ON SABLIO ISLAND. 5 



"The sun often rises clear, giving indications of continncd good weather, and witli tlie 

 exception of the sea breaking high on the bars, and the fretful moan of the surf as it breaks 

 along the shore, there is no premonition of the coming storm. Suddenly a dull, leaden haze 

 obscures the sun, clouds gather from all directions. The sky assumes a wild, unusual 

 appearance. The wind begins to rise in titful gusts, carrying swirls of sand before it. The 

 darkness increases as the low, driving scud shuts in all distant objects. Now the gale bursts 

 in awful fury, whipping oiF the summits of the hummocks, carrying before it a cloud of 

 blinding sand-drift. Darkness adds to the horror of the scene, while the rain descends in a 

 perfect deluge. No hiinian voice can be heard above the tempest. The crinkled lightning 

 for an instant lights up the mad waves, as they rear and leap along the beach. Then a sud- 

 den calm ensues — as strange as calm. A few short gusts at tirst break this period of tran- 

 (piillity, and in a few minutes the hurricane bursts again from the opposite c[uarter. The 

 darkness is still intense, relieveil only by the red glare of the lightning, which is quickly 

 followed by the crashing of the thunder, as it strives to be heard above the howling of the 

 blast. Gradually the storm ceases, the clouds break and Y'ack away in dense black masses 

 to leeward, and the sea alone retains its wild tuiuult." ' 



The more violent of these strike the boldest with awe, if not with terror. The full 

 force of the Atlantic beating upon a shore of iifty miles seems to cause the earth to quiver 

 to its foundations, while the inhabitants tremble at the fury of the wind, wbieh seems likelj- 

 to hurl their dwellings into the seething ocean. 



One of the most striking phenomena connected with the island is the phosphorescent 

 light of the sea, of which there are here sometimes the most magnificent displays. The 

 ocean will appear at times to be in a blaze, or, when the sea breaks high, it will rise as a 

 great fire, it may be to the height of fifteen or twenty feet. 



At times the weather is so calm and the sea so still that a lad might land in a fiat, but 

 again, when the wind is high, landing is not attempted ; but even in ordinary weather it is 

 a work of difficulty and sometimes of danger. 



As the visitor lands he sees here the shore cut by the sea into sand-clifis, and there a 

 sloping expanse of sand defended by a sea-beach. As he turns his ejes to the right or left 

 he sees relics of wreck — here it may Ije the remains of some gallant mast, or there a ship's 

 timbers standing ghastly out of the sand like ribs of some huge skeleton. Proceeding 

 onward he mounts a ridge of sand, here blown into hills, there scooped into bowl-like hol- 

 lows, here without vegetation, but as he advances covered with coarse grass mixed with wild 

 peas. Descending into the central valley, he finds a soil of Idack, peaty texture to the depth 

 of fifteen or eighteen inches. In several places there are fresh-water ponds, formed by the 

 rain-water in hollows scooped out in the sand by the wind. It may be mentioned that fresh 

 water is found anywhere in the sand hy digging to the depth of alxnit eighteen inches.- In 

 the interior around the lake are seen wild roses, asters and lilies, and abundance of straw- 

 berries, blueberries and cranberries, the latter forming an article of export of some importance. 



AVild ducks remain on the island all the year round, the most common being the black 

 duck and the sheldrake. Numbers are shot to supply the tallies of the residents, and their 



'"Sable Island, and its Attendant Phenomena," hy S. D. McDonald, ' Transactions of N. S. Institute of Science,' 

 vi-, 29. 



^ Sir William Dawson (" Acadian Geology," page 37) supposes that this is from rain-water, which floats on a 

 subsoil soaked with water from the ocean. 



