PLANTS COLLECTED IN BAHAMAS, ETC. 159 



360 fathoms. The latter is about the same distance from 

 Cuba, with a channel about as deep. The channel between 

 the Great Bahama bank and Cuba gradually narrows to about 

 twelve miles at its southwestern bend. The shallowest por- 

 tion is southeast of Salt Cay bank where the greatest depth is 

 about 260 fathoms. The edge of the bank now turns east 

 and the water to the south quickly deepens to 700 and 800 

 fathoms. The bank extends east nearly to 75 west longi- 

 tude, then north and west with a long arm lying to the east 

 of the tongue of the ocean, including Long Island, Great 

 Exuma, and at the northwest corner New Providence. 

 This portion is deeply indented from the southeast by 

 Exuma Sound, the bank passing around this, with Eleu- 

 thera and Cat Island separating it from the ocean. Exuma 

 Sound has a depth of 800 to 1,000 fathoms. The depth of 

 w^ater over the banks is rarely more than fifteen fathoms. 



In a line with this eastern ridge and south of Cat Island 

 are Conception Island, distant twenty miles, and Eum Cay, 

 ten miles further. There is a depth of 800 fathoms 

 between the first two, and 650 fathoms between the second 

 and third. Watling's Island, about seventeen miles north- 

 east of Rum Cay, is quite isolated, being separated from 

 the latter by 1,260 fathoms and from Cat Island by 2,480 

 fathoms. 



East of the southern end of Great Bahama bank lies the 

 Acklin Island group with Crooked Island Passage between. 

 This consists of Crooked, Fortune and Acklin islands. The 

 passage at the narrowest place is about thirty miles wide 

 and a greatest depth of 1,290 fathoms. In a southeasterly 

 direction lie Mariguana, Caicos, and finally Turk's Islands. 

 The deep soundings for the channels separating these are 

 not given on the charts. This extension is separated from 

 Haiti by deep water, mostly over 2,000 fathoms. Inagua, 

 about sixty miles north of the west end of Haiti, is the most 

 southerly island of the Bahamas. The distance from Cuba 

 is about fifty miles and the depth decreases somewhat, the 

 deepest sounding being 1,698 fathoms. From this the 



