260 THE NEWHAYEN OYSTEK-BEDS. 



All oysters sold at Billingsgate are liable to this eightpenny 

 tax. The London oysters — and I regret to say it, for there is 

 nothing finer than a genuine oyster — are sophisticated in the 

 cellars of the buyers, by being stuffed with oatmeal tUl the 

 flavour is aU but lost in the fat. The flavour of oysters — like 

 the flavour of all other animals — depends on their feeding. 

 The fine go-At of the highly-relished Prestonpans oysters is said 

 to be derived from the fact of their feeding on the refuse liquor 

 ■which flows from the saltpans of that neighbourhood. I have 

 eaten of fine oysters taken from a bank that was visited by a 

 ■rather questionable stream of water ; they were very large, fat, 

 and of exquisite flavour, the shell being more than usually well 

 filled with "meat." What the London oysters gain in fat by 

 artificial feeding they assuredly lose in flavour. The harbour 

 of Kinsale (a receptacle for much fllth) used to be remarkable 

 for the size and flavour of its oysters. The beds occupied the 

 whole harbour, and the oysters there were at one time very 

 plentiful, and far exceeded the Cork oysters in fame (and they 

 have long been famous) ; but they were so overfished as to be 

 long since used up, much to the loss of the Irish people, who 

 are particularly fond of oysters, and delight in their " Pool- 

 doodies " and " Red-banks " as much as the English and Scotch 

 do in their " Natives" and " Pandores." 



The far-famed Scottish oysters obtained near Edinburgh, 

 once so cheap, are becoming scarce and dear.- The growth of 

 the railway system has also extended the Newhaven men's mar- 

 ket. Before the railway period very few boats wenfc out at the 

 same time to dredge ; then oysters were very plentiful — so plenti- 

 ful, in fact, that three men in a boat could, with ease, procure 

 3000 oysters in a couple of hours ', but now, so great is the change 

 in the productiveness of the scalps, that three men consider it 

 an excellent day's work to' procure about a fifth part of that 

 quantity. The Newhaven oyster-beds lie between Inchkeith and 

 Newhaven, and belong to the city of Edinburgh, and were given 

 in charge to the free fishermen of that vUlage, on certain condi- 

 tions. 



The " pandore" oysters are principally obtained at the village 

 of Prestonpans and the neighbouring one of Oockenzie. Dredg- 

 ing for oysters is a principal part of the occupation of the 

 Cockenzie fishermen. There are few lovers of this dainty mollusc 

 who have not heard of the " whiskered pandores." The pandore 

 oyster is so called because of being found in the neighbourhood 



