117 
•water in which the scattered oysters lie, which prevented the 
schooner’s dredging for them. 
EFFECT OF GALES AND ICE. 
As there was no opportunity for me to investigate this ques 
tion in person, the examination of the beds having been ac- 
complished during the summer and autumn months, the fol- 
lowing information is derived from the queries put to the 
oystermen and persons inhabiting the shores of the Sound. 
The heaviest gales during the Winter season are from the 
northward and westward. During the summer season, from 
the southward, and southward and eastward. The gales from 
the eastward, southward and eastward, and southward, cause 
an increase of depth over all the beds, amounting sometimes 
to two feet, and the northerly and westerly gales a contrary 
effect, but not sufficient to leave any of the natural beds un 
covered, except one or two small patches in Dishing Bay. 
Gales from any direction cut away the leeward shores and 
points considerably, especially when they are of a sandy nature 
Those parts of the Sound suffering most in this respect are 
Bishop’s Head, Haines’ Point and Diel’s Island, Little Island, 
the shores about and near Jane’s Island, Great Fox Island, 
the shores about Horse Hammock, and the southern part of 
Watts and Tangier Islands. 
Cod Harbor, in Tangier Island, is said to be filling up with 
the washings of the sand-spit to the southward. 
Though it is said the amount washed away from these points 
is considerable, no additional deposit was ever noticed on the 
beds, nor did the gales appear to affect them in any way other 
than has already been described, except in conjunction with 
the ice in the winter. Ice never rests upon the main beds 
except in a few isolated case: where there happens to be a very 
shoal spot on the bed. 
Occasionally the ice will ground on some of the small rocks 
in Fishing Bay and once in a while on the Woman’s Marsh 
Bocks but not often. 
The injury done the oysters by the grounding depends upon 
The length of time the oysters are in contact with the ice. 
