FISHING-GROUNDS 67 



a belt whose width varies from 18 to 60 miles, it is to 

 Iceland what the continental plateau is to Europe ; it is 

 the region of the Iceland fisheries the Iceland bank. 



The banks of Iceland reproduce on a large scale all 

 the curves of the coast. They support three islands : 

 in the north Grimsey, in the south-west Fuglasker, and in 

 the south the Westmann Islands. Here and there high 

 bottoms of 50 fathoms are found side by side with 

 depths of 100 fathoms. The soil is thus relatively 

 smooth. It is covered with sand, gravels, broken shells, 

 pebbles, and a little ooze, sediment from the shore, and 

 deposits of debris from the ice-pack, which melts in the 

 summer, thanks to the ultimate northern reaches of the 

 Gulf Stream. The fishing-grounds most frequented by 

 French boats lie between Portland and Rejkjavik, in the 

 south and south-west, and are fished in summer ; more 

 rarely, the ledge round Cape Horn in the north, the 

 open sea off Dyraifjord on the west, and in the east the 

 neighbourhood of Sejdisfjord and Fakrudfjord. 



VI 



It is to M. A. Gruvel that we owe the most recent 

 works on the fisheries of the West Coast of Africa. These 

 fisheries must not be confounded with those on the 

 Arguin bank ; there is no relation between the two. 

 The Arguin bank is very little known, dangerous, and 

 possibly anything but rich in fish. The Atlanto-Saharan 

 banks, on the contrary (the term is used by my friend 

 M. Pierre L. Bourdis) are an exemplary fishing-ground. 



The African continental plateau runs uninterruptedly 

 from Cape Spartel to the neighbourhood of the Cape of 

 Good Hope. It is nowhere less than 60 miles wide. 

 Beyond the loo-fathom line the floor slopes rapidly to 

 500 fathoms. On the chart, the i,ooo-fathom line 



