Wichita eagle., 1889-10-10

stearn on oai@ei ont slowly against tie clfr-
rent; but once inside the water was as placid
| as that of an inland lake. At the west end
| of the basin Is Digby, at the east end Annap-
! oils; all the shores are dotted with fishing
| Eamlets and neat farm houses, while back of
! them rises the land, first In gentle swells Of
meadow, then IN more and more abrupt hills
| thick set with dark green pines, to the rocky
| ridges which form the backbone of Nova
Scotia on one side and the crest of the mar
row peninsula on the other. The sky is now
without cloud, the air cool and bracing;
delicate ones among the passengers find over
coats and wraps agreeable but most are in
ecstasies over the delightful coolness and full
of activity.
The tide is at its lowest, and one notes with
astonishment that the wharves are from
thirty TO sixty feet high, that broad arms Of
the bay extend for miles into the land, and in
them only black mud is seen, and that fishing
boats, and even good sized schooners, lie far
inland on the mud loading and unloading, at
wharves which appear decidedly out of place.
But at high tide the craft will float again and
the wharves prove none too high. AT An
napolis we have To climb by an incline some
thirty feet 10 the top of the wharf and there
we find the true registry of the tides Many
books have given accounts of rises of one
hundred feet or more; in truth. the highest
tides in this famous bay have never exceeded
sixty feet, and the average may be placed at
forty.
Among the many interesting phenomena
produced by the high tides of Fundy, the
most famous is the so called Bore WHICH
may be seen in many places, but shows most,
perhaps, IN the Pehtcodiac river of New
Brunswick, on which | witnessed it at the
city OF Moncton. 1t may be briefly defined
as a high tide rushing in like a nearly upright
wall, and without any preliminary swell over
low tide going out. The philosophy Of it Is
this: The Bay of FuDdy narrows steadily 10
its eastern end, and so the momentum OF the
vast volume Of incoming tide is concentrated
and forced through The narrow passages OF
the connecting inlets az II 1t were shot
from the nozzle Of a fire engine As the en-
tire force of the water in the broad mouth Of
the Petitcodlac Is retained by the water ia
the narrowest passages up the stream, it must
gain In swiftness al that il loses in width, go
there IL no time for the tide TO turn. as the
phrase Is; just when the ebb il complete the
stream at its lowest and nearly all its chaune.
bed of mud, the high tide comes rushing in
Where the river channel is wide the tide
volume sinks to something like a swell but
at the next narrows 1t dashes nadIy forward
as If eager 70 tear away the rocky banks. and
thus raging and subsiding alternately il
rI,xhes GA till 1t spreads and is lost in the
broad basin above Moucton Just below
that city the Petitcodiac bends like a L the
projecting point Is barely above tide. and
at ebb there Is very little water running
down To a visitor ct that time the
scene appears an Illusion At the wharf
large vessels lie on the mud, apparently ten
feet above the water level. yet twenty-five
feet below the wharf; Uiding stream foUs
down the middle of the channel, and beyond
it lies a vast expanse OF Shiny mud As one
looks across the green point &c sees a white
foam, and soon the warning shout Is RAISED.
Here she comesi'
The next minute IL sweeps around the bend,
. turbid torrent SIX feet or more In height.
and with forward slope Of but three or four
feet, dashing on as II an immense reservoir
bad broken loose and its contents were flow
ing down a steep and narrow hume At our
feet the little stream Sill ripples gently down.
and where IL meets the incoming food IL /!
seems 70 merely glide under it; few min /
uoes more and the mud fats are covered. The i
channel Is filed from bank TO bank. and the
torrent /. dashing nadly against the railroad 4
bridge half a mile above. In an hour the
vessels at tie wharf are ssoss; two hours
later one has TO climb Up 10 their decls in
stead Of down The Petiscodiac is oroe more
& Lavigaole stream. and vessels Q: 2.oo0 tons