THE trade in whelks is of which the costermongers have the undisputed monopoly. The wholesale business is all transacted in , where this shell-fish is bought by the measure (a double peck or gallon), half-measure, or wash. A wash is measures, and is the most advantageous mode of purchase; "It's so much cheaper by taking that quantity," I was told, "it's as good as having a half-measure in." An average price for the year may be the wash; "But I've given for wash," said costermonger, and he waxed indignant as he spoke, " Saturday, when there was a great stock in too, just because there was a fair coming on on Monday, and the whelkmen, who are the biggest rogues in , always have the price up then, and hinder a poor man

About -half of the whelks are sold alive (wholesale), and the other half "cooked" (boiled), some of the salesmen having "convenience for cooking" near the market; but they are all brought to London alive, "or what should be alive." When bought alive, which ensures a better quality, I was told—for "whelks'll boil after they're dead and gone, you see, sir, as if they was alive and hungry"— the costermonger boils them in the largest saucepan at his command for about minutes, and then leaves them until they cool. "They never kicks as they boils, like lobsters or crabs," said whelk dealer, "they takes it quiet. A missionary cove said to me, 'Why don't you kill them ? it's murder.' doesn't suffer; suffered more with a toothach than the whole of a measure of whelks has in a boiling, that I'm clear upon." The boiling is generally the work of the women. The next process is to place them in a tub, throw boiling water over them, and stir them up for or minutes with a broom-handle. If the quantity be a wash, broom-handles, usually wielded by the man and his wife, are employed. This is both to clean them and "to make them come out easier to be wormed." The "worming" is equivalent to the removing of the beard of an oyster or mussel. The whelks are wormed by . The operator cuts into the fish, rapidly draws out the "worm," and pushes the severed parts together, which closes. The small whelks are not wormed, "because it's not reckoned necessary, and they're sold to poor lads and such like, that's not particular; but nearly all the women, and a good many of the boys, are very particular. They think the worm's poison." The whelks are next shaken in a tub, in cold water, and are then ready for sale. The same process, after the mere boiling, is observed, when the whelks are bought "cooked."

Some whelk-sellers, who wish to display a superior article, engage children for a few halfpence to rub the shell of every whelk, so that it looks clean and even bright.

I find a difficulty, common in the course of this inquiry, of ascertaining precisely the number of whelk-sellers, because the sale is often carried on simultaneously with that of other things, (stewed eels, for instance,) and because it is common for costermongers to sell whelks on a Saturday night only, both at stalls and "round to the public-houses," but only when they are cheap at . On a Saturday night there may be whelk-sellers in the streets, nearly half at stalls, and half, or more, "working the public-houses." But of this number it must be understood that perhaps the wife is at the stall while the husband is on a round, and some whelks are sent out by a man having an extra stock. This, therefore, reduces the number of independent dealers, but not the actual number of sellers. On all other nights there may be half the number engaged in this traffic, in the streets regularly all the year; and more than half on a Monday, as regards the public-house business, in which little is done between Monday and Saturday nights. But a man will, in some instances, work the publichouses every night (the wife tending the stall), and the more assiduously if the weather be bad or foggy, when a public-house custom is the best. A fair week's earnings in whelks, "when a man's known," is ; a bad week is from to I am assured that bad weeks are "as plenty as good, at least, the year round;" and thus the average to the street whelk-sellers, in whelks alone, is about when the trade is carried on daily and regularly, and a week by those who occasionally resort to it; and as the occasional hands are the more numerous, the average may be struck at

The whelks are sold at the stalls at , , , , and a penny, according to size. is an average pennyworth for good whelks; the a penny are small, and the a penny very small. The principal place for their sale is in , City-road. The other principal places are the street-markets, which I have before particularised. The whelks are sold in saucers, generally small and white, and of common ware, and are contained in jars, ready to be "shelled" into any saucer that may have been emptied. Sometimes a small pyramid of shells, surmounted by a candle protected by a shade, attracts the regard of the passer-by. The man doing the best business in London was to be found, before the removals of which I have spoken, in Lambeth-walk, but he has now no fixed locality. His profits, I am informed, were regularly a week; but out of this he had to pay for the assistance of or sometimes persons, in washing his whelks, boiling them, &c.; besides that, his wife was as busy as himself. To the quality and cleanliness of his whelks he was very attentive, and would sell no mediocre article if better could be bought. "He deserved all he earned, sir," said another street-dealer to me; "why, in now they'll have the old original saucers, miserable things, such as they had years back; but the man we're talking of, about years ago, brought in very pretty plates, quite enterprising things, and they answered well. His example's spreading, but it's slowly." The whelks are eaten with vinegar and pepper.

For sale in the public-houses, the whelks are most frequently carried in jars, and transferred in a saucer to the consumer. "There's often a good sale," said a man familiar with the business, "when a public room's filled. People drinking there always want to eat. They buy whelks, not to fill themselves, but for a relish. A man that's used to the trade will often get off inferior sorts to the lushingtons; he'll have them to rights. Whelks is all the same, good, bad, or middling, when a man's drinking, if they're well seasoned with pepper and vinegar.

The trade is carried on by the regular costers, but of the present number of whelk-sellers, about have been mechanics or servants. The whelk-trade is an evening trade, commencing generally about , summer and winter, or an hour earlier in winter.

The capital required to start in the whelkbusiness is: stall, ; saucers, vinegar-bottle, jar, pepper-castor, and small watering-pan (used only in dusty weather), ; a pair of stilts (supports for the stall), ; stock-money, ; pepper and vinegar, , or in all. If the trade be commenced in a round basket, for public-house sale, or only is required, but it is a hazardous experiment for a person unpractised in street business.