with an extreme length of 63 miles and a width of 43. Between this bank and Cape Sable are the Seal Island Grounds, while to the northeast are Roseway Bank and Le Have Bank, the latter being a favorite fishing ground for American fishermen.

The parallel of 44° and the meridian of 60° pass through Sable Island. This island, narrow and crescent-shaped, is in the eastern part of the extensive Sable Island Bank, which is elliptical in form with a length of 156 miles and a width of 56. To the northeast of the Island is the Gully-famous for its halibut-a deep passageway between Sable Island and Banquereau, another important fishing bank with an area of about 2,800 square miles. To the west of Sable Island Bank are the Owl and Doubtful Bank, while on the northern shoal is another called the Middle Ground. North of Banquereau is an irregular stretch of grounds termed Misane Bank, flanked on the west by Canso Bank and on the east by Artimon Bank.

NEWFOUNDLAND BANKS.

The Bank of Saint Pierre, situated off the southern coast of Newfoundland, extends in a northwest and southeast direction. On its northern edge it approaches to within ten miles of the French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Cod and halibut are the principal fish taken on this bank. On its eastern edge a gully, attaining a depth of 100 fathoms in places, separates the Bank of Saint Pierre from Green Bank by a distance of fifteen miles. Halibut are taken on the latter bank.

Seven miles to the east of Green Bank lies the Grand Bank of Newfoundland. It is roughly triangular in shape, one side facing N.N.E., another S.W., and the third about E. by S. North and south it extends from below the parallel of 43° to beyond that of 47°; its width is between the

meridians of 48° and 54°, giving it an area of 37,000 square miles, or more than that of the state of Indiana. A channel separates the bank from Cape Race, which is 35 miles distant. The polar current sweeps across the bank from the north to the southwest, bearing icebergs to the northern and eastern parts of the bank, causing dense fogs, preventing fishing much of the season each year, and imperiling, not only fishermen, but trans-Atlantic liners as well. In summer, the Gulf Stream sweeps over the southern part of the bank; in winter, it flows past a few miles to the south.

Shoals are found at Virgin Rocks and Eastern Shoals, located in the northern part of the bank. The Virgin Rocks consist of a group of small rocky shoals, the more important being Main Ledge, with three to 19 fathoms' depth, Briar Shoal, Southwest Rock, and Bucksport Shoal with a depth of 434 to 11 fathoms. The Eastern Shoals lie 15 miles eastward of the Virgin Rocks, and have a range in depth from 7 to 27 fathoms. The average depth of the bank as a whole is between 35 and 45 fathoms.

The southern part of the bank has a bottom of fine sand of varying color; a middle section consists of sand, gravel and pebbles over certain areas; the northern part is of gravel, pebbles and rocks. The eastern edge of the bank descends rapidly into deep water. The southwest edge of the bank is the best region for halibut. Cod are found principally on the southern half of the bank and on the central and northern part. Other fish that are caught are bank quahogs, bank clams, clams, periwinkles, sea anemones, sea pumpkins, sea lemons, crabs, shrimp, starfish, specimens of octopus, squid and capelin.

The fishing season lasts from April to October. Early in the season the fishing is carried on at the southern part of the bank. As the season advances the fleet moves northward to the vicinity of the Virgin Rocks. In June

capelin make their appearance, and the shoal of cod found following them has been termed the "capelin school" by fishermen. In July the body of cod on the ground is called the "squid school," since the fish no longer take the herring and capelin offered them for bait, but are attracted by the quantities of squid that arrive at this time. Hand-liners report seeing the cod in large numbers lazily swimming along in the clear shoal water of Virgin Rocks and refusing to touch hooks baited with herring.

Before any permanent French or English settlements had been made in America the Grand Bank of Newfoundland was frequented by fishing vessels from France, Portugal, Spain and England. France led in these Newfoundland fisheries, making regular voyages as early as 1504. The first accounts of Portugal, Spain and England are in 1517, when there were fifty vessels of all sorts at Newfoundland. Sixty years later the number of vessels had increased to 315. For more than four centuries, during which time the fishing has been well nigh continuous in its season, the Grand Bank of Newfoundland has been the principal source of supply of the codfish to American and European consumers. Since the close of the Civil War the halibut fishery, also, has been carried on successfully by American fishermen. It would be difficult to find in the whole world an equivalent area of the ocean bed which equals in historic interest and economic importance the Grand Bank of Newfoundland.

LONG ISLAND TO FLORIDA.

The coast of the Atlantic from Montauk Point, Long Island, to Cape Florida, is in striking contrast to that described above. North of the parallel of 41° the coast is irregular and rocky, scarred by the ice of the glacial epoch; to the south it is unbroken and sandy. In one sec