The Brookhaven leader., 1885-10-08
THE RHODE SAND CLAM.
>hoveIIng In the Nud - Making the Clans
-QuAhaug.-C h 'wder.

Frovidencs Journal
Most of the clans used at the shore
resorts of NarragansetL bay come from
the fats across the bay from Nayatt,
on the Conimicut shore and on Green =
island. AS far up as Pawtuxet and
about Sabin's point the clans are con-
sidered hard, glue shelled, and gritty;
but across at Bullock's point they are
good, and the Bullock's pointers get
their clans right at home Two-thirds
of the clans are got by "churning." "
The clam gang wades out over the bed
and shovels up mud and clans and ev-
erything that comes along into big wire
baskets, which, when about full, are
lifted out of the water, and a rinsing
and shaking washes out the mud and
leaves the clans. Two men and a
boy attend to each basket, one man
sho cling in the mud, the second get
ting out the CLANS, and the boy Gull
ing them. Churning can only be done
at about half-tide, when the water is
two or three feet deep, as, by the time
the workman has to put his head under
water when he lends over at shoveling,
he soon has to give up the OBJ. The
| and they are made exceptionally strong.
When there are good tides, on the
| full and change of the moon, the clans
may be rakod out after the manner of
non professional diggers; a shovelful of
mud is turned up at the time, and the
clans ii contains are raked out with the
clam hoe. Consideration of either of
the above methods is su licient for true
understanding OF the happiness of the
clam in high water The clam ordnar
lily lies in the mud from two to eighteen
inches; a clam that would bury itself
much deeper than eighteen inches Is not
to be looked upon with favor 1t is a
wearing life that the clam diggers lead
working as they do five or SIX hours at
q time in the water, and so hard as to
be constantly wet with perspiration.
The tide was about halt in, and the
| mud flats were scattered over with all
! sorts of refuse, shells and weeds. The
captain bent down and picked up what
looked at first like a minute, broken off
bit Of clam-shell, but as it lay in his
hand, a closer look re ealed it a per-
| fectly- formed clam shell, a heautiful OBJ
ject, not as big rs a baby little finger
nail, as white as alabaster, and the light
showing pink through its delicate sub
! stance. The least pressure would have
/ crushed it to almost invisible atoms.
That's clam said the captain,
"that's maybe three weeks old, and
/ You'll find millions about here.
| AS quick as they get any 81 they
will begin to burrow down into the
! mud. The whole shore is covered with
them, and in all my experience of thirty
/ years | never saw such a set They
| are so thick that the prospect is they
! will not grow fast, and it will take two
or three years for them to get big
enough unless they die off. A handful
! o. these will make lore n bushcl when
! they are grown up. A careful look
| over the muddy beach revealed these
Leautiful miniature clam shells yet
I hundreds, and a microscope would have
shown thou sands where the few were
visible 10 the naked eye.
Well, once the CLANS are out of tie
water =" / in the boats, they are towed
to shore, where they are piled in a shed,
picked over, and carefully WASHED. Five
or six - are employed constantly at
tbs work at the larger resorts. The
preparation of the pile on which the
CLAIMS are to bake is the next step, and
this is done on much the same plan
everywhere; pile of wood is laid on
every layer of which cobhlestones are
I placed, and the burning of the wood
| heats the stones and makes them ready
to have the clans thrown ON top
| At Rocky point, instead of build
| ing the pile on the ground it is laid on a
surface of stone cemented with fire-clay,
and some such plan has been adopted
in other places. This allows of the
stones icing pulled OFF after the wood is
consumed and the plate swept clear of
ashes, when the stones are piled on it
again. Over the hot stones mass of
rockweed is piled, and the sight of line
of walters with tubs of CLAIMS between
them running at breakneck speed for
the pile, forming circle about it, and
emptying the tubs on top with concerted
effort, is familiar. Over the whole the
canvas is laid, seaweed is heaped, and a
fragrant steam arises from the pile.
Twenty minutes later the CLAIMS are
ready for the table
The khode Island clam is, alas, going
out of use for chowder. 1t has too
| y,
cut up it makes chowder not agreeable
to look at; and so about two thirds of
the chowder CLANS are uahaugs SO to
express it. Old-fashioned people say
they like the longneck clans better, but
the luahaugs are white and clean and
palatable thus prepared, and of late
years have come into general use. If
the visitor to i,ocky point should hance
to stroll down toward the beach behind
the laundry house he would dis over
near the water an old she'd hgainst
the side facing him is huge pile of
quahaug shells, and through slit
that runs the whole length of
the shed quahaug shells are flying
out in way at once mysterious and
startling. But behind the opening is
bench, and at the bench are three or
four men opening quahaugs for chow
der, "cut outs they call them, and a
few of the largest CLAIMS are also cut
out for the same purpose. The qua
haugs come from Edgartown, and a
schooner brings 100 or Oh bushels of
them every fortnight, which are
emptied in shed where the water con-
stantly flows over them. uahaugs
grow close to the surface of the mud
aud are raked out the same as oysters.
or may be "trod out at low water
Three hundred gallons of chowdei
make an average course for good-sized
excursion party. atent clam choppers
chew longnecks and littleneeks into
tidbits in no time to put into the eauld-
ron.
The shells are about the only things
left after well-organized excursion
party has attacked clam bake These
| IRA nartnd Of anil durnxaA m, Coma