natural resources of their oyster-beds, but purchase 

 at Colchester or elsewhere, what is called the brood, 

 which is the spat in its second stage. The following 

 interesting account of the Whitstable beds appeared in 

 'Macmillan's Magazine,' No. 36, October, 1862: — 

 " The brood is carefully laid down in the oyster-beds 

 off Whitstable, and allowed to grow for three, perhaps 

 four years. The oysters in different stages are marked 



* ' Times,' October, 1862. 



+ ' Visits to the Seaooast ; the Shipwrecked Mariner,' vol. xii. p. 30. 



