Il6 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



At the upper end of the Great South Bay 

 the effect of filling up the inlets communicating 

 with the ocean has been felt chiefly by the 

 fishermen. As there is no communication with 

 the ocean, no sand of any consequence is thrown 

 into the bay by winter storms. For the last 

 twenty-five years the bottom of the Great 

 South Bay has undergone no changes, and the 

 soundings made by the government many years 

 ago are still trustworthy. In the great storms 

 of winter the spray of the ocean sometimes 

 washes into the bay, rolling over the sand-bar, 

 but the agitation of the water in the bay is not 

 sufficient to cause the sand to shift. We have 

 still a depth of from four to seven feet right up 

 to the end of the bay, with long stretches of 

 shallow flats, sometimes covered with grass, in 

 which the ducks take shelter and feed in win- 

 ter. These flats extend along the sand-bar 

 from one to two miles into the bay, and any 

 one who has sailed for a summer or two in the 

 bay, learns pretty well how to keep clear of 

 them by the .looks of the water. Along the 

 main shore there is plenty of water for from 

 two to three miles out from the shore, and this 

 makes the bay a superb sailing-place for small 



