8 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 
five miles from the western end. Its removal was necessitated in 1814, 
in 1820, and in 1833, the sea advancing meantime eleven miles. A survey 
in 1829 gave a length of only twenty-two miles, while another in 1851 
increased this to twenty-three, since which time no survey has been made. 
Two wooden lighthouses, one at either end, were erected in 1873, the 
distance between them in a direct line being twenty-one miles, with 
probably a mile or so of grass-covered hills beyond them at either 
extremity. In 1882 the sea undermined the western lighthouse, and it 
was hastily taken down and moved 1218 feet further eastward. In 1888 
a second removal became necessary, and this time it was transported 
nearly two miles eastward (g1oo feet SE. by E., 4 E.) to the site it 
now occupies. Meanwhile the sea has advanced to within about half a 
mile, and in a very few years will again threaten its destruction. 
These figures are derived principally from one of Mr. Macdonald’s 
interesting papers on Sable Island.’ It will be observed that they are 
somewhat conflicting, but whether this is due to inaccuracies in the surveys, 
to the difficulty of determining exactly where the ends of the island are, 
or to an actual movement eastward of the sand, the fact remains that 
the island is far smaller than it was a century ago. 
Regarding the history of the lagoon or lake which has always occupied 
a large portion of the island, I cannot do better than quote a few lines 
from the Rev. George Patterson’s excellent and exhaustive paper,’ where 
he says :— 
The changes going on in the physical structure of the*island appear further from 
what has taken place in the lake. Some time before the first government establish- 
ment was placed on the island there was an opening into it from the north. The 
superintendent, writing in 1808, says that ‘it is completely shut, and it is difficult to 
trace where it has been.’ The superintendent in 1826 mentions the same fact, but 
urges the reopening of it, which he thinks might be accomplished at moderate expense, 
in which case it would serve asa harbor of refuge for vessels of fifty tons. Some 
years after a terrific storm caused a similar opening from the south, through which 
small vessels entered for shelter, but in the year 1836 a similar storm filled it up 
again, inclosing two American vessels which had taken refuge within. 
For some time after the formation of the government establishment on the island, 
this lake was fifteen miles long, and, though gradually becoming shoal from the 
material drifting into it, it afforded a very convenient means of transport by boat. 
The residents largely used it in conveying supplies to the east end, in bringing wood 
1 Trans. N.S. Inst. Nat. Sci., Vol. VI, pt. iv, 1886, pp. 110-119. 
? Rev. George Patterson, ‘Sable Island, its history and phenomena,’ Trans. Royal Soc. Canada 
Sec. II, 1894, pp. 1-49. 
