PREFACE. iii 



waves. Very extenlive flats are alfo found, 

 made up of fand, mud, or ftones, which, 

 having a gentle flope, are covered to a 

 great diftance by the tide. Here and 

 there are to be found the mouths of rivers, 

 creeks, and little bays, which ferve for 

 fhelter to the fiflherme. in a ftorm. In 

 getting farther from the coafts, the fame 

 varieties are found under water again ; fmall 

 iflands, rifing above the furface of the fea, 

 form little archipelagoes, where the fifher- 

 men may land ; others, being at a fmall 

 depth under water, caufe breakers, which 

 foretell very dangerous fhelving rocks or 

 lands. 



The bottoms of the fea are rock, ftones, 

 gravel, fand, fragments of fhells, clay, 

 mud, fea-plants, &c. It is very effen- 

 tial to fifhermen, to know thefe varieties, 

 as alfo the depth of water, whether the 

 anchorage be good, what kind of fifh are 

 to be found there, and what courfe they 

 muft fleer in the night, either for fifhing, 

 or to regain the coaft. 



a 2 This 



