204 A VISIT TO SABLE ISLAND 



told and letters are delivered, while the visitor is lowered into the 

 boat which is to return to the island. The lifeboat enters the 

 perpetual fringe of the surf, the crew bend to their oars, the helms- 

 man standing high in the stern, and giving his orders in a stentorian 

 voice, and at length the great buoyant boat goes riding on the back 

 of a huge wave, and is carried high up on the beach amid a cascade 

 of white, foaming water. To spring from their seats into the surf 

 and hold hard the boat to prevent its being carried back by the 

 receding wave is the work of only a few moments. Presently she 

 is dragged high up on the beach out of danger. 



The visitor is now conducted towards the residence of the 

 superintendent at what is called the Main Station, where a kind 

 welcome is extended alike to idle curiosity or to real distress. He 

 notes the neat, well-kept buildings, the large stores and boat-houses, 

 the sailors' home for shipwrecked men, the white column of the 

 lighthouse, and the cattle lowing around the well-stocked barns. He 

 might fancy himself many miles inland, so sheltered is the scene, 

 were it not for the incessant roar of the surf as it comes dashing 

 again and again along the beach. 



He is next taken to the flagstaff, and climbing into the ' Crow's 

 Nest ', surveys the desolate scene. He looks out upon the crescent- 

 shaped outline of the undulating sandbank covered with a carpet 

 of coarse, rank grasses, cropped here and there by shaggy ponies. 

 He sees the middle of the island occupied by a large and shallow 

 lake, in which perhaps wild-fowl are swimming. By the help of 

 a glass he can see the flagstaff at the foot of the lake, the burial 

 plot of ground amid the long grass on the slope of a hill conse- 

 crated to the repose of many a storm-tossed body, and here and 

 there along the beach the ribs of unlucky vessels half-buried in the 

 shifting sands. 



Troops of the wild ponies are seen moving among the more 

 fertile patches at the edges of the numerous fresh-water ponds ; 

 seals may be made out basking on the warm sands or showing 

 like ledges of dark rock along the shore. 



The establishment kept at Sable Island for the relief of ship- 

 wrecked crews consists of the superintendent and his family at 

 the headquarters, with a boat's crew, cowherd and teamster, and 

 cooks for the men's messes ; an outpost-man and his family at 

 the south side, another family at the foot of the lake eight miles 

 distant, and another at the eastern extremity in all, with women 

 and children, about forty souls. Their duty is to keep perpetually 

 on the lookout for vessels in distress, and to render every assistance 

 in saving life and property. In fine weather the lookout men 

 from the various stations can see the entire circuit of the island. 



