31 



the bottom is extromely variable, and Avill be diseussed in more 

 detail in connection with the various beds. 



Errol Island, Avhieh is next in size, lies about four miles 

 to the southward. About eig-ht miles long and almost every- 

 where less than one-half mile in width, it is verj^ similar to the 

 island already described. Along the eastern shore a low ridge of 

 sand, four or five feet high, has been thrown up by the waves, 

 but it is nearly uniform in height and is without the high mounds 

 characteristic of the other island. The western side is a low, 

 marshy fiat, which is somewhat higher and less cut up in the 

 lower portion of the island, although it is probably entirely cov- 

 ered during an extreme high tide. From the marsh on this side 

 the bottom continues as a wide shallow flat, which is also pro- 

 tected by a bar. Near the northern end the flat is almost entirely 

 a very' shallow sand spit, while the remainder is nearly all soft 

 bottom, with irregular patches of hard sand near the shore. The 

 soft bottom is unevenly covered with eel grass at a depth of 

 from two to five feet. The southern point of the island con- 

 tinues as a shallow spit for some distance. 



Breton Island, which forms the southern end of the cres- 

 cent, is a hook-shapeJ island about six miles long, separated 

 from Errol Island by a gap eight miles wide. In general it is 

 very similar to the islands already referred to, and does not re- 

 quire any detailed description in this connection. The opening 

 between the points is more or less protected by a shallow bar 

 similar to those which limited the flat at the other islands. The 

 area enclosed in this manner by the island is nearly all soft bot- 

 tom, as was found at the other islands. The shallower portions 

 are almost entirely covered with eel grass. Several small, grassy 

 knolls protrude from the water near the middle of the island. 

 Around the edges of these, as well as in several of the narrow 

 bayous on shore, many fish w^ere seen, among which the redfish 

 and the common mullet were the only food fish recognized. 



The New Harbor Islands are three low, grassy islets, lying 

 about fifteen miles below the lighthouse, and separated from the 

 main island by a channel about three miles wade. From these 

 islets a broad flat extends in a southwesterly direction for over 

 a mile. 



