With Little Abaco, which properly belongs to it, it is nearly one hundred miles long, and has an average width of twelve miles. There are six hundred and eighty square miles in the larger island alone. The greater part of its outer side, facing the ocean, is bordered by an inner reef of small keys and rocks, which trend northwest by southeast,
Fig 1.—Map of Abaco Island and its adjoining Reef. (From the latest United States Coast Survey Chart).
and form a channel about five miles wide, having a depth of from one to two and a half fathoms. Two or three miles farther out there is a second reef, mostly submerged, beyond which the bottom falls abruptly to the abyssal sea. The larger islands extend through one degree of latitude, from nearly 25° 50' to 26° 50'.
We left Green Turtle on the 15th of June in a sail-boat, with two men to pilot and assist us. Our older guide, Curry, was a native of the island, and made his living by fishing and sponging. His services were invaluable, as he was not only invariably obliging, but knew every rock and key in the reef, and could readily tell them at a long
