Note 405 — Chapter IX · 1504-1524.

As described by a late writer: “Narragansett Bay is one of the most beautiful sheets of water in the United States; it is unrivalled for its navigable advantages, affording at all times a safe and ready communication with the ocean; and its shores, which are indented with innumerable bays and inlets containing many excellent harbors. This bay ... extends more than thirty miles into the interior of the state, and for this distance affords superior advantages for ship-navigation. The whole extent of the bay and river, from Point Judith to Providence, is about thirty-six miles. The average breadth of the lower section of the bay is nearly ten miles; but the upper part is narrow. Exclusive of the islands, of which there are about fifteen in number, and some of considerable extent, the waters of the bay comprise an area of about one hundred and thirty square miles.”—Gazetteer of Connecticut and Rhode Island. 1819. pp. 302, 303, 349, 359.