18 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 



total population including the families being about sixty persons. In 

 the records of this establishment we have continuous detailed informa- 

 tion as to the conditions on Sable Island. 



DIMINISHING SIZE or SABLE ISLAND. 



We find Sable Island represented on the early charts of the coast 

 of North America such as that by Reinel, in 1505, by Rotz in 1542, 

 by Joannes Freire in 1546, by Vaz Dourado in 1573, and by that of 

 Hakluyt in 1598-1600. It also appears on the small-scale maps by 

 Philippe Buache in 1736, and that by Bellin in 1757. 



In 1766 and 1767, Joseph Frederick Wallet Des Barres made a sur- 

 vey of Sable Island, published 1 in 1777 and 1779. It is drawn on 

 two different scales, the larger about one-half a mile to the inch. 

 He gives several hundred soundings near the island and locates it be- 

 tween 60 01' and 60 32' W. Long. The island itself is shown as a 

 long flat crescent, in shape much as it is to-day, and 30 miles long 

 by 2 miles broad. The second highest hill is 146 feet above sea 

 level. The center of the island is shown with an inland lake 12 

 feet in depth, with an opening to the sea on the north side. Al- 

 most continuous ridges of dunes shelter this lake on both the north 

 and the south sides. Des Barres says, "The whole island is composed 

 of fine white sand, much coarser than any of the soundings about it, 

 and inter-mixed with small transparent stones. Its face is very brok- 

 en, and hove up in little hills, knobs and cliffs, wildly heaped together, 

 within which are hollows and ponds of fresh water, * * * . The 

 Ram's Head is the highest hill on this island; it has a steep cliff on the 

 north west and falls gently to the south east. The Naked Sand Hills 

 are one hundred and forty-six feet of perpendicular height above the 

 level of high-water mark, ***** Gratia Hill is a knob at 

 the top of a cliff the height of which is one hundred and twenty-six 

 feet * * V' 2 



Of this same period is a chart by Capt. John Montresor: Map of 

 Nova Scotia or Acadia; with the Islands of Cape Breton and St. 

 John's, from Actual Surveys, by Capt. Montresor, 1768. The scale 

 is about 6 miles to the inch. Sable Island is shown as 30 % miles in 

 length by 2 miles in breadth. The salt lake has an opening at its 

 western end through the South Beach. The dunes extend half-way 



1 Atlantic Neptune, i (1777 and 1779). 



2 Des Barres, I c. 68. 



