262 A DREDGING SONG. 



two are employed. Of course, in the absence of -wind recourse 

 is had to the oars. The tension npon the rope is the signal for 

 hauling the dredge on iboard, frhen the entire contents are 

 emptied into the boat, and the dredge returned to the water. 

 These contents, not including the oysters, are of a most hetero- 

 geneous kind — stones, searweed, star-fish, young lobsters, crabs, 

 actinse — aU of which are usually returned to the water, some of 

 them being considered as the most fattening ground-bait for the 

 codfish. The whelks, clams, mussels, cockles, and occasion- 

 ally the crabs, are used by the fishermen as bait for their 

 white-fish lines. Once, in a conversation with a veteran dredger 

 as to what strange things might come in the dredge, he replied, 

 " Well, master, I don't know what sort o' curiosities we some- 

 times get ; but I have seen gentlemen like yourself go out with 

 us a-dredgin', and take away big baskets full o' things as was 

 neither good for eating or looking at. The Lord knows what 

 they did wi' them." During the whole time that this dredging 

 is being carried on, the crew keep up a wild monotonous song, 

 or rather chant, in which they believe much virtue to lie. They 

 assert that it charms the oysters into the dredge. 



" The herring lovea the merry moonlight. 

 The mackerel loves the wind ; 

 But the oyster loves the dredger's song, 

 For he eomes of a gentle kind." 



Talking is strictly forbidden, so that all tlie required conversa- 

 tion is carried on after the manner of the recitative of an opera 

 or oratorio. An enthusiastic London litterateur and musician, 

 being on a visit to Scotland, determined to carry back with him, 

 among other natural curiosities, the words and music of the 

 oyster-dredging song. But, after being exposed to the piercing 

 east wind for six hours, and jotting down the words and music 

 of the dredgers, he found it all to end in nothing ; the same 

 words were never used, the words were ever changing. The 

 oyster-scalps are gone over by the men much in the way that a 

 field is ploughed by an agricultural labourer, the boat going and 

 returning until sufficient oysters are secured, or a shift is made 

 to another bed. 



The geographical distribution of oysters is most lavish ; 

 wherever there is a seaboard there will they be found. The old 

 stories of ancient mariners, who sailed the seas before the days 



