BISCAY, Bar ote. that portion of the Atlantic ocean which sweeps in along the northern shores of the Spanish peninsula in an almost straight line from cape Ortega! to St. Jean de Luz, at the western foot of the Pvrenees, and thence curves northward the w. shores of France to the island of ouessant. Its extreme width is about 400 m.. and its length much about the same. The depth of water varies from 20 to 200 fathoms, being greatest along the n. shores of Spain. The whole of the s. coast is bold and rocky, in some places rising to a height of several hundred feet, and inter spersed with short inlets, some of which form safe and commodious harbors. From the mouth of the Adonr to the Gironde, the shore presents a totally different aspect, low and sandy, with numerous lagoons, the embouchures of these two rivers forming the only harbors. For 200 m. n. the coast is still low, but marshy instead of sandy; and from the peninsula of Quiberon northward to Ouessant, it is moderately elevated and rocky in some places. with several good harbors. The rivers falling into the Bay of B. on the Spanish shores are unimportant, none of them having a course of more than :10 or 40 miles. On the coast of France, it receives, through the rivers Loire.
Charente, Gironde. and Adoar, the waters of half the surface of the whole country. Its chief ports are Gillen,. Santander, Bilbao, San Sebastian, and Passages, In Spain: and Bayonne. Bordeaux, Rochefort, La Rochelle, and Nantes, in France. Its chief islands—•hich are all situated n. of the Gironde—are Belleisle, Re, and 016mn. Navi gation is rendered difficult and dangerous by the prevalence of n.w. winds (which drive in throneh the wide mouth of the bay large volumes of water from the Atlantic, to be w•ain thrown hack from the long regular line of coast towards the center, thus causing great commotion. and high. short.. broken waves). and by the existence of a current— called Rental's eurreit--ewhich sweit,ps in from the oceaff,rottod the coast of Spain, along the w. and n.w. coast of France, then shooting across the British channel, brushes ..the Scilly isles, ant•after approaching the coast of Ireland, turns w. and s., till it joins the n. African current.