64 SEA FISHERIES 



flanks are sloped by the Polar current, its southern 

 flank by the Gulf Stream ; while Cabot's current washes 

 its western corner. The surface of the Great Bank is 

 hilly. Its depth along the edges is 50 fathoms ; over the 

 greater part of its eastern regions, known as the Flemish 

 Bonnet, soundings are 35, 30, and 25 fathoms. The 

 western extremity is irregular, as though much disturbed ; 

 there are shoals of 25 fathoms beside depressions of 

 more than 50 fathoms. The largest of these holes, 

 known as Whale Hole, is 60 fathoms in depth ; close by 

 it is a narrow depression 10 fathoms deeper. These 

 holes are due to eddies and back-washes, caused by the 

 encounter, at right angles, of the Polar current and 

 Cabot's current. To the east the Great Bank is covered 

 with white sands, very fine and glistening ; to the west 

 with grey sands, plain or speckled, which are strewn with 

 broken shells and pebbles. 



The Canso, Misaine, and Artimon banks are also 

 irregular. The edges are some 50 fathoms below the 

 surface ; the centre, 40 fathoms. The Misaine, which is 

 the largest of the three, has seven holes, more than 50 

 fathoms in depth ; these are the work of the eddies 

 caused by the meeting at right angles of the left side of 

 the Gulf Stream with the right side of Cabot's current. 

 They consist very largely of sand, but there are many 

 pebbles, brought by the shore ice and dropped as the 

 icebergs thaw in the summer. 



The Banquereau yields the following data. Edges, 

 50 fathoms ; western portion, 30 to 20 ; central portion, 

 35 ; eastern portion, 30 to 25. There are no eddies, and 

 therefore no holes. It is swept by the central currents of 

 the Gulf Stream and Cabot's current, which cover it with 

 black and grey sand. These deposits are so abundant 

 that the bank tends to grow higher, and forms along its 



