SABLE ISLAND—(CONTINUED).—MACDONALD. 117 
site of an old encampment. Here lay rusty guns and bayonets, 
knives made from iron hoops, broken glass, a tattered English 
ensign, human bones, mingled with those of cattle and seals, an 
- English shilling of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, sharp as when 
taken from the mint which furnishes the date of the disaster. 
But nothing further left to give a clue to the sufferers, except 
that they were Englishmen. 
Thus those gales are ever bringing to view, evidence of calam- 
ity of which history and tradition are equally silent. 
Turning to the lake we find more proof of the vicissitudes this 
Island has undergone. When first known the lake had an open- 
ing on the north side which was afterwards closed. A few years 
later during a terrific storm the seas forced a channel through 
the lake margin on the south side rendering it a convenient 
harbour for small vessels. But in 1836 a similar tempest closed it 
again, shutting in two American fishermen, who ran in for shel- 
ter on seeing the storm approaching. 
Gradually it became very shoal from the material drifting into 
it, but being dammed up by the closing of the inlet and filled by 
the surf washing across the ridge, it afforded great facility for 
forwarding the life boat in case of a wreck, and the transport 
of wrecked material to main station for shipment. 
During the winter of 1881, a severe gale opened a gulch 
towards the east end, so draining it as to reduce it to 8 miles in 
length and rendering it useless as a means of transport. 
The lake margin forming the south shore in like manner 
testifies to the destructive agency of the sea. Having a breadth 
at one time of 3a mile, with sand hills of upwards of 50 feet in 
height; at present it is merely a narrow ridge forming a precar- 
ious sea wall, over which the waves now break in heavy weather. 
Should this inner barrier be removed the work of demolition will 
go forward with increased rapidity. 
During storms, in addition to the actions of waves and currents, 
the winds independently ravage its surface. 
Finding a raw spot, as it is termed, the eddying winds scoop 
out the loose sand (when not confined by the roots of the grass) 
into bowl-like depressions, which afterwards form those fresh 
