BIS'CAY (Sp. Biseaya, Vizcaya, a Spanish province named after the Basques). BAY OF ( the Roman Sinus Aquitanicus or Gallicus Oceanus, and the French Golfe de Gaseogne). A portion of the Atlantic ocean sweeping in along the northern shores of the Spanish Peninsula in an almost straight line from Cape Ortegal to Saint Jean the Luz. at the western foot of the Pyrenees, and thence curving along the west shores Of France northward to the western extremity of Brittany and northwestward to the island of Ouessant. Its extreme width and length are about 400 miles each. The whole of the south coast is bold and rocky, in some places rising to a height of several hundred feet, and broken by inlets, sonic of which form safe and commodious harbors. From the mouth of the Adour to the Gironde, the shore presents a totally different aspect, hieing low and sandy. with numerous la goons, the embouchure- of these two river, fo•m ing the only harbors. For 200 miles north of the Gironde the coast is still low, hut marshy instead of sandy, and from the peninsula of Quiberon westward it is moderately elevated and rocky in some places. The rivers falling into the bay
on the Spanish shores are unimportant. On the coast of France it receives, through the riv ers Loire, Charente, Garonne (the estuary of which is called the Gironde), and Adour, the tvaters of about one-half the surface of the whole country. Its chief ports are Gij6n, Santander, Bilbao, San Sebastian, and Pasajes in Spain; and Bayonne, Bordeaux, Roeliefort, La Rochelle, Nan tes, and Lo•ient in Frame. Its chief islands— which are all situated north of the Gironde—are Belle-Ile, Noirmoutier. and Naviga tion is rendered difficult and dangerous by the prevalence of northwest winds, and by the exist ence of the violent Rennes current. The depth of the hay ranges from 100 feet or less along the shore to more than 10,000 feet in the central part. The height to which the tides rise is hardly exceeded anywhere.