266 SABLE ISLAND—MACDONALD. 
In my second paper I called your attention to the vicissitudes 
this island had undergone from storm and current which, accord- 
ing to Admiralty surveys, had within 80 years reduced its area 
from 40 miles in length and 2} miles in breadth to 22 miles in 
length and less than 1 mile in breadth, and its height from 200 
feet to 80 feet, materially altering its outline and position. 
I will now endeavor to trace its origin, its relation to that 
vast sand accumulation known as off shore banks, and also the 
causes now at work hastening its destruction or submergence. 
Of course any attempt at an explanation of its origin must be 
based upon the assumption that it is the result of natural 
agencies, in other words that it is not a mere huge sand bank 
thrown up by some freak of nature, as it might appear to a 
casual observer, but that the forces that rolled each grain of 
sand against its fellow until this immense accumulation arose as 
an island from its ocean bed, are governed by a law as fixed and 
unalterable as that which holds the planets in their orbits. 
In seeking for its origin among others two theories are prom- 
inent. Ist, that it is the result of causes now visible and subject 
to investigation, as in the case of material being transported by 
icebergs. 2nd, that it is the remains of a former age, now under- 
going geological changes yet unfinished. 
Before us we have a chart showing off shore banks, and 
another showing their relative submergence, which I have com- 
piled from latest surveys. 
Beginning at the eastern extremity of this remarkable forma- 
tion we have what is known as the great bank, 240 miles E. and 
W., and 294 miles N. and 8., an area equal to the whole island 
of Newfoundland. West from this we have the Quero bank, 120 
miles in length; north of this again is the Canso bank, 60 miles 
in length; west from Quero, 12 miles distant, we have the Sable 
Island bank, 200 miles in length and 90 miles in breadth. On 
this bank we have a narrow thread-like elevation above the sur- 
face which is Sable Island proper. North of this, separated by 
a narrow channel, is what is known as the middle ground, 35 
miles in length. West from this is Sambro, 12 miles in length ; 
then LaHave bank 32 miles E. and W.; then the Roseway bank, 
