Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-09-10
HARBoRS OF BATTLE VARIETY
Notable Number of Enclosed BASINS
that Make the Best Harbors
in the world.

II we take a trip around the world, over
the maps of a good atlas we shall find ~
the geographical bottle" is a very COM
mon type OF harbor the world over. The
coasts Of Cuba show a succession of such
enclosed bays. Havana harbor being typi-
cal 1t often happens that nature herself
provides the corks also. in the shape OF
islands that almost block up the entrance,
or at least block the view from the out
side. Such a cork is Corregidor island. in
Manila bay, or the rock Aleatraz fortress
just inside the golden gate at San Fran
cisco and Smith Cav occupies similar
position in Santiago.
The Annapolis basin, Nova Scotia, IL
very typical among these geographical
bottles. A fairly good map of that beauti-
full country will show narrow gap on the
bay of Fundy side OF the peninsula This
gap, known as Digby strait. breaks
through a long ridge that the people call
North Mountain. Through this break rush
the famous tides of Fundy and MI up an
inland basin of salt water twenty miles
long and several in width. The entrance,
from the outside, is mysteriously invisible
to the Landmarks eye. To a passenger
crossing the bay of Fundy from ST. John
1t seems Of the captain were steering
his trim side wheeler head on into a blue
mountain wall But at last the forested
mountain opens and through the break
the interior hills OF Nova Scotia close the
distance. One can imagine the tremen-
dous tide race through this Digby strait
when we know that the ordinary tidal rise
in this region IL anywhere from forty to
seventy feet. It IL so great In fact. that
the wharves at Digby are two-storied at
fairs, and people go aboard steamers from
the upper or lower story, according 10 the
height OF the tide so
New York harbor lie. in most respects. a
geographical bottle-only It has two mouths
instead of one. Added to the principal
opening, the narrows. sort OF side en-
trance is provided by the East River"
leading out into the sound
The coast of Australia presents several
examples of the geographical bottle. the
finest being the harbor OF Melbourne. An
ordinary map shows this city located APP
parently upon first rate harbor OF the
bottle type. AS a matter of fact, tho
bottle is really there-a magnificent en-
closure of salt water fully thirty-five miles
across in either direction. Into this bay.
called Port Phillip. there flows the Yarra
river: and oddly enough. Melbourne, with
its $4,000 people, hides itself away nine
miles up this stream! Below the city the
river has two sand bars which prevent the
passage of large vessels. The heavy ocean
traffic, therefore, has its terminus in the
bay, whence the journey is continued %
town by rail. The explanation for this
awkard situation seems to be that in the
early days of Melbourne the one idea of
the settlers was to build near as might
be to the gold diggings. So UP the river
the miners planted their settlement. never
dreaming that one day It would become
great metropolis. imprisoned behind the
sands OF the useless Yarra
Rio Janeiro has splendid enclosed hars
bor-the best in all South America; better
far than the shallow Lake" Maracaiba,
which looks so ideal upon the map. Here
again at Rio we have great salt water
inlet some seventeen miles across. COM
municating with the ocean by a narrow
strait.
In nearly every case these natural
bottles are what the geographer calls
drowned rivers" That IL to say. the
coastal lands in the vicinity have subsidized.
allowing the sea to flow In and convert
what was lowland valley into a partly
enclosed marine area. Divers have gone
to the bottom OF New York bay and have
found there the ancient bed OF the Hudson
son river that stream flowed before the
mouthward part OF Its valley subsidized into
the sea. The old bed reaches through the
narrows and well out into the floor OF the
Atlantic. OF course, as the sea water
entered the sinking valley. any hills rising
thereabout would become islands in the
new order OF things. And there we find
them to this day in almost any of these
enclosed inlets.-St. Nicholas Magazine.