THE GREAT BAHAMA BANK. 



Plate I. 



The Great Bahama Bank, by far the largest of the group, is irregularly 

 V-shaped ; it extends four hundred miles from northwest to southeast, 

 and its greatest width is about two hundred and fifty miles. The west- 

 ern face, swept by the Gulf Stream, is slightly convex, and curves round 

 to the southeast and south, forming the northern edge of the Old Ba- 

 hama Channel. It then forms the edge of a great bay at the eastern 

 extremity of the channel, extending northward and eastward, and ter- 

 minating in a blunt projection, the Columbus Bank. From the eastern 

 extremity of this bank the edge of the Great Bank runs north, and is 

 protected by a line of low islands making a sweep which terminates in 

 the southern point of Long Island. The island is the easternmost pro- 

 jection to the west of Exuma Sound, a deep gulf separating the eastern 

 face of Great Bahama from the edge of the bank which extends north- 

 ward from Great Exuma to the western spit of the southern part of 

 Eleuthera. 



The northern face of the western shank of the Great Bahama Bank 

 runs nearly east from the Gulf Stream. It has, like the western side, 

 but few fringing islands. Upon the eastern edge of the western shank 

 of the bank are the Berry Islands. From their southern line the edge 

 of the bank runs in a curve to the west edged by the Joulter Cays, which 

 run into the northern extremity of Andros. This island, the largest of 

 the Bahamas, forms the western edge of the Tongue of the Ocean, which 

 separates the eastern and western shanks of the bank. On the eastern 

 edge of the Tongue of the Ocean there are no islands except Green Cay 

 and a few insignificant islets. The Tongue of the Ocean is a deep 

 pocket ; the extension of its eastern shore forms a sharp angle at New 

 Providence, running slightly north of east to the extremity of Eleuthera. 

 This edge of the bank is flanked by New Providence and a series of 

 narrow islands which separate the Northeast Providence Channel from 

 the inner bank. Eleuthera forms the northern part of the eastern face 

 of the Great Bahama Bank ; its southeastern spit is united to Little San 



VOL. XXVI. — NO. 1. 2 



