SABLE ISLAND—(CONTINUED).—MACDONALD. 115 
including the west end light house, a magnificent structure erected 
in 1873, one mile inside the grass hills. 
Early in Feb’y. of that year a gale of unusual violence visited 
the Island accompanied by very high tides; already the sea had 
removed the embankment to within 40 feet of the bluff on which 
the light house keeper’s barn stood, and within dangerous prox- 
imity to the light house itself. As the tide rose the gale in- 
creased. All hands were now out ready for any emergency 
that might require their presence. 
The cattle had been removed to the porch of the light house. 
As the staff were watching the force of the waves that were now 
undermining the embankment with great rapidity, suddenly a 
depression along the margin of the cliff gave warning of a down- 
fall. The next instant an area equal to 48 feet broad and a } of 
a mile long descended into the surges on the north side, while 
during the night the 40 feet in front of the barn and along the 
sand bluff dissappeared; next morning the barn went crashing 
below and was swiftly carried away by the current. 
The storms that produce the most destruction are those from 
the 8. E. bringing in heavy seas, which striking obliquely on the 
south shore aided by the powerful current setting to the west 
erode the sand cliffs until large masses are detached, fall into the 
current, and are carried forward. This also helps to prolong the 
N. W. Bar. 
Again, during calm weather when winds and waves are 
still, the shores and bars are white with foam from the ever 
present ground swell which renders landing so precarious; it is 
seldom attempted except by the surf boats at the station. 
In the loss of the west end light-house we have a remarkable in- 
stance of the wasting force of this swell. The weather had been 
unusually quiet for the space of two days, during which time a 
heavy ground swell hove in from the 8. E., (probably from a gale 
passing along the gulf stream), which carried away the remaining 
12 feet of embankment in front of the light house, causing it to lean 
dangerously forward, and necessitated the hasty removal of the 
apparatus. From this time the light ceased to send its 
warning across the wayes. 
