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If it only touches in a few places not much harm is done ;; 
indeed, it is supposed to protect the majority on the bed by 
covering them, but where there is a contact all over the “ rock,” 
the oysters are killed in a short space of time. 
The number of points in the Sound where it is possible for 
the ice to rest is very inconsiderable, and not many of the 
animals are destroyed by the grounding of the ice, though 
they are affected seriously by its long continued presence. 
The winter gales break up the ice fields and pile them up 
in immense masses on the leeward shores and over the adja- 
cent beds. The Shark’s Fin bed suffers particularly im this 
respect. A good deal of damage is done to the shores by the 
ice and the oysters feel the effect, showing it by becoming 
what is called “ Winter-killed,” or poor and weak, having a 
slimy, sickly appearance when opened. 
Many die on the beds from this cause and after the disap- 
pearance of the ice, ten days or two weeks must elapse before 
they are fit for marketable purposes. 
Ordinary cold weather and a moderate amount of ice is 
said to improve the fishing, the oysters appearing to be drawn 
more to the surface of the bed, and the shells to sink more to- 
ward the bottom. My informants said this effect was quite 
noticeable. 
Mo one that I was able to interrogate had ever seen an oys- 
ter frozen in the water , and the impression was that so long 
as the oysters were covered they would recover from any ill- 
effects of ice or ordinary cold weather. 
POCOMOKE SOUND. 
Pocomoke Sound extends from Watts’ Island, in a north 
northeasterly direction, twelve and a half miles. 
The main channel is narrow with a varying depth of water, 
the main body of the Sound being covered by shoals with from 
seven to eighteen feet of water over them. 
Long sand-spits make off from most of the points and islands 
and separate the channels into the different creeks from each 
other. 
The Sound is about nine and a half miles broad from shore 
