O S T R E A 
comes green ; and in a few days the oyfters afTume the 
fam.e colour'; but they do not acquire their full quality, 
and become fit for fale,- till the end of fix or eight weeks. 
Oyfters are found in various places on the coaft of 
France; fuch as the mouth of the Seine, where, though 
few in number, they are of an excellent quality. On the 
coaft of Caen in Normandy, there is a bank fix miles in 
length and one in breadth. They are found alfo in the 
Bay of Ifigny, and in the neighbourhood of Cherbourg. 
Thofein particular are highly valued which are collected 
at the mouths offome ftreams where the fea-vvater is fome- 
times thrown entirely back, and which are called hiitrcs 
do pier/. Granville in Normandy gains 50,000 livres by 
this fifhery. On the coaft of Brittany there are very large 
oyfters, particularly at Cancale, where a great many are 
preferved in places encloi'ed for the purpofe. The bank 
at Painpol is aimoft entirely exhaufted. At the mouth of 
the Loire; between the rocks on the coaft of Poitou, on 
the coaft of Aunis and Saintonge, where thofe who make 
Ixay-falt tranlplant oyfters to marfiiy places, in which they 
acquire a better quality, though they never become fo 
good as the green ones of Saintonge. In Languedoc, 
near Cape Leucate, there is an oyfter-bank at the depth 
■of twenty feet; another at the mouth of the Rhone, on 
the coaft of Provence. At Paris thofe oyfters are moft 
elteemed which come from Bretagne, Rochelle, Bour- 
deaux, and particularly from Medoc. 
The Dutch have fome oyfter-beds on the coaft of Zea¬ 
land, near Zierikzee; oyfters are kept there alfo in pits as 
well as at the town of Brouwerfnave*!, and particularly at 
Petten in North Holland: thofe of the laft-mentioned 
nlace are much efteemed, and are known under the name 
of Petten oi/Jiers. For thefe pits many fliip-loads are tranf- 
ported every year from the coafts of England. 
There are exceedingly-rich oyfter-banks in the duchy 
of Holftein and in the neighbourhood of Jutland, which 
fupply moft of the oyfters ufed in the northern part of 
Germany. The royal oyfter-beds lie all together on the 
weftern coaft of the duchy of Schlefwig, between the 
iflands Fanoe, Rom or Romoe, Sylt, Fohr, Amrom, 
Nordftrand, Silworm, Siiderog, and extend from the dif- 
trift of Ripen to Heligoland. The number of the beds 
from which oyfters can be finifhed is at prefent'reckoned 
to be fifty: the greater part of them take their names 
from the perfons by whom they were firft difeovered. 
Some of them are a furlong, fome a quarter of u mile, and 
feme half a mile, in length ; and their breadth is equally 
various. The oyfters of thefe different banks are not all 
of the lame kind; in fome they are large, in others of a 
moderate fize, and in many only fmall: the laft, were they 
left to grow older, would never attain to a larger fize. 
The large oyfters are called deputed-avjlern, the reft kauf- 
mans-avfiern. Till the year 1794, the royal chamber of 
domains let thefe oyfter-banks to the higheft bidder for 
the term of fix years ; but, as this period was too Ihort 
for the perfons who took the leafe, and prejudicial to the 
tilhery, they were let to M. Afmuflen, a merchant in Ton- 
dern, during his natural life, from the year 1795, for the 
yearly fum of 7505.dollars, to be paid in advance. He 
bound himfelf to furnilh yearly 112^ barrels of oyfters, to 
be delivered from time to time, but each time never lefs 
than four, and never more than eight, barrels, carriage 
free, at Haderfleben, for the royal family. This city is 
diftant about ten miles from the village of Hoyer, where 
the oyfters are landed, and which is a mile from Tondern. 
The leffee is permitted to fifh for and fell oyfters only dur¬ 
ing the four laft and four firft months of the year. The 
inltruments ufed for fiihing-up thefe oyfters are of the 
fame kind as thofe employed in other countries. The 
moft common is a drag-net made of thongs of feal-lkin 
worked together, and fattened to an iron frame which 
(crapes up the oyfters. Thefe nets, when the filhermen 
have arrived at the proper place, are let down by means 
of ropes made fall to the iron frame. M. Afmuflen ufed 
eighteen veffels, which were perfectly fimilar to thofe of 
4 
which figures have been given by Duhamel. The fiflicf- 
men bring their lading either to the above-mentioned vil¬ 
lage ot Floyer, or to Hufum, which is feven miles from 
Tondern. Prayers for the prefervation of this ovfter-bed 
were formerly offered up in the church of Hufum ; but 
this has been omitted for feveral years paft, becaufe the 
owner refufed to allow the clergyman about two hundred 
oyfters, which he claimed for performing that duty. From 
thence the oyfters are conveyed to Apenrade and Flenf- 
burg, and thence in ftiips to the Eaft Sea, where the con- 
fumption is greateft ; for a barrel fometimes is fold there 
at the rate of 100 roubles. It is not true that they coft 
dearer to the natives than to foreigners : a hundred coft a 
dollar; and a barrel, containing from Boo to 1000 oyfters, 
about ten dollars, more or lefs. The number caught, 
and the confumption, vary exceedingly in different years. 
During ftormy weather and fevere froft none can be fifned. 
The number fifhed-up yearly, the leffee, for reafons which 
cannot be difapproved, kept a fecret; but it is certain 
that 2000 barrels would fearcely have been fufficient to 
pay the rent and expenfes. 
The oyfter-banks of Jutland lie on the eaftern fide of 
the northern extremity, near Fladftrand, a market-town, 
where there is a paffage over to Norway; alfo at the ifland 
of LefToe, fituated in the Cattegat, three miles from Sabie, 
in the diftrid of Alborg. Refpefting this fifhery, feveral 
regulations have been publiflied, one of which is dated 
February 1709. Attempts have often been made to 
tranfplant oyfters to the large hays which extend from the 
Cattegat twenty miles acrofs the country, and nearly in- 
terfedt it; but have been attended with as little fuccefs 
as thofe on the coaft of Seeland. 
Sweden has excellent oyfters on the coaft of Bahus-Lan, 
near the ifland of Kailero, a mile weft from Stromftad, 
from which they are fent, as well as from Udewalla, to 
every part of the kingdom. The filhermen there pretend 
that, when an oyfter-bed has been exhaufted, it requires 
from four to five years before it is again flocked. Norway 
alfo has excellent oyfters, and in great abundance on the 
weftern coafts. The bell are thofe found on the rocks, 
and called rock-oyfters. Many of them are pickled, and 
fent in jars and other veffels which contain the fixteenth 
part of a barrel, to different parts of the Eaft Sea. Thefe 
oyfters often contain pearls; but they are not of a large 
fize, and never have complete fplendour. 
Italy has oyfters of different qualities. Thofe found 
near Ancona are of a large fize, but not very well tailed. 
Thofe are accounted the bell which are produced in pro¬ 
digious multitudes nearTarento, in the fea called Mare 
Piccolo, which is a large bay, that extends pall Tarento, 
towards the north-eaft. The Mediterranean Sea, in ge¬ 
neral, has more Ihell-fifh than the ocean any-where con¬ 
tains in the fame fpace; but no part of it is more abun¬ 
dant in this refpeft than the Golfo Tarantino, the har¬ 
bour of the city, and the Picciol Mare. Filhing is the 
principal or only occupation of the inhabitants, who 
chiefly live by it: on this account the greateft care is 
taken to preferve and increafe the oyfter-beds. Great 
care is here taken that the oyfters may not be difturbed 
during the time they are (pawning, and that all the young 
ones be thrown back again into the fea. It is generally 
believed here that all fhell-fifh are fatted and fulleft at the 
time of the full-moon. 
The oyfters of the Mare Piccolo are at prefent to the 
rich Italians what thofe of the Lucrine Lake were to 
the ancients. This lake extended in Campania from 
Baiae to the Lake Avernus, and was leparated from the 
fea oniy by a mole; but, though it has been celebrated 
by fo many poets, it is at prefent only a pond, fearcely 
fufficient for watering cattle. In the year 1538, on St. 
Michael’s day, an earthquake, which had continued fome 
time, became fo violent, that the lake retired from its banks, 
and its bafin was almoll entirely dried up; as was the 
cafe, in part, with the Lake Avernus. The neighbour¬ 
ing fmall town of Tripergala was fwallowed up, with all 
