The velocity with which the tide moves will depend on various circumstances, but principally on the depth, and probably on the regularity, of the channel. If the depth is nearly uniform the tides will be regular; but if some parts of the channel are deep while others are shallow, the waters will be detained by the greater friction of the shallow places, and the tides will be irregular. The direction, also, of the derivative tide may be totally different from that of the primitive. Thus, in Fig. 49, if the great tide-wave, moving from east to west, is represented by the lines 1, 2, 3, 4, the derivative tide, which is propagated up a river or bay, will be represented by the lines 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Advancing faster in the channel than next the bank, the tides will lag behind towards the shores, and the tide-wave will take the form of curves, as represented in the diagram. On account of the retarding influence of shoals, and an uneven, indented coast, the tide-wave travels more slowly along the shores of an island than in the neighboring sea, assuming convex figures at a little distance from the island, and on opposite sides of it. These convex lines sometimes meet, and become blended in such a way, as to create singular anomalies in a sea much broken by islands, as well as on coasts indented with numerous bays and rivers. Peculiar phenomena are also produced, when the tide flows in at opposite extremities of a reef or island, as into the two opposite ends of Long-Island Sound. In certain cases, a tide-wave is forced into a narrow arm of the sea, and produces very remarkable tides. The tides of the Bay of Fundy (the highest in the world) are ascribed to this cause. The tides on the coast of North America are derived from the great tide-wave of the South Atlantic, which runs steadily northward along the coast to the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, where it meets the northern tide-wave flowing in the opposite direction. This accumulated wave being forced into the narrow space occupied by the Bay, produces the remarkable tide of that place.