The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-02-23
The Bay of Fundy.

Passamaquoddy Bay is an appurtenanee
of the Bay of Fundy, as is also the island
of Grand Manan; but to describe the Bay
of Fundy without mention of the fogs that
harbor in it would be as grave short
coming as to write scientific treatise on
fog without analysis of the article as found
in the Bay of Fundy. Fogs, we may say,
are never missed in the Bay of Fundy,
though mist is a feeble word to denote
them. To see the Bay of Fundy, in fact,
in some weathers one might about as well
look on the map, and go no further.
There is another conspicuous feature of
the Bay of Fundy, namely, its swollen and
tumultuous tides, which sweep with unex-
ampled volume and swiftness in from the
Atlantic, and up its harbors and rivers,
rising to an audacious height, and, when
retiring, uncovering an impressively wide
expanse of rock-bound and weed-matted
shore. At low tide in the Bay of Fundy
the shores look as if the sea had receded
never to return. At high tide it looks as
if the deep was rising to overwhelm the
land. To stem the resulting currents even
under steam is sometimes difficult; under
sail or with the oar, it is often impossible.
"Does the Gulf Stream have anything
to do with forcing these tides in here?" l
innocently asked of landsman on Grand
Manan as we were discussing the phe-
nomenon.
"No," was his emphatic reply; "it's more
likely the tides has suthin' to do with
pushin' the Gulf Stream of"
The Bay of Fundy, which may be re-
garded as the outdoors Of the secluded
precincts we are now to explore, might be
called the American Bay of Biscay, except
that its waters are a little less exposed to
the powerful winds which sweep the open
sea. 1t may be described to the eye as
short stout left hand of the Atlantic thrust
up in a northeasterly direction between
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and ter
minating only in thumb and little finger.
The little finger sinuously penetrates New
Brunswick very near to Northumberland
Strait, beyond which lies Prince Edward
Island, and with which it is proposed to
make connection by means of a canal, SO
cutting off Nova Scotia into an immense
island. The thumb, entering Nova Scotia
and bending to the east and south, broad
ems into the Basin of Minas, which gives
to the great promontory almost an inland
sea.
1t is into this Basin of Minas and up
along its inhuent Windsor River that the
Fundys tide pour with their greatest vol
ume and force, rising, it is affirmed, to an
occasional height of sixty feet, and with
such sudden velocity as now and then to
surprise and overwhelm cattle feeding on
the marsh lands by the shore. In the
Windsor River, steamers, it is said, have
to dodge the tides.
The extreme length of the Bay of Fundy
is about one hundred and seventy miles; its
width ranges from thirty to fifty miles; its
depth is generally great Its shores are
for the most part bold and rocky, some
times grandly precipitous. 1t is capa-
cious ocean pocket, filed and emptied
twice in the twenty -four hours. With its
tides, fogs, winds, and "iron-bound" shores,
it is anything but an inviting water to
mariners, and has been the scene of some
of the direst tragedies of the sea, while not
without attractions of the strongest sort for
the artist, the tourist, and the sportsman.
EDWARD ABBOTT, in Harper's Magd-
ziDe FIR March.