ON THE NORTHERN CAPE BRETON COAST. McINTOSH 45 



record of the disturbance, however, is obtained from St. 

 Paul's Island, and, moreover, the description of the phenom- 

 enon localizes it rather between the island and the adjoining 

 Cape Breton coast. The isobathic lines constructed from 

 the chart show the 50-fathom line about two miles ofif 

 Meat Cove, with the 80-fathom line about an equal distance 

 beyond that. Here, in all probabilit}^ was the seat of the 

 disturbance. A deepening of 80 fathoms in about 4 miles 

 gives a gradient of about 1 foot in 44 feet or a 2}/l% grade. 

 The depths as given on the chart within the area bounded 

 by the 80-fathom line suggest an uneven bottom where may 

 be found steep slopes. Doubtless a large thickness of un- 

 consolidated material has accumulated on the sea bottom. 

 A sliding of this along the slope or a break in the solid rock 

 would give the necessary impetus to the water to produce 

 the waves. 



When weather indications point to a calm night, boats 

 are hauled up by the fishermen just bej^ond the range of 

 high tides. The average difference between high and low 

 water at Meat Cove, we may take as about four feet. To 

 sweep the boats away would require an additional height 

 of water of, say, three or four feet. Waves, therefore, of 

 six or eight feet must have rolled in upon the shore to accom- 

 plish the work recorded. If the ordinary proportion between 

 height and length of w^ave were preserved, the length of 

 'these waves must have been sixty or eighty feet. A slip of 

 a belt of rock a hundred or so feet in width on the sea bottom 

 near the 80-fathom line, or within the area bounded by this 

 line would cause a gravitational movement to the water from 

 the landward direction, followed by a return of the water, 

 in the form of a succession of high weaves. These waves 

 would diminish in force as they radiated from the place of 

 origin, as was observed to the eastward and westward of 

 Meat Cove. Did the dislocation produce a rise in the sea 



