368 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
simultaneously. From July to January the mussel trade is in full 
operation, and the flesh in perfection. From February to April is 
the close season; their flesh is then poor and leathery. It is also 
remarked that those which inhabit the upper rows of the wicker-work 
are ot a mellower flavour than those on the lower ranks, and that th® 
intermediate rows are an improvement on those which are buried i° 
the mud, although even these are preferable to mussels gathered 011 
the sea shore in a state of nature. 
M. Coste gives a graphic description of the manner in which this 
industry is carried on. “ Having supplied the neighbouring villages; 
he says, “ for the purpose of supplying the more distant cities, tb e 
bouchotiers land their punts, tilled with mussels, which their wB e3 
carry into grottoes hollowed out of the cliffs ; there they clean and 
pack them in hampers, baskots, and panniers, for conveyance by cart s 
or pack-horses. They depart on their respective journeys at nigh* 5 ’ 
so as to reach their markets at La Rochelle, Rochefort, Surged 3 ’ 
Saint- Jean-d’ Angel y, Angouleme, Niort, Poicticrs, Tours, Angers, 
Saumur, at an early hour. A hundred and forty horses and ninety 
carts make upwards of thirty-three thousand journeys annually 1° 
these cities. Besides this, forty or fifty boats come from Bordeaux, th e 
isles of Ed and Oleron, and from the sands of Olonne, making arl 
aggregate of seven hundred and fifty voyages per annum, distributing 
the harvest of the little bay at places where horses could not ser ve 
the purpose. 
“A bouehot, well furnished, supplies annually, according to 
length of its wings, from four to five hundred charges. The cb» r S e 
is a hundred and fifty kilogrammes (over three hundred pounds), aI1(1 
sells for five francs ; a single bouehot thus carries a harvest equal & 
weight to a hundred and thirty to a hundred and forty thousand 
pounds, equal in value to £100 ; the whole bay probably yielding ® 
gross revenue ot £480,000. This figure, and the abundant harves 
which produces it, gives only a slight idea of the alimentary' resource 3 
of the sea shore ; and every part of the coast, properly adapted f° r 
the purpose, could be turned to equal advantage. In the meantir° e ’ 
the Bay of Aiguillon remains a monument of what one man 1X1 11 ^ 
accomplish.” 
While commending the mussel as an important article of food, 
must not conceal the fact, that it has produced in certain persons ' er ^ 
