G14 REPORT OP COMMISSIONER OP PISH AND FISHERIES. [10] 



anchorage at 6.43 a. m. on the 12th. The naturalists landed an hour 

 later and made a successful hunt for birds, reptiles, &c. 



At 1.50 p. m. we got under way and made two hauls with the taugles 

 on the edge of the reef in 36 and 369 fathoms. The bottom was ex- 

 ceedingly rough, the tangles fouling soon after they landed on the reef. 

 We secured very few specimens beside fragments of coral rock which 

 were detached by dragging the apparatus over the uneven surfaces. 

 Finding the work difficult and almost wholly unproductive, we returned 

 to our anchorage at 4.55 p. m. 



We were under way again at 1.16 a. m., March 13, and ran a line of 

 soundings to Wide Opening, thence to the head of the Sound. At 2.05 

 p. m. we lowered the trawl in 791 fathoms, white coral ooze, landing it 

 on deck at 4.53 p. in., with a few shrimp, a fragment of a holothurian, 

 a quantity of dead coral, &c, the mad-bag being filled with the white, 

 pasty ooze of the bottom. 



The results of this haul confirm our former experience of the barren- 

 ness of waters where the bottom is composed of coral sand or ooze. 

 The haul finished, we started for the channel between Eleuthera and 

 Little San Salvador Islands, sounding 1| miles inside the reef in 476 

 fathoms, and one-half mile outside in 926 fathoms. The depth increased 

 to 2,664 fathoms 30 miles to seaward in a northerly direction, latitude 25° 

 2' 45" N., longitude 75° 43' W. Having completed the line, we steamed 

 for N.E. banks off Northern Eleutherd, running a line of soundings 

 from 11 fathoms on the banks, to 2,663 fathoms, latitude 25° 44' 45" N., 

 longitude 76° 23' 15" W. The last sounding was taken at 5.10 p. in., 

 March 14. We then stood for Nassau, New Providence, under low 

 speed, arriving and mooring in the harbor at 7.15 a. in., March 15. 

 We were visited by the harbor-master and health officer, and promptly 

 granted pratique. A boat was sent for the United States Consul, T. J. 

 McLain, who visited the ship. At 3 p. m., accompanied by the United 

 States consul, I made an official call on his excellency the governor, 

 Henry A. Blake. It being the closed season, a license for our natur- 

 alists -to shoot birds for specimens was requested, and granted as fol- 

 lows : 



Government House, 



Bahamas, March 17, 1886. 

 In virtue of the authority vested in me by the terms of the 48th Vic- 

 toria, chapter 10, I hereby grant permission to the undernamed per- 

 sons to take, during the year 1886, whatever birds or eggs of birds, 

 protected by the provisions of the said act, they may require for the 

 purposes of the scientific expedition of which they are members. 



HENRY A. BLAKE, 



Governor. 



Jas. E. Benedict, O. H. Townsend, F. L. Washburn, Thomas Lee, 

 W. Nye, jr. 



HENRY A. BLAKE, 



Governor. 



