CHAPTER IY. 



JJGET SOUND is a great inland 

 sea, extending nearly 200 miles 

 from the ocean, having a sur- 

 face of about 2,000 square miles, 

 and a shore line of 1,594 miles, 

 indented with numerous bays, harbors, and inlets, 

 each with its peculiar name ; and it contains numer- 

 ous islands inhabited by farmers, lumbermen, herds- 

 men, and those engaged in quarrying lime and build- 

 ing stone. Nothing can surpass the beauty of these 

 waters and their safety. Not a shoal exists within 

 the Sound, the Straits of Juan de Fuca, Admiralty 

 Bay, Hood's Canal, or the Straits of Georgia, that 

 would in any way interrupt their navigation by a 

 seventy-four-gun ship. There is no country in the 

 world that possesses waters equal to these. The 

 shores of all the inlets and bays are remarkab'y bold, 

 so much so that a ship's side would touch the 

 shore before her keel would touch the ground. The 

 country by which these waters are surrounded has 

 a remarkably salubrious climate. 



The region affords every advantage for the accom- 

 modation of a vast commercial and military marine, 

 with conveniences for docks, and there are a great 

 many sites for towns and cities, which at all times 

 would be well supplied with water, and the sur- 

 rounding country, which is well adapted to agricult- 



