4 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



of islands is soou reached, lying off the coast and parallel with it, under the shelter of which, in Kouchibouguac and 

 Eichibucto harbors, there is an abundance of beds. Passing on southward, along the shore of Northumberland 

 strait, Buctouche, Cocaigne, and Shediac bays follow in productive succession, beyond which there are no beds 

 reported, until cape Tormentine is passed and the shallow coast of Nova Scotia is reached, extending from Pugwash 

 to Pictou. These last two localities are of small account, and close the list for the mainland. 



Prince Edwaed island. — Prince Edward island, however, is almost engirdled with oysters and their remains, 

 except at the western end, where the precipitous red banks that give so picturesque an aspect to this coast, are 

 unsuitable for oyster-growth. The localities where beds exist, or have existed, on the island are: Cascumpeque, 

 Richmond bay, Grand river, and the Narrows, in a group; Malpeque, the harbor of New London, Hillsborough bay 

 and river near Charlottetowu, and Bedeque and Egmout bays. In addition to these main localities there is an 

 almost continual line of shallow and sheltered coves and inlets, around the whole eastern coast of the island, where 

 extinct or semi-fossil beds of oysters are to be found, embracing nearly every tidal bay or outlet. 



Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. — Crossing now over to Cape Breton, a glance at the map will remind the 

 reader that the whole interior of the island is occupied by the Bras d'Or, which enters by two narrow channels 

 from the northeast, with Boulardrie island between them. "The Bras d'Or is the most beautiful salt-water lake 

 I have ever seen, and more beautiful than I had imagined a body of salt water could be," says Mr. Charles 

 Dudley Warner, in BaddecJc and That Sort of Thing. "The water seeks out all the low places, and ramifies the 

 interior, running away into lovely bays and lagoons, leaving slender tongues of laud and picturesque islands, and 

 bringing into the recesses of the land, to the remote country farms and settlements, the flavor of salt and the fish 

 and mollusks of the briny sea. There is very little tide at any time, so that the shores are clean and sightly for 

 the most part, like those of a fresh- water lake. It has all the pleasantness of a fresh-water lake, with all the 

 advantages of a salt one. In the streams which run into it are the speckled trout, the shad, and the salmon; out 

 of its depths are hooked the cod and the mackerel, aiul in its bays fattens the oyster. This irregular lake is about 

 one hundred miles long, if you measure it skillfully, and in some places ten miles broad ; but so indented is it, that 

 I am not sure but one would need, as we were informed, to ride one thousand miles to go round it, following all 

 its incursions into the land." 



Here, as might be expected, the oyster lives in plenty, from St. Ann's to Mira river and St. Peter's bay. 



"The few oysters to bo met witli off Nova Scotia," according to Purdy, "occur at Jeddore head, twenty or 

 twenty-five miles east of Halifax harbor; also Country harbor, St. Mary's river, and Liscombe harbor, Guysboro' 

 county, on the outside, and Pictou harbor, John river, Wallace, Charles river, and Pugwash (mentioned above), in 

 Northumberland straits." 



This catalogue appears to embrace the whole region known where oysters occiu-. In none of his dredging 

 expeditions upon the Dominion's vessels did Professor Whiteaves meet with "traces even of oysters in any part of 

 the area between Cape Breton and Prince Edward island, nor in any part of Northumberland straits, where the 

 bottom is deeper than 5 or G fathoms— that is to say, not in any of the opeu parts". In a letter printed in the 

 Canadian Xafnrali:^ for 1874, hereafter frequently to be referred to, the Hon. W. H. Pope, of Summerside, Prince 

 Edward island, reiterates this assertion, but adds: 



Some years asQ I observed a quantity of oyster-sliells on the sand at the north end of Tryon shoals (which are situated on the south 

 side of the island); they were about a qii-arter of a mile from the shore. Some of the shells were filled with s.ind more compact than 

 some of our sandstone rocks. When I iirst observed these shells, my opinion was that they h.ad been washed ashore from beds situated 

 in the deep water of the straits of Northumberland. It has since occurred to me that they arc in situ, and are the remains of an ancient 

 oyster-bed which had been destroyed by the sand. The existence of a soft, mnddy bottom in the vicinity of these shells, supports tho 

 supposition that at some period this muddy bottom was more extensive than at present ; that the oyster-bed was then formed, and was 

 destroyed by the encroachment of the sand formin;; the Tryon sho.al. 



Whiteaves on the southern fauna of the gulf of St. La-wrence. — A suggestion of how it may be 

 possible for oysters and so many other southern-dwelling mollusks to inhabit a sea so far north, and apparently so 

 exposed to the arctic ice and freezing currents that sweep down past Labrador, as are these, is made by Whiteaves 

 in the following paragraph : 



On the admiralty charts of the gulf of St. Lam-enco an irregular lino of CO-fiithoms soundings may be seen to extend from 

 a little above the northern extremity of tho island of Capo Breton, round the Magdalen group, and thence in a westerly direction 

 ■ to Bonaveutnro island. To the south .and southwest of this line the water is uniformly somewh.at sh.allow, while to tho north, 

 northwest, and northeast the water deepens r.apidly, and in some places precipitously. Princip.al Dawson suggests that tho subcarbon- 

 iferous rocks of which the M.agdalen islands are composed, and which .appear again in the mainland. In Bonaventure county, m.ay 

 possibly cross up under the sea in the area between the northwest side of Cape Breton and the mainland of New Brunswick, as well .as 

 that of the counties of Bonaventure and Oasp^i, in the province of Quebec. This may account for the sh.iUowness of the water in tho 

 .area in question. Wlietlier this is the case or not, it seems not improbable that the submarine plateau inside of this line of shallow 

 soundings may form a natural barrier to those arctic currents which sweep down the straits of Belle Isle in a southwesterly direction, 

 and may tend to deflect their course in a bold curve into and up the river St. Lawrence. 



Size and quality of Canadian oysters.— The oysters of this region are of large size, and have thick, 

 strong shells. Oysters of eight or ten inches in length are not extraordinary. I have heard of shells dredged 

 fi'OMi exllnct beds "as long as your f(u-earm", but I saw none of these monsters. The best are those which 



