18 PROCEEDLXGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
total population iiicludiiij^ the families being about sixty persons. In 
the records of this establishment we have continuous detailed informa- 
tion as to the conditions on Sable Island. 
Diminishing Size of Sable Island. 
We find Suble Island represented on the early charts of the coast 
of North America such as that by Rtunel, in 1505, by Rotz in 1542, 
by Joannes Freire in 1546, by Vaz Dourado in 1573, and by that of 
Hakluyt in 1598-1600. It also appears on the small-scale maps by 
Philippe Buache in 1736, and that by Bcllin in 1757. 
In 1766 and 1767, Joseph Frederick Wallet Des Barres made a sur- 
vey of Sable Island, published' in 1777 and 1779. It is drawn on 
two different scales, the larger about one-half a mile to the inch. 
He gives several hundred soundings near the island and locates it be- 
tween 60° 01' and 60° 32' W. Long. The island itself is shown as a 
long flat crescent, in shape much as it is to-day, and 30 miles long 
by 2 miles broad. The second highest hill is 146 feet above sea 
level. The center of the island is shown with an inland lake 12 
feet in depth, with an opening to the sea on the north side. Al- 
most continuous ridges of dunes shelter this lake on both the north 
and the south sides. Des Barres says, "The whole island is composed 
of fine white sand, much coarser than any of the soundings about it, 
and inter-mixed with small transparent stones. Its face is very brok- 
en, and hove up in little hills, knobs and cliffs, wildly heaped together, 
within which are hollows and ponds of fresh water, * * * The 
Ram's Head is the highest hill on this island; it has a steep cliff on the 
north west and falls gently to the south east. The Naked Sand Hills 
are one hundred and forty-six feet of perpendicular height above the 
level of high-water mark, ***** Gratia Hill is a knob at 
the top of a cliff the height of which is one hundred and twenty-six 
feet * * *."-' 
Of this same period is a chart by Capt. John Montresor: Map of 
Nova Scotia or Acadia; with the Islands of Cape Breton and St. 
John's, from Actual Surveys, by Capt. Montresor, 1768. The scale 
is about 6 miles to the inch. Sable Island is shown as 30 ^ miles in 
length by 2 miles in breadth. The salt lake has an opening at its 
western end through the South Beach. The dunes extend half-way 
1 Atlantic Neptune, i (1777 and 1779). 
- Des Barres, I. c. 68. 
