72 
EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 
there was no immediate prospect of the anticipated 
danger, and a treaty was concluded with Belgium, in 
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 Osterid 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. t 
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 Kent, 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 standeth 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. 
t ‘ Yisits to the Seacoast j the Shipwrecked Mariner,’ vol. xii. p. 30. 
