16 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



Of the crayfish order, these waters furnish for the 

 kitchen only the Lobster, (Cancer Gammarus L.), and 

 a Crab. Before the war lobsters were numerous, but 

 for some years have been seldom seen. The fisher- 

 men's explanation was that the lobster + was disturbed 

 by the many ships' anchors and frightened by the can- 

 non fire. How much ground there was for this theory 

 I will not attempt to say, but it is true that since the 

 war lobsters have this year shown themselves for the 

 first time in the Sound.* 



We were compelled to spend a few hours of the 

 night at Staten Island, in order to catch the flood tide, 

 for light winds had brought us on so slowly that the 

 ebb from Newark Bay was already against us. The 

 tide coming in by Sandy Hook finds several channels 

 of varying length and breadth in which to distribute 

 itself; in consequence the rise and fall take place at 

 different times in the East River, the Hudson, and 

 Newark Bay, although each of these is filled and 

 emptied through the same channel. 



The distance between York Island and Staten Island 

 is scarcely more than nine English miles. Staten Island 

 and the west end of Long Island are separated by a 

 channel only three miles wide at a point called the 

 Narrows, which is the chief entrance for ships coming 

 to York. The channel between the island and East 

 Jersey is of varying width, but navigable only for 

 smaller craft. Staten Island is sixteen miles long and 



* Elsewhere they change their habitat with the season ; in 

 Sweden they are found at midsummer (um Johannis) six 

 fathom deep, in July at a depth of from eight to ten fathoms, 

 and later in the autumn at a depth of fourteen or fifteen 

 fathoms. 



