10 The American Geologist. July. i898 
the end are either in the form of small pebbles or sand, the bar 
may be sharply turned in the direction away from that of the 
prevailing wind. 
This turning point is apparently reached and caused when- 
ever the force of the waves which reach the end of the bar, 
from the direction in which the wave movement is most pow- 
erful, is able to remove the materials which the waves from 
other directions are driving to the end. That is to say, there 
comes a balance of supply and ability to remove, when the 
further out-building of the bar must cease. Then there is an 
abrupt bend. 
This is very well illustrated in the Barrachois hook (PI. II, 
Fig. 2, and PI. IV, Fig. i), on the eastern side of the Bras 
d'Or, about midway between North Sydney and Grand Nar- 
row's. It is plainly visible from the train and is a remarkable 
feature, being set in the dark waters of a deep and narrow 
arm of the sea extending between two high hills. It reaches 
directly out from the shore, turned at an angle of about iio° 
with the coast, which is the normal angle of the bars forming 
the arms of the cuspate forelands in this region. At a distance 
of about one hundred or one hundred and twenty-five yards 
from the shore it bends abruptly at an angle of 60° or 70° 
(PI. II, Fig. 2) and extends nearly parallel to the coast, until 
near its end, at a distance of two hundred or two hundred and 
fifty yards from the first elbow, it turns again toward the 
shore and then back in the opposite direction, forming a very 
perfect hook. 
This hook is built out into water which is sixty feet deep, 
and hence it represents a distinct bank, which has been piled 
along this line as the result of remarkably permanent con- 
ditions. It is due to no mere chance, but to the operation of 
some very distinct forces, operating for definite causes, in per- 
fectly definite ways for a considerable time. In this case the 
cause for the bend seems evident. It is a place where the 
along-shore waves from the south (left) can transport the di- 
minished supply of materials which reach the end of the bar, 
and do this so speedily that the bar can reach no further out- 
ward, but must turn. This change comes with such force 
and persistence that it is posible to build the turned end for 
more than two hundred yards in a depth of sixty feet of 
