Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.1): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

SHELL-FISH — OYSTERS. 291 cholchua is rendered into Spanish by " cascara de choros blan- cos," or shell of the white muscle. Cholhua, or cholgua (the letters g and h are indiscriminately used), must be a corrup- tion ; for it is now used in Childe to distinguish the large from the small choros. The manner in which the natives of these islands, both In- dians and descendants of foreigners, cook shell-fish, is very similar to that used for bakinjj in the South Sea Islands, and on some parts of the coast of New Holland. A hole is dug in the ground, in which large smooth stones are laid, and upon them a fire is kindled. When they are sufficiently heated, the ashes are cleared away, and shell-fish are heaped upon the stones, and covered, first with leaves or straw, and then with earth. The fish, thus baked, are exceedingly tender and good ; and this mode of cooking them is very superior to any other, as they retain, within the shell, all their own juiciness. The oyster, which is a true Ostrea ednlis, is found in beds, at low water, or taken with the dredge. It is about the size of the native oyster of England, and not at all inferior to it in flavour. In Agiieros"'s account of Childe, he notices this excel- lent shell-fish ; but remarks, that the islanders are ignorant of the value at which it is appreciated. It is rather curious, that, excepting in the neighbourhood of Childe, the oyster is very rarely to be met with on the South American coast, while there it is in the greatest abundance. We have never observed any shells of this fish anywhere between the river Plata and Chi- lde ; nor is it known elsewhere upon the western coast, I believe, to the southward of Guayaquil, which is very near the equinoctial line.* The oyster-shells at Port San Julian are fos- sils. Of the Linnaean genus, Ostrea, there are many sorts, on all parts of the coast, both east and west, but they are what we call the pecten or scollop. At Coquimbo, a species of scollop is much used as an article of food, and called oyster ; but it has no further right to the name than because Linnaeus classed them all as Ostrea, and Molina describes this to be Ostrea edulis. * Some have since been found on the north-east side of the Guaytecas Islands. u 2