They are taken not only to eat,
but are the best Bait for all sorts of Fish, that live in the Salt-Water.
These Fish are mischievous to Night-Hooks, because they get away all the Bait
from the Hooks.
{Oysters.}
Oysters, great and small, are found almost in every Creek
and Gut of Salt-Water, and are very good and well-relish'd.
The large Oysters are excellent, pickled.
{Cockles.}
One Cockle in Carolina is as big as five or six in England.
They are often thrown upon the Sands on the Sound-Side, where the Gulls
are always ready to open and eat them.
{Clams.}
Clams are a sort of Cockles, only differing in Shell,
which is thicker and not streak'd, or ribb'd. These are found throughout
all the Sound and Salt-Water-Ponds. The Meat is the same for Look and Taste
as the Cockle. These make an excellent strong Broth, and eat well,
either roasted or pickled.
{Muscles.}
The Muscles in Carolina have a very large Shell, striped with Dents.
They grow by the side of Ponds and Creeks, in Salt-Water,
wherein you may get as many of them as you please. I do not like them so well
as the English Muscle, which is no good Shell-Fish.
{Conks.}
Some of the Shells of these are as large as a Man's Hand,
but the lesser sort are the best Meat, and those not extraordinary.
They are shap'd like the end of a Horses Yard. Of their Shells,
the Peak or Wampum is made, which is the richest Commodity
amongst the Indians. They breed like a long Thing shap'd like a Snake,
but containing a sort of Joints, in the Hollowness whereof
are thousands of small Coaks, no bigger then small Grains of Pepper.
{Skellops.}
The Skellops, if well dress'd, are a pretty Shell-Fish;
but to eat them only roasted, without any other Addition, in my Judgment,
are too luscious.
{Man of Noses.}
Man of Noses are a Shell-Fish commonly found amongst us. They are valued
for increasing Vigour in Men, and making barren Women fruitful;
but I think they have no need of that Fish; for the Women in Carolina
are fruitful enough without their Helps.
{Wilks.}
Wilks, or Periwinkles, are not so large here, as in the Islands of Scilly,
and in other Parts of Europe, though very sweet.
{Snail-Horn.}
The Sea-Snail-Horn is large, and very good Meat; they are exactly shaped
as other Snail-Horns are.
{Fidlar.}
Fidlars are a sort of small Crabs, that lie in Holes in the Marshes.
The Raccoons eat them very much. I never knew any one try,
whether they were good Meat or no.
{Runner.}
Runners live chiefly on the Sands, but sometimes run into the Sea.
They have Holes in the Sand-Beaches and are a whitish sort of a Crab.
Tho' small, they run as fast as a Man, and are good for nothing
but to look at.
{Spanish-Oysters.}
Spanish Oysters have a very thin Shell, and rough on the outside.
They are very good Shell-Fish, and so large, that half a dozen
are enow to satisfy an hungry Stomach.
{Flattings.}
The Flattings are inclosed in a broad, thin Shell, the whole Fish being flat.
They are inferiour to no Shell-Fish this Country affords.
{Finger-Fish.}
Finger-Fish are very plentiful in this Country; they are
of the Length of a Man's Finger, and lie in the Bottom of the Water
about one or two Foot deep. They are very good.
{Shrimps.}
Shrimps are here very plentiful and good, and are to be taken
with a Small-Bow-Net, in great Quantities.
{Small-Cockles.}
The small Cockles are about the Bigness of the largest English Cockles,
and differ nothing from them, unless in the Shells, which are striped
cross-wise as well as long-wise.
The Fresh-Water Shell-Fish are,
{Muscles.}
Muscles, which are eaten by the Indians, after five or six hours Boiling,
to make them tender, and then are good for nothing.
{Craw-Fish.}
Craw-Fish, in the Brooks, and small Rivers of Water,
amongst the Tuskeruro Indians, and up higher, are found very plentifully,
and as good as any in the World.
And thus I have gone through the several Species of Fish,
so far as they have come to my Knowledge, in the eight Years
that I have lived in Carolina. I should have made a larger Discovery,
when travelling so far towards the Mountains, and amongst the Hills,
had it not been in the Winter-Season, which was improper to make any Enquiry
into any of the Species before recited. Therefore, as my Intent was,
I proceed to what remains of the Present State of Carolina, having already
accounted for the Animals, and Vegetables, as far as this Volume
would allow of; whereby the Remainder, though not exactly known,
may yet be guess'd at, if we consider what Latitude Carolina lies in,
which reaches from 29 to 36 deg. 30 min. Northern Latitude,
as I have before observ'd. Which Latitude is as fertile and pleasant,
as any in the World, as well for the Produce of Minerals,
Fruit, Grain, and Wine, as other rich Commodities. And indeed,
all the Experiments that have been made in Carolina,
of the Fertility and natural Advantages of the Country,
have exceeded all Expectation, as affording some Commodities,
which other Places, in the same Latitude, do not. As for Minerals,
as they are subterraneous Products, so, in all new Countries,
they are the Species that are last discover'd; and especially,
in Carolina, where the Indians never look for any thing
lower than the Superficies of the Earth, being a Race of Men
the least addicted to delving of any People that inhabit so fine a Country
as Carolina is.
