LIBRARY OF 
 
 HENRY C. FALL- 
 
 AND KATHARINE A. FALL 
 
 Slumber I & d> (~ 
 Date of Purchase, 
 
 Place 
 Cost 
 
 t?'<3
 
 SUMMER CRUISE 
 
 COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 BY ROBERT CARTER. 
 
 " They are becalmed in clearest days, 
 
 And in rough weather tost ; 
 They wither under cold delays, 
 
 Or are in tempests lost. 
 One while they seem to touch the port, 
 
 Then straight into the main, 
 Some angry wind, in cruel sport, 
 
 The vessel drives again.*' 
 
 ' How sweet it was 
 
 Eating the lotos day by day, 
 
 To watch the crisping ripples on the beach, 
 
 And tender curving lines of creamy spray.** 
 
 TEKUTSOW. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 CROSBY AND NICHOLS. 
 
 NEW YORK : OLIVER S. FELT. 
 1864.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by 
 
 CROSBY AND NICHOLS, 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 , BIGEI.OW, AND C 
 CAMBRIDGE.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE fishing voyage of which this book is a 
 record was made in 1858, during my summer 
 vacation from the arduous duties of a Washing- 
 ton Correspondent of the. New York Tribune, 
 and the narrative originally appeared in the 
 form of letters to that journal. In that shape 
 it met with considerable favor, especially from 
 sportsmen and naturalists ; and its publication 
 in a permanent form, at this late day, is due, in 
 part, to the assurances I have received from 
 high scientific authority that its sketches of the 
 fishes of our Northern seas, of their habits and 
 resorts, and of the methods of taking them, are 
 not without value as contributions to Natural 
 History. I can only say upon this point, that I 
 have spared no pains to make my statements 
 accurate, not only by careful personal observa- 
 tions, but by freely consulting and using the 
 writings of our best American ichthyologists. 
 
 R. C.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGB 
 PLAN OF THK CRUISE 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FROM BOSTON TO SWAMPSCOTT. A DEVIL'S- APRON AND ITS 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE CUNNEK. THE SCULPIN. A SCIENTIFIC SHOEMAKER 16 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OFF BOSTON LIGHT. POLLACK. SUN-SQUALLS. BLUE- 
 FISHING .23 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A MIDNIGHT WATCH. RUNNING DOWN THE SOUTH SHORE. 
 PLYMOUTH. THE ASSYRIAN 86 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 PROVINCETOWN. SAND-DABS. COCKTAILS . . 45 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 PROVINCETOWN. THE SANDS OF CAPE COD . . .63
 
 v [ CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FROM PROVINCE-TOWN TO SWAMPSCOTT. MINOT'S LEDGE 
 LIGHTHOUSE. THE SKATE AND THE KRAKEN . . 69 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE HELEN'S CABIN. HARDHEADS. DREAD LEDGE FISH- 
 ING 66 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DREDGING OFF NAHANT. MISADVENTURES. A NIGHT 
 Row , 76 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 SHROWDEN'S BANK A SEA- WOLF. A SEA-RAVEN. A 
 HEMDURGAN. HOPE OF HALIBUT 80 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 TINKER'S ISLAND. THE TAUTOG. MARBLEHEAD. SKIP- 
 PER IRESON'S RIDE . 87 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE GREAT THUNDER-STORM. FROM MARBLEHEAD TO 
 GLOUCESTER. MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS. A SKIP- 
 PER LOST .93 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A MARINE MUNCHAUSEN. RATTLESNAKE SOUP. A BIG 
 SNAKE. HELEN'S GROTTO 103 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 IOCKPORT HARBOR. THE KING OF THE GUNNERS. LOB- 
 STER-FISHING. THE ASSYRIAN STARTLED . . . lia
 
 CONTENTS. vii 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 PIGEON- COVE. CAMPHENE COCKTAILS. MUSICAL FISH- 
 ERMEN . . 127 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 CONGEE-EELS. FOR THE ISLES OF SHOALS. THE VIKINGS 138 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE ISLES OF SHOALS. THE PRINCE OF APPLEDORE. 
 NIGHT ON THE WATER 148 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THB E PLURIBUS UNUM. A BAIT-MILL. THE MONK- 
 FISH. To PORTSMOUTH AND PORTLAND .... 148 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CASCO BAY. THE POWER OF MELODY. THE HADDOCK. 
 JEWELL'S ISLAND 167 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 To HARPSWELL POINT. ON A REEF. A COLD BATH . 167 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 SUCCESSFUL FISHING. WHITING, HAKE, AND COD. A 
 CHOWDER-PARTY 176 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE SEA-CUCUMBER. JAQUISS AND BAILEY ISLANDS. 
 MACKEREL COVE. THE MAINE LAW . . . .186 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 FLOUNDER-FISHING. CATCHING A HALIBUT
 
 viii . CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 A STORM OFF CAPE SEQUIN. BOOTHBAY. THE COAST- 
 SURVEY SCHOONER 203 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 FROM BOOTHBAY EASTWARD. MACKEKKL AND MACKEREL- 
 FISHING . . 212 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 THE ISLAND OF MONHEGAN. OWL'S HEAD. FLAT BUR- 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 FIRE AND WATER. PULPIT HARBOR. THE CUSK. A 
 STRANGE FISH 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 FLAPJACKS. DEER ISLAND. A DRUNKEN PILOT. To 
 MOUNT DESERT . 244 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 MOUNT DESERT. BASS HARBOR. AN UNBENDING DEA- 
 CON. BAR HARBOR. FAREWELL TO EDEN. END OF 
 THE CRUISE .262
 
 A SUMMER CRUISE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE PLAN OF THE CRUISE. 
 
 ON one of the hottest evenings of the hot 
 month of June, 1858, I paid a visit to my friend 
 
 Professor , at his residence on G. Street, 
 
 Washington. 
 
 I do not know that my friend had any regular 
 or official claim to the title of Professor. It was 
 conferred upon him, like so many of our Ameri- 
 can titles, as a matter of conversational conven- 
 ience by the officers of the North Pacific Exploring 
 Expedition, of which he was Naturalist. They 
 dubbed him Professor of Marine Zoology, in rec- 
 ognition of his skill in the knowledge of all that 
 pertains to the creatures that inhabit the great 
 deep, but especially of the mollusks, Crustacea, and 
 invertebrates generally, a knowledge abundantly 
 shown in his various treatises on the marine 
 zoology, not only of New England, but of the 
 Chinese and Japanese seas. The study of the
 
 2 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 ocean and its inhabitants had been a passion with 
 him from early boyhood, and was pursued with 
 such success, that, in 1849, while yet a youth, he 
 had discovered the principle of the aquarium, and 
 had a number of aquariums in successful opera- 
 tion long before anything was heard of the kin- 
 dred experiments of the Englishman Warrington. 
 It was a fearfully hot night; one of a long 
 succession of hot nights and days through which I 
 had patiently sweltered and sweated, in the vain 
 expectation that time and endurance would gradu- 
 ally accustom me to being broiled and parboiled, 
 as they are said to render eels tolerant of, if not 
 acquiescent in, the process of being skinned alive. 
 But a frame acclimated to the moderate heats 
 and invariably cool nights of the sea-coast of 
 Massachusetts, could not readily become insensi- 
 ble to the influence of an atmosphere which at 
 midnight, as well as at noonday, maintained a heat 
 greater than the average heat of the torrid zone. 
 I sought refuge at the Professor's, because his 
 house, though not materially cooler than the rest 
 of the city, was intellectually and imaginatively 
 cooler. It abounded in objects suggestive of re- 
 freshing ideas. There were crabs and shells that 
 had been dragged from the sunless depths of the 
 Arctic Ocean ; fishing-lines and dredges that had 
 explored the cool abysses of Kamtchatkan and 
 Siberian seas ; drawings of icebergs and glaciers ; 
 and, what particularly was wont to give an agreea-
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 3 
 
 ble chill to my fancy, a picture of the prodigious 
 snowy cone of the great Japanese volcano, Fusi- 
 Yama, made by a native artist at Sirnoda, where 
 the Professor himself purchased it. 
 
 The Professor, with nothing on but a shirt and 
 the thinnest of pantaloons, was stretched on a sofa, 
 with a cigar in his mouth, languidly smoking, and 
 contemplating through his gold spectacles the 
 ungainly proportions of a monstrous dor-bug he 
 had just captured. Our conversation opened, of 
 course, on the weather. 
 
 " I cannot stand it any longer," he said ; " I 
 shall start on a cruise on the coast of Maine next 
 week, and you had better come along, if you do 
 not want to die of a fever. You look horribly 
 bilious already, and a few days more of this heat 
 will use you up entirely. Let us go and . cool off 
 at Grand Manan. I spent two months there some 
 summers ago, fishing and dredging, and can assure 
 you that it is the finest place on our whole coast." 
 
 " For crabs, I suppose, Professor. All places 
 are classified by you for good or bad with relation 
 to their production or non-production of crabs." 
 
 "For crabs, yes, but not alone for crabs. 
 The scenery is superb, grander than anything 
 you will see this side of the Saguenay. Huge, 
 rocky cliffs, a thousand feet high, rise right out 
 cf deep water, and are broken into the wildest 
 and most romantic caves and inlets. They are 
 the haunt of nearly all kinds of sea-birds, from
 
 4: A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 the herring-gull down to Mother Carey's chick- 
 ens. We shall catch there and on our way down 
 the coast every species of fish that swims in our 
 seas." 
 
 " Including the whale ? " 
 
 " The whale is not a fish," responded the Pro- 
 fessor, gravely, overlooking the levity of my inter- 
 ruption in his scientific sense of its zoological 
 inaccuracy, " but I promise you we shall see 
 whales in abundance. We shall also catch sharks, 
 and kill seals and porpoises. But, in short, if you 
 will come along, we will run into every harbor 
 from Provincetown to Eastport, and fish and 
 dredge till you have seen at least one specimen 
 of every creature that swims the sea or dwells on 
 the bottom. Then, if you will, you can write a 
 book about the aquarium which shall be a little 
 more reliable than that trumpery thing of Ed- 
 wards's which you sent me yesterday." 
 
 "What is the matter with that?" I asked. 
 " It seemed to me a clever and entertaining 
 book." 
 
 The Professor launched into an elaborate and 
 energetic criticism, the details of which I cannot 
 now recall, and to which I must confess I paid 
 little attention, for the amount of it seemed to be 
 that Mr. Edwards had transferred a few species 
 of mollusks from the English seas to ours, and 
 was not very careful in the spelling of his scien- 
 tific names.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 5 
 
 I intimated that the orthography of these un- 
 couth appellations was of little consequence. The 
 Professor shook his head. The young men and 
 maidens who were going with such enthusiasm 
 into the formation of aquariums would be led 
 into a shocking confusion of names and species. 
 Besides, some of the plates were wrong. " On 
 plate No. 5, for example, a species of Lymnea is 
 figured as Physa heterostropha, and on " 
 
 " That will do. I give up Edwards, on condi- 
 tion that you do not utter another of those jaw- 
 breakers during the entire evening. But how 
 shall we go to the Grand Manan ? " 
 
 The Professor's hint about my bilious appear- 
 ance had privately decided me to take an abrupt 
 leave of the national capital. I already felt a 
 fever in my veins. 
 
 " I have written to my friend Tufts, the aqua- 
 rium maker and stocker at Swampscott, you 
 have heard me speak of him ? to engage me a 
 good, clean, stout fishing-smack of from ten to 
 twenty tons,* and also two experienced boatmen, 
 one of them, if possible, old Captain Widger, who 
 went with me on my cruise last year. I shall 
 hear from Tufts in a day or two, and you had 
 better get ready at once, for I shall be off like a 
 flash the moment I can get away." 
 
 In reply to my inquiries into the nature and 
 extent of the requisite preparations for a cruise 
 of a month's duration, the Professor said :
 
 6 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 " Put two pairs of pantaloons, two thick coats, 
 and a vest or two, the oldest and worst you have, 
 into a bag, a gunny-bag or a potato-sack will 
 do. Put in, also, a couple of flannel shirts and 
 drawers, and half a dozen or a dozen of thick 
 woollen socks, and an old felt hat. Buy a couple 
 of the thickest red-flannel shirts you can find, a 
 pair of thick-soled cowhide boots, a tight-fitting 
 cloth cap, a cheap straw hat, and a pair of oilskin 
 or India-rubber pantaloons, oilskin is best, for 
 it does n't smell so abominably as India-rubber. 
 Put these, with two or three pairs of old slippers, 
 in the bag, and tie it up tight. Put a couple of 
 linen shirts, more or less, as you please, and a 
 decent suit of light summer clothes, in a valise, 
 so that you can go ashore at Salem, Portland, 
 Eastport, and other civilized places, and see your 
 friends if you have any. That is all the outfit 
 you will need. I will look out for supplying the 
 vessel with provisions and table-ware. I will also 
 provide pens, ink, paper, pencils, and envelopes. 
 If you want to take notes, put in your valise two 
 or three blank-books, loose sheets of paper are 
 always getting lost." 
 
 " And the damage ? " 
 
 The Professor has an abhorrence of slang 
 phrases, except those which he uses himself. 
 
 " I suppose you mean the expense," he replied. 
 " I cannot exactly tell till I hear from Tufts what 
 sort of craft he has engaged, and on what terms ;
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 7 
 
 but if we get one or two others to go and share 
 expenses, the ' damage,' as you call it, will be 
 from $ 50 to $ 100 apiece." 
 
 This was satisfactory, and I made my prepara- 
 tions accordingly. I put nothing in the. bag be- 
 yond what, the Professor indicated, except a pair 
 of India-rubber overshoes, which I subsequently 
 found of essential service when the deck was too 
 wet for slippers, as was frequently the case. 
 
 Two or three days later the Professor came to 
 see me in high glee, intense delight gleaming 
 through the perspiration that rolled down his face 
 from the heat of a walk in the sunshine. He 
 flourished an open letter in his hand. 
 
 " Tufts writes that he has engaged the sloop 
 Helen and her owner, Captain Gurney, and that 
 Captain Widger will go if we want him. The 
 sloop was built for a yacht, is stout and tight and 
 roomy, with four berths. She measures seventeen 
 tons, and draws five and a half feet of water ; has 
 not been much used for fishing, and is conse- 
 quently clean and in good condition." 
 
 " The price ? " I suggested. 
 
 " Seven dollars and a half a day, including the 
 two men. I shall write to have her brought to 
 Boston on Friday next, and we will start the next 
 day."
 
 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FROM BOSTON TO SWAMPSCOTT. A DEVIL'S-APRON 
 AND ITS CONTENTS. 
 
 I WAS in Boston on the day indicated, Saturday, 
 July 3, and after making purchase of an outfit in 
 nearly literal compliance with the Professor's ad- 
 vice, I found myself at five o'clock in the afternoon 
 on board the sloop, which was moored on the 
 north side of Long Wharf. 
 
 I do not know that I can write a better descrip- 
 tion of the vessel than that given yi her fishing 
 license, which, duly signed and countersigned by 
 the Collector and Surveyor of the Port of Lynn, 
 was kept on board in a tin case. It read thus : 
 
 " District of Marblehead : In pursuance of an act of 
 Congress entitled 'An Act for enrolling and licensing 
 ships or vessels to be employed in the coasting trade 
 and fisheries, and for regulating the same,' John Gor- 
 ham and William G. Gurney, fishermen of Swampscott, 
 in the State of Massachusetts, having given bond that 
 the sloop called the Helen, whereof the said Gurney is 
 master, burden 16 92-95 tons, as appears by the cer- 
 tificate of admeasurement, dated at Marblehead, the 22d 
 day of May, 1856, by which certificate it appears that 
 her length is 32 feet and 7 inches ; breadth, 12 feet and 
 5 inches ; depth, 5 feet and 2 inches ; square stern and
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 9 
 
 billet heads, shall not be employed in any trade, while 
 this license shall continue in force, whereby the revenue 
 of the United States shall be defrauded, and having 
 also sworn that this license shall not be used for any 
 other vessel or for any other employment than is here- 
 in specified, license is hereby granted for the said sloop, 
 called the Helen of Swampscott, to be employed in 
 carrying on the cod-fishery for one year from the date 
 hereof, and no longer. May 7, 1858." 
 
 The Professor was on board, in a state of keen 
 impatience, accompanied by his friend Tufts, the 
 aquarium stocker of Swampscott, to which port 
 we had decided first to direct our course, to make 
 certain necessary arrangements. The fasts were 
 cast off as soon as I touched her deck, and in a 
 few minutes she was going with wind and tide 
 down Boston Harbor, accompanied by a crowd of 
 other craft, of all classes and dimensions, including 
 two or three steamers bound for Baltimore and 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 We had gone but five or six miles when the 
 breeze died away and we threw over a cod-line, 
 baited with a clam, in hope of catching something 
 for supper. But we pulled up only a sea-weed, 
 consisting of a long, cylindrical, hollow stem, 
 gradually expanding into a leaf some ten inches 
 in breadth. This plant is the Laminaria saccka- 
 rina, and is called by our fishermen and sailors 
 the " Devil's-Apron." On the coasts of England, 
 its vulgar name is " Oarweed," a term exactly 
 i*
 
 10 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 descriptive of its shape, which is that of an oar or 
 paddle. Clinging to the roots of this weed was a 
 horse-muscle, as large as a man's hand, which, to- 
 gether with small pebbles, had served as an anchor 
 to keep it at the bottom. 
 
 The Professor grasped with avidity the roots 
 of the weed. After looking at it attentively a 
 few minutes, he pointed out to me about a dozen 
 snake-armed starfish (Ophiopholis scoloiwndrica), 
 wound around the tendrils of the roots. 
 
 " This species," he said, " is found only in deep 
 water, and can only be got by dredging. It con- 
 sists, vou will observe, of a small central disk of 
 about the size of a ten-cent piece, and five long, 
 slender, spiny arms, which twine like serpents 
 among the roots of the sea-weed. They are often 
 very brilliant, and beautifully variegated in color. 
 Most commonly the disk is red, with a pentagonal 
 white spot in the middle, while the arms are ringed 
 with red and brown." 
 
 The Professor next pointed out upon the drip- 
 ping mass something that looked like a large drop 
 of blood. This, he said, was an ascidian, the Cyn~ 
 tlda gutta. It was a small, flat, leathery disk of 
 a red color, of little thickness, but still sufficient 
 to hold a variety of organs, gills, liver, stomach, 
 intestines, &c., which may be seen upon upturn- 
 ing the envelope of the sac. On the upper sur- 
 face there are two apertures, one for the admission, 
 the other for the expulsion of the water which 
 passes over the gills.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 11 
 
 We found also another ascidian, Cynthia echi- 
 nata, a sort of ball, half an inch in diameter, of 
 similar structure with the other, except that it 
 is globular in shape and covered with radiating 
 tufts of filaments. 
 
 These ascidians depend for food on what the 
 water floats into their mouths. They pass their 
 old age in a quiet, sedentary way, attached to 
 sea-plants, from which they never separate except 
 by force. In youth, on the contrary, while in 
 the tadpole state, they are continually swimming 
 about tiJl they find a place in which to fix their 
 permanent abode, when the tail of the tadpole 
 disappears and the creature assumes its proper 
 form and leads its proper life. 
 
 While I was looking at the ascidians, the Pro- 
 fessor exclaimed, " Here 's a gasteropod mollusk." 
 
 This was a limpet with a broad shell, in shape 
 like a depressed cone, and not spirally twisted 
 like most other univalves. It creeps about on 
 the bottom with its oval, flat foot, and when dis- 
 turbed can adhere so strongly to the rock, upon 
 the same principle that a boy's round leather 
 sucker clings to a stone or a brick, that its de- 
 struction is the certain consequence of an attempt 
 to remove it. The specimen we caught, Tec- 
 tura testudinalis, was ver-y pretty, being externally 
 brown, with whitish rays, and internally blue, 
 with a brown margin. This species is also found 
 on rocks near low-water mark.
 
 12 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 " What do you think that is ? " said the Pro- 
 fessor, handing me a pebble which he detached 
 from the roots of the sea-weed. 
 
 I looked at it carefully, and replied, " A pebble 
 curiously coated with lime." 
 
 " What you take for lime is a vegetable, the 
 nullipore, much of whose fabric, however, is really 
 composed of carbonate of lime." 
 
 We found about twenty species of marine ani- 
 mals, and several marine plants besides, on this 
 one piece of sea-weed, accidentally pulled from 
 the bottom by a fish-line. It was thrown over- 
 board, after we had sufficiently examined it, and, 
 as we floated slowly toward the 'Outer Light of 
 Boston Bay, Mr. Tufts, sitting watchful on the 
 vessel's side, grasped with a boathook a piece of 
 eel-grass floating by. 
 
 " Give me that," said the Professor ; " it shows 
 fructification, and is the first specimen I have ever 
 seen. It is very rarely found in this condition." 
 
 The prize, which he put for preservation in a 
 jar of alcohol, was a piece of common eel-grass, 
 Zostera marina. The seeds are arranged obliquely 
 in two rows, for a short distance, on one side of the 
 long linear leaf. They are in shape like grains of 
 rice, but much smaller. They may often be seen, 
 thrown up on the beaches, just sprouting, but are 
 very seldom found in situ on the leaf, so that most 
 sea-side observers are ignorant of this plant's mode 
 of fructification.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 13 
 
 The wind was so light that at 8 P. M. we were 
 only ten miles from Boston, off Nahant. A thick 
 fog coming in from the ocean shut out everything 
 from view. We stood on, however, through a 
 heavy rolling sea, which our Pilot, as we called 
 Captain Widger, said was caused by the fog, 
 though he could not tell why. The Nahant 
 steamboat, the Nelly Baker, was also caught in 
 the fog, and was blowing a horn at intervals of 
 three or four minutes, and was answered by a horn 
 on shore to direct her to the landing-place. Pres- 
 ently we heard the breakers on Nahant Point, and 
 hauling up to the northward, we soon saw the red 
 light on Egg Rock feebly glimmering through the 
 gloom before us at no great distance. We slowly 
 passed close to the rock, of whose light we lost 
 sight when we were about an eighth of a mile from 
 it, so dense was the fog ; and soon after 9 P. M., 
 the wind ceasing entirely, we came to anchor in 
 the bay of Swampscott, about a mile from the 
 shore, in six fathoms water. 
 
 We could see nothing and hear nothing but the 
 roar of the breakers on Egg Rock and the rocky 
 headland near the Ocean House. The sloop lay 
 in the trough of the sea, which the Professor de- 
 fined as the trough out of which the sea-horses 
 took their food. That gentleman, in spite of the 
 seasoning of his four years' voyage round the 
 world, and of many other cruises, began to feel 
 internal qualms as the vessel pitched about, and
 
 14 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 presently turned in, protesting that, in all his 
 voyagings he had never experienced a more de- 
 testable specimen of the " doldrums " than that 
 in which we now lay. I, too, for the first time 
 in my life, felt slightly sea-sick, and also turned in, 
 after turning myself inside out over the vessel's 
 side. 
 
 The sloop's cabin, which was low, but suf- 
 ficiently broad, contained four berths, two on each 
 side. The Professor and myself took one side, 
 the two seamen turned in on the other, while 
 Mr. Tufts kept watch on deck, as there was some 
 reason to apprehend that the sloop might drift, 
 the only anchor we had ready for use being a 
 small one. At midnight he was relieved by the 
 Skipper, and with the first dawn of morning the 
 anchor was raised, and with a light breeze the 
 sloop slowly moved in to her moorings near the 
 shore of Swampscott, said moorings consisting 
 of a chain fastened to a rock weighing two or 
 three tons, which, years ago, had been brought 
 off from the beach and dropped to the bottom 
 of the bay, its position being indicated on the 
 surface by a cask attached to a stout rope, which 
 cask was hauled aboard and made fast on deck 
 when the sloop reached her moorings. There are 
 fifty or sixty fishing sloops and schooners belong- 
 ing to Swampscott, each of which has her own 
 moorings indicated by a cask or some sort of buoy, 
 fastened generally to two old, large ship's anchors.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 15 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE GUNNER. THE SCULPIN. A SCIENTIFIC 
 SHOEMAKER. 
 
 THE Fourth of July morning opened with un- 
 wonted stillness. Nothing could be heard in the 
 fog but the light washing of the waves against 
 the sides of the sloop, and the low roar of the 
 surf breaking on Nahant and the rocky shore of 
 the mainland. 
 
 About six o'clock the Pilot arranged an iron 
 furnace on deck, just in front of the cabin door, 
 in the cockpit as it is called, and began prepara- 
 tions for breakfast. His first preparation, which, 
 throughout the cruise, he never neglected, was 
 slowly to fill and light a short black pipe, with 
 which stuck in his mouth, he went about the 
 more direct duties of getting ready the meal, such 
 as cutting up kindlings and bringing forth charcoal 
 from the dim recesses of the forepeak. 
 
 Presently he intimated that we had better have 
 some fish for breakfast, and producing a line from 
 a locker well stored with fishing-tackle, directed 
 me to bait with clams, of which we had a pailful 
 on board. I reminded him that it was the Sab- 
 bath. He replied, with due gravity, that fishing 
 for food on the Sabbath was perfectly lawful.
 
 16 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 He would not fish for gain or for sport on that 
 day, but if we wanted fish for breakfast we might 
 take them with a clear conscience. Perceiving 
 this to be orthodox doctrine, I baited and dropped 
 a line over the side, letting it go to the bottom. 
 
 In a quarter of an hour I had caught a dozen 
 cunners, enough for breakfast. They are a 
 species of perch, the sea-perch, but the fishermen 
 of this region seldom call them perch, terming 
 them indifferently cunners or nippers. Our Skip- 
 per and the Pilot generally gave them the latter 
 name, which is obviously derived from their nip- 
 ping bite. In New York the cunner is called 
 the " bergall," a Dutch name, and is known also 
 by its Indian name " chogset." Mr. Perley of 
 St. John, whose " Report on the Sea and River 
 Fisheries of New Brunswick," printed at Freder- 
 ickton in 1852, is the best work yet published on 
 American fish and fisheries, says that at Boston 
 it is called "blue perch." But I have never 
 heard that name given to it in Massachusetts, 
 where it is universally known along the shore. 
 
 The dozen that I caught that morning varied 
 greatly in size and color. They were from five 
 to ten inches in length, and in color no two were 
 exactly alike. The general color was black mixed 
 with brown, with faint transverse bars of an un- 
 certain dusky hue. One or two of the largest 
 exhibited a light orange tint throughout the whole 
 body, with the head and gill-covers of a chocolate
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 17 
 
 color mixed with light blue, and with blue fins ; 
 on the back is a long stiff fin with eighteen spines, 
 which is erected or laid back at the will of the 
 fish. Later in the cruise I caught specimens of 
 the cunner thirteen inches in length, weighing a 
 pound, so black as to be hardly distinguishable 
 at first glance from the tautog or black fish, while 
 others, equally large, were throughout of a vivid 
 light yellow, varied with spots and bars of shades 
 of the same color. 
 
 The cunner is found all along the Atlantic coast 
 of North America, from Delaware Bay to New- 
 foundland. They are caught most plentifully near 
 rocky shores, and are supposed to feed chiefly on 
 Crustacea ; other fish do not molest them, from 
 dread of their dangerous spines. They are very 
 annoying to the fisher for tautog or rock-cod, as 
 they swarm plentifully and take off with great 
 readiness the bait intended for larger prey. It 
 is, however, an excellent and favorite pan fish, and 
 there are two or three old fishermen at Swamp- 
 scott who devote themselves entirely to catching 
 cunners in the cunner season, that is, from the 
 middle of June to the middle of September. 
 Vast numbers are caught in scoop-nets, which are 
 lowered from boats into the still waters, where 
 they gather in shoals so thick that sometimes a 
 bushel is drawn into the boat at once. They are 
 prepared for the table by stripping the skin off 
 entirely, leaving the flesh white and delicate. I
 
 18 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 found them very good eating, not inferior to tau- 
 tog, when both are cooked in the same manner. 
 
 Beside the cunners, I caught a cod weighing a 
 pound and a half, which went with them into the 
 frying-pan. The Professor, despising cunner-fish- 
 ing, was engaged in catching medusae with a hand- 
 net, as they floated past the sloop ; but, on seeing 
 the cod, he dropped his net, baited a large hook 
 heavily with clams, and flung it overboard. In a 
 moment he had a bite, and, pulling vigorously, 
 drew up a large sculpin, or " grubby," as the 
 Skipper called it, toad-fish, it is called in New 
 York. For the benefit of my inland readers, I 
 will try to describe this monster, who, if his size 
 were commensurate with his ugliness, would be 
 the most frightful of created things. The speci- 
 men we caught was about twelve inches long, 
 with a big, thick head, an immense mouth, great 
 staring goggle eyes, with black pupils and golden 
 irides, fins and tail variously and brightly colored, 
 and with about fifty spines and tubercles scattered 
 over him, chiefly on his head. The upper part of 
 his body was of a light-brown color, with dark, ir- 
 regular blotches ; his throat and belly pure white, 
 his first back fin of a dark-brown color, banded 
 with yellow ; the second back fin of a greenish- 
 yellow, with three transverse black bands ; the 
 fins on the sides of a dirty white streaked with 
 black ; the tail yellow, with three transverse black 
 bars.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 19 
 
 The sculpin is a lazy rascal, and spends his 
 time chiefly in lying on the bottom, with his fins 
 spread, waiting till food is brought within his 
 reach. He eats everything that is edible, and 
 will therefore bite at any bait. He is very easily 
 caught, and comes to the surface unresistingly, ex- 
 hibiting, when there, a ridiculously piteous aspect, 
 gasping with his great mouth and staring with his 
 goggle eyes. He is generally put to death, or 
 badly hurt, before being flung back into the water, 
 in order to keep him from biting again at the 
 hook. On this occasion the Professor sought to 
 induce the Pilot to cook the creature and try its 
 edible qualities, assuring him that he would find 
 it not bad eating. The Pilot was deaf to the 
 suggestion, and, after knocking the sculpin's head 
 two or three times against the side of the vessel, 
 threw it overboard. I believe the Greenlanders 
 are the only people who make the sculpin an arti- 
 cle of diet, though I have heard that the negroes 
 of Boston are accustomed to eat those they catch 
 from the wharves and bridges, and that they pro- 
 nounce them very good. They are said to make 
 especially good soup. Mr. Perley remarks that 
 when the line fishers in the Bay of Fundy find 
 the sculpin biting too freely they immediately 
 change their ground to avoid it. 
 
 Our breakfast was of fried fish, boiled eggs, 
 "hard tack," as the sailors term crackers and 
 biscuit, in distinction from loaf bread, which they
 
 20 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 call " soft tack," and coffee, which we drank 
 from large yellow mugs. After breakfast, about 
 nine o'clock, the fog 
 
 " rose up in many a spectral shape 
 And crept away in silence o'er the waves. 
 
 The sea, from silvery white to deepest bine, 
 Changed 'neath the changing colors of the sky ; 
 . The distant lighthouse broke upon the view 
 And the long land-points spread before the eye." 
 
 The village of Swampscott, with its small 
 white fishing-houses lining the shore of the shal- 
 low bay, which is no harbor, but only a barely 
 perceptible indentation in the coast, shone out in 
 the sunshine, backed by lovely green hills, their 
 wooded slopes dotted by cottages and villas. Na- 
 hant, with its beaches and cliffs, crowned by its 
 immense, fantastic-looking hotel, jutted far into 
 the sea on our left, while to the right the surf 
 was lazily breaking, glancing and flashing against 
 the rocky point on which stands the Ocean House 
 and its accompanying buildings. Behind us tow- 
 ered Egg Rock, with a white lighthouse perched 
 on its narrow summit, and whiter waves foaming 
 around its base. 
 
 We lay moored amid a fleet of picturesque fish- 
 ing-vessels, about twenty in number, most of them 
 schooners, and ranging in size from five to fifty 
 tons. Craft of this size and description are called 
 jiggers by the fishermen. They are employed in 
 the shore fishery, in "market fisheries," so called
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 21 
 
 because the fish they take are not salted or dried, 
 but taken fresh to market and sold for immediate 
 consumption. In summer the Swampscott fisher- 
 men take their fish direct to Boston for sale ; but 
 in winter the Boston fish-dealers go to Swamp- 
 scott to purchase. The number of jiggers owned 
 in Swampscott is twenty-five, and they are manned 
 by upward of two hundred men. There are be- 
 sides sixty or seventy dories employed in fishing, 
 each worked by one man. The dory is a flat-bot- 
 tomed skiff, thirteen feet long. Our sloop had one 
 which usually was towed at the stern, but in bad 
 weather was hoisted on board. The jiggers, when 
 they go out to fish in winter, carry a dory for each 
 man of the crew, and when the vessel anchors on 
 the fishing-grounds, each man takes his dory and 
 rows to some distance to fish. A man and a boy 
 generally remain in the vessel and fish from her 
 side. They catch cod, haddock, hake, halibut, 
 pollack, and mackerel. 
 
 Mr. Tufts had come on board while we were at 
 breakfast, and wishing to see his aquariums I 
 went ashore with him in his dory. We landed on 
 a beach in front of his shop, which is almost at the 
 water's edge, and I spent half an hour very agree- 
 ably in examining his tanks, of which he had 
 several in fine condition. Mr. Tufts is a shoe- 
 maker, with no more education from schools than 
 every boy in Massachusetts receives. He has 
 educated himself by books and observation in nat-
 
 22 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 ural history, till he has become in his specialty 
 marine zoology a very intelligent naturalist. 
 For a year or two past he had devoted himself to 
 collecting and selling materials for stocking aquari- 
 ums, -the demand for which two or three years 
 ago was considerable in our principal cities. The 
 Smithsonian Institution and the Boston Society 
 of Natural History employed him in this capacity. 
 To those who ordered from him the materials for 
 stocking an aquarium, he sent a keg or barrel of 
 sea-water, and a box of two compartments, one 
 containing the sea-weeds and some of the animals, 
 the other containing the more delicate animals in 
 a bottle or jar. While aquariums were in fashion 
 he had full occupation in this pursuit, but I learn 
 that recently he has relinquished it.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 23 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OFF BOSTON LIGHT. POLLACK. SUN-SQUALLS. 
 BLUE-FISHING. 
 
 AT 10 o'clock the anchor was raised, and with 
 a fine breeze we got under way, bound for the 
 south shore of Massachusetts Bay, intending to 
 land, if possible, at Marshfield, and next at Ply- 
 mouth, to take on board an artist who had agreed 
 to meet us at that place on the 5th of July. Soon 
 after passing Dread Ledge, the scene of numerous 
 shipwrecks, the Professor, who was basking in the 
 sunshine on the taffrail of the sloop, watching the 
 medusa3 floating by, was suddenly startled by the 
 apparition of a large shark within a foot or two of 
 his elbow. The creature was probably attracted 
 by the sight of the Professor's red shirt, for, before 
 starting this morning, we had discarded our shore 
 clothes, and reduced our integuments to panta- 
 loons and red-flannel shirts. The shark remained 
 alongside but for a minute or two, after which he 
 was not seen again. 
 
 The- wind was northwest, and the day fair and 
 splendid, and not too warm, though it was very 
 hot, I believe, on shore. As we passed Nahant 
 Point we saw a great fleet of vessels coming out 
 of Boston Harbor, spreading their white wings to
 
 24 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 fly to the uttermost ends of the earth. At 11, 
 however, the wind shifted to the east, and the fog, 
 which had been driven out to sea by the north- 
 west wind, came rolling rapidly in again, involving 
 everything in its blinding embraces. Many of the 
 vessels we had seen, returned with it, not liking to 
 keep the sea during its continuance. For our- 
 selves, we skirted slowly along the grim rocky 
 barrier of Boston Harbor, with its frowning gray 
 rocks, seamed by dikes of black basaltic trap, 
 looking so much like iron hoops on a barrel as 
 to readily suggest the epithet of an iron-bound 
 shore. As the fog gained on us and grew denser, 
 we ran in, and came to anchor between the island 
 called the Outer Brewster and the island on which 
 Boston-light is situated. A fog- bell near the 
 lighthouse had been for some time sounding its 
 dismal warning, which it continued so long as the 
 fog lasted. 
 
 The lighthouse is a tall structure of brick, 
 hooped with iron. "I helped to hoop it forty- 
 eight years ago," said our Pilot. " Thomas Knox, 
 brother of General Knox of the Revolutionary 
 Army, was the first keeper of the light." 
 
 Our Pilot, as we called him, from his minute 
 knowledge of the coast, generally officiated as 
 steersman, and always as cook. He was sixty- 
 eight years of age, of which fifty-five years had 
 been spent on the sea. He was still as hale, 
 hearty, and active as most men of fifty years. His
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 25 
 
 life had not been without adventure and strange 
 vicissitudes. In 1812, when Congress declared 
 war against England, he was on a voyage to St. 
 Petersburg. On the return from that port his 
 vessel was captured by an English cruiser, and 
 he was sent a prisoner of war to Chatham, where 
 he remained upward of a year, and was exchanged 
 and released just before the transfer of the Ameri- 
 can captives to the fatal prison of Dartmoor. Dur- 
 ing the rest of the war he sailed from his native 
 Marblehead in a privateer, which made a good 
 many captures, and had three or four engagements 
 with armed merchantmen. He continued to make 
 long voyages for some years after peace was re- 
 stored, but finally settled down into the steady 
 pursuit of the fisheries, in the course of which 
 he had become familiarly acquainted with almost 
 every bay, harbor, island, headland, reef, shoal, 
 and rock, from Cape Cod to Labrador. 
 
 Two schooners, yachts from Boston, were fish- 
 ing and carousing near us, and a party from one 
 of them was on shore on the lighthouse island, 
 making chowder. We dined on boiled ham and 
 corned-beef, and about the middle of the after- 
 noon, the fog clearing away, the Skipper suggested 
 that cunners would be good for supper, and that 
 they could be caught close to the rocky shores of 
 the island near which we were anchored. The 
 Professor and myself accordingly took the dory and 
 pulled to the nearest point of rock, on which the
 
 26 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 surf was slightly breaking. We anchored the 
 dory by her little iron anchor, as close as we could 
 to the rocks, and, baiting with clams, dropped our 
 lines in water ten or twelve feet deep. We 
 caught a number of cunners, somewhat larger than 
 those I had caught at Swampscott, two or three 
 small cod, rock-cod the fishermen call them, 
 and as many pollack. 
 
 The pollack is a beautiful fish of a singularly 
 elegant shape. From its agility and fine form 
 the Bay of Fundy fishermen often call it the 
 " sea-salmon." It has a strongly defined silvery 
 line running down the sides. Above the lateral 
 line the color is a greenish black. The belly is 
 white. It is caught very freely on our shores, in 
 spring and autumn. Jeffries Ledge, which lies 
 fifteen or sixteen miles east by north of Cape Ann, 
 is a favorite fishing-ground for pollack, and im- 
 mense quantities are taken there in the fall of the 
 year by boats, which go in fleets of twenty or thirty 
 for the purpose. Formerly the fish was very 
 little prized, was hardly ever eaten fresh, and was 
 so carelessly cured that it had a low reputation 
 in the market. Within a quarter of a century it 
 has come into use, and is a favorite article when 
 salted and dried. It is also very good eating fresh, 
 thougk I find our Pilot and Skipper retain their 
 ancient prejudice against it in that state. The 
 pollack grows to the size sometimes of thirty 
 pounds, but the average weight of those taken
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 27 
 
 in deep water is ten pounds. Those that we 
 caught were small, weighing about a pound and a 
 half. Subsequently in our cruise we caught them 
 plentifully of somewhat larger size, and frequently 
 saw great schools of them darting out of the water. 
 
 The English fishermen sometimes call the pol- 
 lack the cythe. It is found in great plenty around 
 the coasts of the British Islands, and is described 
 by English naturalists as extremely frolicsome, 
 gamboling and flinging itself about on the surface 
 of the water. It spawns in winter, and the young 
 abound near the edge of the tide, in rocky places, 
 at the beginning of summer. 
 
 Mr. Perley says that from almost every project- 
 ing point in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, where 
 there is a run of tide, young pollack may be taken 
 during the summer, by rod and line, very rap- 
 idly, either with bait or any gaudy artificial fly, 
 even of rude construction. The most attractive 
 is the scarlet ibis with gold, by which also white 
 sea-trout is caught in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
 
 The sky and sea were so beautiful, and the air 
 was so delicious, the surf broke so splendidly over 
 the many rocky points and ledges which surround- 
 ed us, that I fear we prolonged our fishing beyond 
 what the necessities of supper strictly required. 
 A curious whitish appearance on the summit of 
 the huge rock near which our dory lay had at- 
 tracted our attention from the sloop. As the 
 Pilot had said that it was caused by the drop-
 
 28 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 pings of sea-birds, the Professor jumped ashore to 
 examine it; instead of guano, it proved to be 
 white quartz. 
 
 When we returned to the sloop, we found the 
 seamen fast asleep. On awaking, and inspect- 
 ing wind and tide, they decided that we must 
 remain where we were for the present. Refresh- 
 ing ourselves with lemonade, concocted by the 
 Skipper, into which he had put a little whiskey to 
 correct the acidity, we gave ourselves up to the 
 contemplation of a fleet of medusae, which were 
 sailing by in prodigious numbers. The Professor 
 rigged a dip-net, and caught a variety of speci- 
 mens. 
 
 The common names for these curious and 
 beautiful creatures are sea-nettles and sea-jellies. 
 Around Boston Harbor the common people call 
 them sun-fish. Our Pilot called them sun-squalls, 
 which obviously is a derivation from the German 
 name for them, schirm-quallen, which means " um- 
 brella-jellies," and is highly descriptive of the 
 animal. They consist of a transparent gelatinous 
 substance, of a circular form, and when floating 
 have the shape of an expanded umbrella, without 
 the handle. They contract and expand in a man- 
 ner similar to the opening and shutting of an um- 
 brella, except that they do not shut up quite 
 so tightly. The most common form which we 
 saw here was that of the Aurelia aurita, which 
 sometimes swim in such abundance in Boston
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 29 
 
 Harbor as to impede the motions of boats. It is 
 easily distinguished by the four stomachs in its 
 centre, each surrounded by a circle of ovaries 
 which are very conspicuous, because, unlike the 
 rest of the animal, they are of an opaque whitish 
 or pinkish white color. From the centre, between 
 these organs, hang four fringed tentacles by which 
 the food, consisting chiefly of minute Crustacea, is 
 caught and conveyed to the mouth. The margin 
 of the umbrella is closely surrounded with long 
 cilia, which Avave gracefully in the water with the 
 motions of the animal. 
 
 We captured a number of large ones, a foot in 
 diameter, and weighing several pounds, in sub- 
 stance and consistence exactly like jelly. But if 
 one of these is exposed to the sun a few hours, 
 it will evaporate and dry away till nothing is left 
 but some small shreds of membranous skin. Those 
 we caught were of various species, some of them 
 well deserving their popular name of sea-nettles, 
 for in handling them I was stung severely, with an 
 inflammation which lasted two or three hours. By 
 some naturalists this stinging is supposed to be a 
 sort of electric shock, but it has been ascertained 
 that it is mechanical, and is caused by the darting 
 of minute barbed stings, shaped like arrows. 
 
 As I was inspecting one of these animals, the 
 Professor made a sudden dash with his dip-net. 
 
 " Ah ! " he cried, exultingly, " I have caught a 
 Staurophora laciniata, which is very rare. They
 
 30 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 are hardly ever seen in the bay." We subse- 
 quently, however, saw it in considerable numbers. 
 It is so transparent that it. could scarcely be dis- 
 tinguished in the water were it not for its two 
 lines of opaque ovaries arranged in the form of a 
 cross, and intersecting at the centre, at which the 
 extremely small mouth of the animal is situated. 
 The mouth has no tentacles in this species. The 
 margin of the umbrella is ciliated. 
 
 I spent a good part of the afternoon in watch- 
 ing these sun-squalls, as the Skipper called them, 
 which I think are the loveliest and the strangest 
 of all the productions of the sea. In their delicate 
 and fragile and evanescent beauty, I can compare 
 them to nothing on the land except the soap-bub- 
 bles blown by a child. No one who has not seen 
 them in their proper element can appreciate their 
 exquisite grace. To me, one of their greatest 
 charms was the exceeding strangeness of their 
 forms and motions, which are wholly unlike those 
 of any other living thing. And strangeness, as 
 Lord Bacon long ago said, is one of the first 
 elements of beauty. I saw, while on this cruise, 
 I suppose a hundred thousand sun-squalls, in 
 some places the sea swarms with them, yet I 
 never beheld one pass without a sensation of 
 eager delight and curiosity. 
 
 About 6 o'clock the Pilot took the dory and 
 went ashore to the lighthouse in search of milk. 
 As he was returning from this expedition a sud-
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 31 
 
 den commotion in the water near the sloop at- 
 tracted my attention. It occurred once or twice 
 before I called the Professor, who was in the 
 cabin making desperate efforts to light a cigar, 
 the fog having affected our matches with damp- 
 ness. 
 
 " A school of bluefish ! " exclaimed the Pro- 
 fessor excitedly, as his eye caught the movement 
 to which I pointed. He shouted to the Pilot to 
 make haste with the dory, and throwing on an 
 overcoat, seized from the locker, where we kept 
 our fishing-tackle, a long, stout line, at the end of 
 which was a shining spoon-shaped piece of pewter 
 terminated by a large hook. This apparatus is 
 called a jig. As the dory approached he jumped 
 in, nearly oversetting it in his hurry, and telling 
 the Pilot to row in the direction where the blue- 
 fish last showed themselves, threw overboard the 
 jig and rapidly unwound the line, till about thirty 
 fathoms were trailing behind him. 
 
 Presently I saw him, standing in the stern of 
 the boat, pull in rapidly the line. He had caught 
 a large bluefish, which he held up for me to look 
 at. I went below to see what the books said of 
 the animal. Shortly afterward, hearing the Pro- 
 fessor alongside, I went on deck. A young man, 
 a stranger, was sitting at the oars. The old Pilot, 
 unable to get any milk at the lighthouse, had gone 
 ashore in pursuit of the article on the Outer 
 Brewster,- on whose green surface he had espied
 
 82 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 a cow. A young fisherman, resident there, had 
 volunteered to row the dory while the Professor 
 trailed for bluefish, and the Professor, after catch- 
 ing two or three, had run alongside to give me a 
 chance at the sport. 
 
 The sun was just setting, and as we rowed 
 about I forgot the bluefish in the beauty of the 
 purple sea, of the soft, fleecy, rosy clouds, and 
 the plashing lines of surf gently breaking over 
 the reefs and on the rocky points of the islands. 
 The vigorous arms of the fisherman sent the dory 
 along at a rate that kept the jig spinning on the 
 surface like a fish in rapid motion. Presently the 
 bluefish broke close to it, three or four rushing at 
 it at once, with great ferocity. A sudden jerk, a 
 rush to the right, then to the left, a plunge, a leap, 
 a strong, savage pull, told that a large bluefish was 
 on the hook. I drew him in as quickly as possible, 
 which was no slight job, for I had out at least 
 thirty fathoms of line, and my oarsman, to whom 
 the sport was entirely new, in his excitement kept 
 the dory going as fast as his arms could send her. 
 
 On getting the bluefish alongside, you must lift 
 him at once into the boat, as he will disengage 
 himself if the line is allowed to slacken in the 
 least. The fellow I captured was about two feet 
 long. The jig, thrown over again quickly, was 
 hardly out to the full length of the line before the 
 fish were dashing at it. Several caught it in suc- 
 cession, and got away, their mouths probably tear-
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 33 
 
 ing with the powerful tug they gave. At length 
 one hooked himself firmly. I pulled him in and 
 found he was somewhat smaller than the other. 
 In a few minutes a third was hooked, so large 
 that, after hauling him in with difficulty to the 
 side of the dory, and seeing that he had the hook 
 apparently well down his throat, I slackened the 
 line to give him a chance to play a little. He dis- 
 engaged himself instantly and was off. 
 
 The bluefish broke water next time at some dis- 
 tance, and while we were rowing toward them I 
 saw a large fish, probably a shark, chasing them 
 vigorously. This put an end to our sport, for the 
 bluefish suddenly disappeared. We saw no more 
 of them, though we rowed about in all directions, 
 till it grew quite dark. Directing my oarsman to 
 pull to the Outer Brewster, where he had resided, 
 he said, for ten years past, catching lobsters for 
 a living, I exchanged him for the Pilot, who for 
 nearly an hour had been sitting patiently on a 
 rock by the shore, with his pitcher of milk beside 
 him. The Brewster man gladly accepted two of 
 the bluefish for his services as oarsman. As he 
 seemed greatly enamored of the sport of catching 
 them, we gave him a jig to enable him to follow it 
 in the future. 
 
 The bluefish is sometimes called " horse-mack- 
 erel " by the fishermen, though the real horse- 
 mackerel is a very different fish. At Philadelphia 
 I believe they are called " tailors." They range 
 2* o
 
 34 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 in size from three to thirty pounds, though speci- 
 mens of the last-mentioned weight are extremely 
 rare. Their average size in the waters of New 
 England is four or five pounds, I think. They 
 are heartily anathematized by the fishermen ; for, 
 though a fine fish themselves, and popular as food, 
 they drive off from the fishing -grounds all the 
 other species on which the fishermen depend for 
 support. The appearance of the bluefish is the 
 signal for the disappearance of the cod, mackerel, 
 haddock, and pollack, which fly before these fierce 
 and insatiable marauders as the bluefish them- 
 selves fly before the shark. 
 
 The bluefish is singularly erratic in its habits. 
 A century or two ago it was plentiful on our 
 coast, and was held in high estimation as an 
 article of food. During the last half of the last 
 century and earlier years of this it disappeared 
 entirely. Within forty years it has returned, first 
 appearing on the coast south of Cape Cod, near 
 Nantucket, New Bedford, and Martha's Vineyard. 
 In course of time it made its way into Massachu- 
 setts Bay, and appears to be gradually working to 
 the northward. Bluefish have passed Cape Ann 
 within two or three years, though not in great 
 numbers, and a few have been seen this year 
 as far north as the Isles of Shoals, off Ports- 
 mouth. 
 
 The bluefish belongs to the mackerel family. 
 The upper part of his body is of a bluish color,
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 35 
 
 whence his name ; the lower part of the sides and 
 the belly are whitish or silvery. 
 
 We supped heartily on cunners and rock-cod, 
 and at 10 o'clock turned in to sleep, the sky being 
 cloudless and the sea calm.
 
 36 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A MIDNIGHT WATCH. RUNNING DOWN THE SOUTH 
 SHORE. PLYMOUTH. THE ASSYRIAN. 
 
 JUST at midnight we were all roused from sleep 
 by a great crash in the cabin. Tumbling out of 
 my berth in a hurry, I found the little sloop toss- 
 ing and pitching furiously. The table, which ex- 
 tended the whole length of the cabin, and which 
 we had left, on turning in, covered with books, 
 cups, lamps, and miscellaneous articles, had got 
 unfastened, and at length upset by the rolling of 
 the vessel. The Skipper and the Pilot were al- 
 ready on deck, where, by the uproar, it was 
 evident that something was going wrong. Fol- 
 lowing them I learned that the tide was setting 
 strongly up, while a northwest wind was blowing 
 strongly down the bay. The conflict of these twe 
 forces produced a rough sea, under the effect of 
 which our craft was dragging her anchor and drift 
 ing toward a not very distant reef. The sky was 
 overclouded, and the darkness was relieved only 
 by the intermittent flashes of the revolving-light. 
 The seamen were at work forward trying to pre- 
 vent the vessel from drifting, in which they at 
 length succeeded, though only partially ; for the 
 Pilot muttered as he went below, that if the wind
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 37 
 
 did not freshen, he guessed she 'd not drift much 
 before daylight. 
 
 I lingered awhile on deck listening to the sa- 
 lutes of cannon, like distant thunder, from all the 
 surrounding shores of the bay, announcing the 
 termination of the Sabbath and the beginning of 
 the celebration of the Fourth of July. The cold 
 at length drove me below, and I turned in again, 
 but the violent rocking of the vessel and the un- 
 usual noises prevented me from getting to sleep. 
 By and by I rose in the darkness, put on all the 
 coats I could lay hands upon, and groped my way 
 to the deck. The light, as it revolved, threw over 
 the vessel so strong a blaze that I could read the 
 smallest print. Looking at my watch, I saw that 
 it was just 2 o'clock. The clouds were breaking 
 away, and the moon, like the light of the light- 
 house, shone out at intervals with a fitful bril- 
 liancy. The Skipper, who had been watching 
 since midnight, uncertain if his anchor would 
 hold, said the wind was changing ; and as the 
 vessel now drifted but little, he would turn in if 
 I was going to stay on deck. 
 
 For two hours I stood at the companion-way, 
 leaning over the boom, watching the black and 
 angry waves, the flashing light, and the moon, 
 now clouded, now unveiled, and listening to the 
 rote of the sea, as our ancient Pilot always calls 
 the sound it makes when breaking over ledges or 
 rolling on the shore. The word is from the Latin
 
 38 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 rota, and I think is used by Shakespeare. It is 
 now obsolete except among seamen. 
 
 The firing of cannon at various points on the 
 land was audible at intervals, and now and then a 
 fish would leap near the vessel, falling back with a 
 great splash into the water. Occasionally I could 
 dimly discern, through the gloom, the masts of 
 ships that were taking advantage of the tide to 
 glide into the harbor. They had a singularly 
 spectre-like appearance, and stalked along sol- 
 emnly and silently, like the ghosts of Ossian's 
 heroes. 
 
 It was a strange, wild scene, the most pecu- 
 liar feature being the great revolving light, now 
 throwing a ghastly glare over the vessel and the 
 water, and in a moment after subsiding into sud- 
 den darkness. I watched it with a sort of fascina- 
 tion till the gray light of morning began to appear, 
 and some sea-birds on a neighboring island to twit- 
 ter, and a cock to crow faintly in the distance. 
 Shortly afterward the sun rose, and as the wind 
 and weather were fair I roused the crew. The 
 Skipper went ashore at the lighthouse to fill our 
 water-firkins. The Pilot cooked the bluefish for 
 breakfast, and in half an hour we were standing 
 toward Plymouth with a stiff breeze from the 
 northeast. 
 
 At 7 o'clock we passed the Light-ship at Mi- 
 not's Ledge, off Cohasset, the scene of many ship- 
 wrecks, and the site of the iron lighthouse, which,
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 39 
 
 with its keepers, was overwhelmed by the great 
 gale in April, 1851. The Light-ship is a yellow 
 two-masted vessel, strongly built and well an- 
 chored, with three or four heavy spare anchors 
 hanging from her bow and stern, to be used in 
 case of a gale. She had several flags flying in 
 honor of the day. 
 
 Running down the South Shore of Massachu- 
 setts Bay, keeping generally at the distance of 
 two miles, at a little past 10 o'clock we were off 
 the Gurnet, a long, high promontory, stretching 
 out from Marshfield, with two lighthouses close 
 together on its seaward extremity, well-known to 
 mariners as the Gurnet Lights. This high point 
 is supposed by some antiquarians to have been 
 discovered by the Northman, Thorwald Ericsson, 
 who in the second summer of his sojourn in Vin- 
 land landed here, saying to his companions, " This 
 spot is beautiful ; here should I like to build my- 
 self a habitation." Being shortly afterward killed 
 in battle with the natives, his body was buried on 
 the promontory, which, from the crosses erected 
 over his grave, is called in the Sagas, Krossaness, 
 or Cross Cape. 
 
 No one on board had ever sailed into Plymouth 
 Harbor except the old Pilot, and he but once, for- 
 ty years before. The Professor, sitting on deck 
 with the Coast Survey chart of the harbor before 
 him, undertook to pilot us in, an undertaking 
 not without hazard, as the bay abounds in shoals,
 
 40 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 and the channel is intricate. We got in success- 
 fully, however, and anchored just outside the sand- 
 spit which serves as a breakwater to the harbor. 
 I believe it is thought to be the spot where the 
 Mayflower anchored. At all events, it is the 
 place where, five or six years ago, I got aground 
 in a schooner attempting to sail out of Plymouth 
 on a fishing excursion with a party of friends, and 
 lay through a long summer's day studying the 
 habits and manners of crabs, lobsters, and floun- 
 ders, as we watched them prowling about our 
 vessel. 
 
 The bay that forms the harbors of Plymouth 
 and Duxbury is a broad and beautiful sheet of 
 water, almost landlocked, with its entrance facing 
 the east. On the north, Captain's Hill, the resi- 
 dence of the doughty old Puritan leader, Captain 
 Miles Standish, rears its round, smooth summit to 
 the height of two hundred and fifty feet, and con- 
 ceals from view the village of Duxbury. Still 
 farther to the north, behind other hills, lies Marsh- 
 field, the home and grave of Webster. Far to the 
 south, fronting the Gurnet, and bounding the 
 outer bay, the high and heavily-wooded promon- 
 tory of Manomet extends for miles into the ocean. 
 Plymouth itself is built on the slope of hills and 
 the valleys between, and extends for about a mile 
 along the shore, with here and there a steeple or 
 a great elm towering above its brown roofs. 
 
 Schools of bluefish were swimming to and fro,
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 41 
 
 and the Professor took the dory and tried to catch 
 them by trailing ; but they would not bite. An 
 old fisherman, seventy years of age, who rowed 
 his dory alongside the sloop to have a little chat 
 with us, said that he had been trying to take them 
 all day without success. He said, also, that they 
 had driven nearly all other fish away. 
 
 The broad surface of the bay was lively with 
 pleasure-boats, gayly decorated with flags, and 
 filled with young men and women. The air also 
 was alive with flocks of black-headed terns or 
 "mackerel gulls," as the Pilot called them, be- 
 cause they make their appearance in our waters 
 about the same time that the mackerel comes. 
 The Professor went ashore on the sand-spit near 
 which we had anchored, to look for crabs and 
 shells, and roused a great multitude of these gulls, 
 who flew up, wheeling about, and uttering pecu- 
 liarly shrill and painful cries. They had appar- 
 ently been holding a convention on the shore, 
 though perhaps they were only engaged in a social 
 clam-feast over the mollusks which the waves had 
 washed up. He saw, also, sandpipers running 
 along the beach, diligently scrutinizing every hole 
 which seemed likely to contain the small crusta- 
 ceans which form their food. One of these crusta- 
 ceans, a Talitrus, was remarkable for the height 
 and quickness of its leaps, so high and quick, in- 
 deed, that it could scarcely be captured by the 
 hand. A few specimens were secured by making
 
 42 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 rapid grasps at the spot where they seemed likely 
 to alight. 
 
 Among the insects which the Professor found 
 on this sand-spit, a race-horse beetle, Cidndela^ 
 was conspicuous for its neat shape and bright col- 
 ors. These insects must live on animal food, for 
 there is no vegetable growth on the sands- which 
 could afford them sustenance. 
 
 But the most singular animal found on the sand- 
 spit was a creature which the Professor said he 
 should certainly take to be the " ant-lion," if the 
 ant-lion had ever before been found in this coun- 
 try. It was an insect with a soft grub-like body 
 and a hard beetle-like head, of a greenish color, 
 with golden reflections or indiscences, and armed 
 with a strong pair of forceps-like jaws. It had ex- 
 cavated a pit about an inch in depth, at the bot- 
 tom of which it lay concealed, the head and pow- 
 erful jaws covered by the sand. Around the mar- 
 gin the grains of sand were so loosely arranged 
 that the slightest disturbance would cause them to 
 roll down into the cavity, carrying with them into 
 the clutches of the " ant-lion " any unlucky insect 
 which happened to pass that way and to tread on 
 the margin of the pit. 
 
 About sunset, the Professor and both the sea- 
 men went to the town in a dory, to mail our let- 
 ters and to bring off the Artist, who was expected 
 down by the afternoon train from Boston. Left 
 alone in charge of the vessel, I was reading in the 
 cabin, when I heard a shout close at hand :
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 43 
 
 " Sloop ahoy ! " 
 
 I stepped on deck. A large schooner, with a 
 numerous party of ladies and gentlemen on board, 
 was slowly sweeping by. 
 
 " Captain, how near can we go to that p'int 
 yonder ? " said the master of the schooner, indi- 
 cting with his hand the sand-spit at the entrance 
 of the harbor. 
 
 I was so much overcome by this unexpected 
 compliment to my nautical appearance, that I in- 
 considerately replied, " O, quite near, quite near," 
 as if I knew all about it. The schooner stood on, 
 and I watched, not without trepidation, her course. 
 If she had got aground, I should have been in a 
 pretty fix. Fortunately the tide was high, and 
 she rounded the point safely. 
 
 Late in the evening, the dory returned from 
 Plymouth, bringing off the Artist, who, much to 
 our surprise and pleasure, was accompanied by the 
 Assyrian, as his friends are wont to call him, from 
 his striking resemblance, in face and beard, to the 
 Ninevite sculptures dug up by Layard and Botta. 
 Their arrival completed the number we had fixed 
 upon as desirable for the cruise, four being in fact 
 as many as the sloop could possibly accommodate. 
 The seamen, indeed, for the rest of the voyage 
 slept on the cabin floor, having relinquished their 
 berths to the new-comers. 
 
 We sat on deck for hours after supper, watch- 
 ing the fireworks of Plymouth, which we answered
 
 44 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 with Roman-candles and blue-lights, of which we 
 had provided a considerable stock, not only for 
 amusement, but to use as signals at night. The 
 Assyrian lighted his meerschaum, the seamen their 
 clay pipes, and the rest of us our cigars. And so 
 we smoked and talked, talked of 
 
 " The strange, old-fashioned, silent town, 
 The lighthouse, the dismantled fort, 
 The wooden houses, quaint and brown." 
 
 " We spoke of storm and shipwreck, 
 
 Of the seaman's anxious life : 
 
 How he floats 'twixt sky and water, 
 
 'Twixt joy and sorrow's strife. 
 
 " We spoke of coasts far distant, 
 
 We spoke of South and North, 
 Strange men and stranger customs 
 That those wild lands send forth." 
 
 Nor did our conversation cease until the moon, 
 
 " O'erhanging bright and brave 
 The pale green-glimmering ocean-floor, 
 Silvers its wave, its rustling wave 
 Soft folded on the shelving shore. 
 
 " O lovely moon, a lonely place 
 Is this thou cheerest with thy face ; 
 Three sand-side houses, and afar 
 The steady beacon's faithful star ! "
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 45 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PROVINCETOWN. SAND-DABS. COCKTAILS. 
 
 EARLY next morning, Tuesday, July 6, we set 
 sail for Provincetown, Cape Cod, about twenty- 
 five miles distant. The day must have been an 
 excessively hot one on shore, for even on the 
 water we found the heat oppressive, as in thin- 
 nish clothing we lay basking on deck. The wind 
 was so light that it was some hours before we got 
 sight of Cape Cod. As the sloop slowly glided 
 along we gathered at the bows to watch the sun- 
 squalls floating by in countless numbers. The 
 Skipper coiled himself up in the shadow of the 
 sail, and went to sleep. Our course was headed 
 direct for Provincetown, whose town-house, built 
 high on a hill, and looking like a church, was visi- 
 ble long before the rest of the place came in sight. 
 
 Presently a slight divergence attracted my at- 
 tention to our venerable Pilot. He was seated as 
 usual at the helm, his hand firmly grasping the 
 tiller, his head erect, but his eyes were close shut. 
 The extreme heat had overpowered his habitual 
 vigilance. Curiosity led me to await the result. 
 The Professor had taken the telescope to inspect 
 a large white object floating on the waves, which
 
 46 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 we had been for some time approaching, and which 
 proved to be the carcass of a porpoise. The yaw- 
 ing of the vessel as the Pilot's slumber grew heav- 
 ier distracted his aim at the porpoise. He lowered 
 the telescope, looked carefully at each end, read- 
 justed the focus and tried it again. He caught a 
 glimpse of the land ahead. His eye, experienced 
 on our coast, saw that it was not Provincetown. 
 
 "Halloo!" he cried, "what does this mean? 
 You 're heading for Truro, Captain Widger." 
 
 The Pilot made no reply. He still clung to the 
 tiller, but his chin had descended to his breast, and 
 his honest, good-humored, weather-beaten visage 
 had disappeared in the voluminous recesses of a 
 hat that must have been the fashion at Marble- 
 head forty years ago. The Professor surveyed 
 through his spectacles for a moment the sleeping 
 helmsman, then, while the Artist rapidly sketched 
 his figure, took a good long look at him through 
 the telescope, and finally approached and gently 
 tried to detach the tiller from his gripe without 
 awakening him. But though insensible to sound, 
 the old sailor started at the first touch, however 
 light. He shook his head to jerk his hat back 
 to its proper position, rubbed his eyes, gave a vig- 
 orous push to the tiller, and said, with a light 
 blush, that it was very warm, and he had been 
 almost asleep. 
 
 " It is very hot indeed," replied the Professor, 
 " and if you will turn in and take a nap I will
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 47 
 
 take the helm. I am tired of doing nothing, and 
 should like to steer awhile." 
 
 Captain Widger complied with the suggestion, 
 and in half a minute was sleeping as soundly as 
 a man could sleep. I had observed already the 
 remarkable ease with which he went to sleep at 
 night. But hereafter I have kept a sharp lookout 
 for him on hot days and in plain sailing. In bad 
 weather or in dangerous positions no pilot could 
 be more wide awake or more trustworthy. 
 
 It was a deliciously easy, lazy voyage. We 
 were ten hours in going twenty-five miles. To 
 be sure, we lay-to occasionally to fish and dredge, 
 but that did not detain us long, for we caught 
 nothing, not even a bite. Either the bluefish 
 had -really driven everything else out of the bay, 
 or we did not cast our lines in the right places. 
 The population of the sea, like the population of 
 the land, is fond of concentrating in favorable 
 localities, in cities and towns as it were, leaving 
 wide spaces desert, or at best very thinly peopled. 
 A line dropped at random in the ocean may fall 
 upon a finny Pekin or London, or, on the other 
 hand, upon an absolute Sahara, crossed only here 
 and there at long intervals by scanty caravans 
 of fish. The experienced fisherman knows the 
 populous spots, and governs himself accordingly. 
 But revolutions and conquests and massacres oc- 
 cur at the bottom of the ocean as well as on shore. 
 The place that was once prosperous and populous
 
 48 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 decays and becomes desolate. The prototypes of 
 Nineveh and Babylon, of Baalbec and Palmyra, 
 exist in Massachusetts Bay, and it must have been 
 their deserted precincts into which we dropped 
 our fruitless lines. The bluefish is as cruel and 
 sanguinary a devastator as the Mede, the Tartar, 
 or the Turk. 
 
 About half-way between Plymouth and Prov- 
 incetown we dredged in water thirty fathoms deep. 
 The bottom was soft and muddy, and yielded us 
 some curious shells, such as are never seen upon 
 the shore. These were various species of Nucula 
 and Leda, remarkable for their clean, glossy ap- 
 pearance, bright -green color, and the comb-like 
 teeth with which their hinge is armed. They 
 protruded a strong, fleshy foot from between the 
 valves of the shell, striking the hard surface 
 of the deck in vain attempts to burrow in it as 
 they do in the soft, muddy bottom on which they 
 live. 
 
 About 4 P. M. we cast anchor in Provincetown 
 harbor, which is one of the best ports in the world, 
 easy of access, secure and capacious enough, with 
 sufficient depth of water, to shelter a thousand 
 line-of-battle ships. It is admirably adapted by its 
 quality and position for a great naval station. In 
 the war of 1812 it was occupied by the British 
 cruisers, and they could have found no point bet- 
 ter situated from which to harass the commerce 
 of the North. It was this harbor that the May-
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 49 
 
 flower first entered, and here, on board that ves- 
 sel, was born Peregrine White, the first New- 
 Englander of European parentage. 
 
 The Professor took the dory and boarded a lob- 
 ster-man who was lying-to just outside the harbor. 
 We wanted lowers for bait, and we wanted them 
 for food. The Professor returned in triumph with 
 a dozen good-sized ones, for which he had paid 
 three cents apiece. In Boston or New York they 
 would have cost five times as much. He brought 
 also the important information that the harbor, 
 near where we had anchored, abounded with 
 flounders or sand-dabs of large size, even twenty 
 pounds in weight. 
 
 The Professor, the Artist, and myself made 
 preparations for fishing immediately, directing the 
 Pilot, meanwhile, to boil a lobster for supper, and 
 to boil him thoroughly, not less than an hour. 
 We were particular in these injunctions, because 
 by this time we had detected in the Pilot, in his 
 capacity of cook, a proclivity to boil eggs too 
 much and other things too little. 
 
 The Assyrian, who despised flounder -fishing, 
 however big the flounders, said the heat made him 
 thirsty, and that furthermore he never ventured 
 to eat lobster unless he had previously fortified 
 what he called his " stom-jack " by some pre- 
 ventive of colic or cholera-morbus. Accordingly, 
 while we were getting ready our lines and bait, he 
 persuaded the Skipper to row him ashore at the 
 
 3 D
 
 50 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 town, in order that he might quench his drouth 
 with a cocktail, or something of the sort. 
 
 When the dory returned, the Professor, the 
 Artist, and I rowed to within a hundred yards of 
 the shore, opposite the town, and dropped the 
 boat's killock in deep water. WeJiad strong cod- 
 lines, with two large hooks each, which we baited 
 with pieces of lobster, a very difficult bait to 
 keep on. The lines hardly reached bottom before 
 the flounders began to bite so rapidly that they 
 kept us actively employed in putting on bait, they 
 took it off so easily. Nevertheless, in the course 
 of an hour we had caught twenty or thirty, all 
 large ones, weighing several pounds each. The 
 largest was twenty-eight inches in length by eight 
 in breadth. They bit so eagerly that twice we 
 caught two at one haul of the same line. 
 
 This fish, though called flounder in New York, 
 is termed "sand-dab" by the Boston fishermen, 
 who confine the name flounder to a smaller spe- 
 cies, which, however, does not differ greatly from 
 it except in size. In shape it resembles the long 
 flounder of the British fishermen, its breadth be- 
 ing less in proportion to the length than in any 
 other of its tribe. One side of the " sand-dab " 
 the right side is of reddish-brown color ; the 
 other side is white. The eyes of the fish are both 
 upon the right side. The mouth is very large ; 
 the upper jaw projects somewhat beyond the 
 lower, and both jaws are furnished with a single
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 51 
 
 row of prominent, sharp teeth, separated from 
 each other, so that when the mouth is closed the 
 teeth of one jaw shut into the space between those 
 of the opposite jaw. 
 
 The blowing of a horn on board the sloop an- 
 nounced to us that supper was ready. We wound 
 up our lines, and, rowing first to the Helen, de- 
 posited our fish on the deck, giving directions to 
 the Pilot to cook one of the flounders while we 
 went to the town for the Assyrian, whom the 
 Skipper said he had seen, through the telescope, 
 sitting on the edge of the wharf, for the last half- 
 hour, evidently waiting for us. 
 
 We found the descendant of Ninus and Semira- 
 mis in an unsatisfied state of mind. As we rowed 
 off, he gave us his opinion of Provincetown. The 
 place, he said, was dry and dreary to the last de- 
 gree, with a very repulsive-looking set of inhabit- 
 ants. After walking about for some time, he ven- 
 tured to inquire of one of the natives for a tavern. 
 The man directed him to an edifice which bore 
 upon its front, in large letters, the words " Union 
 House." He entered, and was accosted by a 
 dentist, the sole occupant, who offered to pull his 
 teeth on moderate terms. On learning, however, 
 what his visitor wanted, the dentist directed him 
 to a neighboring apothecary as the only man in 
 town who kept for sale anything to drink. The 
 Assyrian, in his usual confident way, demanded a 
 cocktail. The apothecary looked at him for some
 
 52 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 moments with the air of a person who is too much 
 astonished to speak, and then replied, with grave 
 deliberation, " I do not know what you mean by 
 a cocktail." 
 
 The Assyrian, in his turn, stared with astonish- 
 ment. Here was a depth of ignorance hardly 
 credible. At length he intimated that he wanted 
 something to drink. He was offered soda-water, 
 qualified, at his choice, with lemon, strawberry, 
 pineapple, sarsaparilla. He shook his head. Was 
 there nothing else ? " Nothing." 
 
 A bright idea flashed on the Assyrian. He de- 
 scribed to the apothecary the method of concoct- 
 ing a cocktail. The apothecary listened like one 
 to whom a new science is unfolded. Gradually 
 light dawned upon his mind. He produced, from 
 some dusty shelf, an almost forgotten solitary bot- 
 tle of sherry bitters. The Assyrian seized it with 
 alacrity. In the absence of anything better, cock- 
 tails could be made with sherry bitters. The 
 other requisite materials were on board the sloop. 
 
 Supper was ready when we got on board. We 
 found the flounder savory, the lobster was boiled 
 enough, and before turning in at nine o'clock we 
 drank with the Assyrian a cocktail of his com- 
 pounding to the speedy enlightenment of Prov- 
 incetown in the knowledge of national beverages.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 53 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PROVINCETOWN. THE SANDS OF CAPE COD. 
 
 WHEN we went on deck in the morning, 
 Wednesday, July 7, the sky was cloudless, the 
 breeze gentle, and the long length of Province- 
 town, brilliant with white paint, stretched before 
 us gleaming in the soft, warm sunshine. It is a 
 village of three thousand inhabitants, dwelling in 
 five or six hundred houses, nearly all of which 
 stand on one narrow street, that runs along the 
 shore of the harbor between the water and a ridge 
 of huge sand-hills. The Skipper took the dory and 
 went to the town in' search of " soft-tack," loaf 
 bread. He could not get any, and we breakfasted 
 on hard-tack, flounders, and coffee. After break- 
 fast we all went ashore to see the place, except 
 the Assyrian, who protested that he had had 
 enough of it. 
 
 Having suffered for several days with a violent 
 toothache, my first business was to visit the den- 
 tist of whom the Assyrian had made mention. In 
 the search for him we discovered so many of the 
 same profession that we were forced to form unfa- 
 vorable conclusions about the state of the teeth 
 of the Cape-Codders. These numerous dentists, 
 however, did not all make a living by their pro-
 
 54 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 fession, for we found that one of them combined 
 with it the calling of an auctioneer and of a hard- 
 ware and furniture dealer. The one whom we 
 sought was a dentist, and nothing else. He did 
 his business well, and relieved me of my offending 
 molar in a dexterous manner. His office appar- 
 ently comprised the whole of a deserted hotel, 
 the chief room of which, used at times for dancing, 
 had a curious resemblance to a ship's cabin on a 
 large scale, as befitted the maritime character of 
 the town. 
 
 As the Professor desired to examine a beach 
 four or five miles distant, on which the Atlantic 
 rolls its waves unchecked by any land nearer than 
 the "far-off bright Azores," we hired a wagon, a 
 span of horses, and a queer little urchin of a 
 driver, to conduct us thither over the sand-hills. 
 In a few minutes we had left behind us the single 
 street of the village and merged into a desert of 
 white sand, that looked as if it had been some time 
 rolled into high waves by a raging tempest, and 
 then suddenly arrested and fixed before it had 
 time to subside to a level. Here and there in the 
 dells and hollows were patches of vegetation, al- 
 ders, huckleberry-bushes, low pitch-pines, scrub- 
 oaks, and clumps of wild roses, glowing with the 
 brilliant hues which the sea air gives to flowers. 
 But outside of the village there were no houses, 
 fences, paths, or any traces whatever of man or 
 beast. It was a wilderness, as it was when it first
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 55 
 
 met the eyes of the Mayflower pilgrims. The 
 horses that tugged us onward had the muscles of 
 their rumps unusually developed from working 
 always fetlock deep in sand. 
 
 At length we gained the shore and stood by the 
 sea, 
 
 " The boundless sea, that washeth many lands." 
 
 As Heine sings, 
 
 " The billows were rolling, 
 Were rolling and roaring, 
 The sun poured down incessant ; 
 Affrighted, the flocks of the sea-mews 
 Fluttered away, loud screaming." 
 
 A prodigious multitude of terns flew up at our 
 approach, and wheeled around in the air clanging 
 their wild and piercing cries. No other signs of 
 life were visible, save a few white sails far away 
 on the horizon. Signs of death were around us in 
 the shape of fragments of wrecks thrown high on 
 the beach by storms. I picked up a piece of bam- 
 boo which perhaps had floated from some vessel 
 returning from India or China, or the isles of the 
 East. The Professor strolled one way, and the 
 Artist another, in search of specimens, and pres- 
 ently disappeared behind the curving sand-hills. 
 The urchin of a driver busied himself commend- 
 ably with bringing from the nearest patch of 
 green roots of a species of binding grass, which 
 he planted here and there in the desert sand to 
 grow and spread. More idly inclined than either
 
 56 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 of these, and feeling perhaps unusually poetical, 
 after getting rid of my aching tooth, I sat down 
 on a piece of wreck and abandoned myself to the 
 spirit of Whittier's lines on Hampton Beach : 
 
 " Good by to pain and care ! I take 
 
 Mine ease to-day ; 
 
 Here, where the sunny waters break, 
 And ripples this keen breeze, I shake 
 All burdens from the heart, all weary thoughts away. 
 
 " I draw a freer breath ; I seem 
 
 Like all I see, 
 
 Waves in the sun, the white-winged gleam 
 Of sea-birds in the slanting beam, 
 And far-off sails, which flit before the south wind, free. 
 
 " What heed I of the dusty land 
 
 And noisy town ? 
 I see the mighty deep expand 
 From its white line of glimmering sand 
 To where the blue of Heaven on bluer waves shuts down ! 
 
 " In listless quietude of mind, 
 
 I yield to all 
 
 The change of cloud and wave and wind, 
 And, passive on the ground reclined, 
 I wander with the waves, and with them rise and fall." 
 
 The ocean was calm, and at a distance looked 
 like glass, but the tide was coming in, and the long 
 lines of surf were slowly rolling up the sand with 
 a dull, continuous roar. 
 
 " The waves that plunged along the shore 
 Said only, Dreamer, dream no more." 
 
 I turned to the little urchin who was busily
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 57 
 
 transplanting roots of grass, and, admiring his in- 
 dustry and his practical philanthropy, rose to assist 
 him in spreading the growth of verdure for the 
 benefit of future generations of Cape - Codders ; 
 but as I sank to the ankles in the sand after a few 
 steps inland, contented myself with showing a 
 proper appreciation of his labor by giving him a 
 dime. Reseating myself, I resumed the contem- 
 plation of the sea. 
 
 " And still the legions charged the beach, 
 And rang the battle-cry, like speech ; 
 But changed was the imperial strain : 
 It murmured, Dreamer, dream again." 
 
 The presence of the urchin plying his task with 
 redoubled zeal disturbed and annoyed me, what 
 business had he to be working when he might just 
 as well be idle ? and I gave him another dime 
 to take his wagon and horses out of sight behind 
 a sand-hill, and continue his grass-planting some- 
 where else. And then, with nothing to break the 
 spell of the sea, I sat there gazing vaguely at it 
 until 
 
 " The creeping tide came np along the sand 
 And o'er and o'er the sand, 
 And round and round the sand, 
 As far as eye could see." 
 
 By and by the red shirt of the Artist and the 
 
 red shirt of the Professor came slowly into view, 
 
 returning from their explorations. The Professor 
 
 had found nothing worth noting, and the Artist 
 
 3*
 
 58 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 had discovered only a hut built by the Humane 
 Society for the relief of shipwrecked persons who 
 might make their way, cold and wet and hungry, 
 to the shore. We mounted the wagon, the little 
 urchin resumed the reins and drove back to the 
 village, at the entrance to which the Artist and I 
 got out and walked from one end of the place to 
 the other, on a narrow plank sidewalk, examining, 
 as we went, a number of salt-pans, and wondering 
 at the extreme ingenuity which the inhabitants 
 had displayed, in so varying their domestic archi- 
 tecture that no one of the six hundred wooden 
 houses was like another. 
 
 The afternoon was passed in dredging the har- 
 bor and in searching for shells on the long, sandy 
 point opposite the town ; the evening in writing 
 letters and in listening to yarns about money-dig- 
 ging and privateering, on both which topics the 
 Skipper and the Pilot had respectively much to 
 tell.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 59 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FROM PROVINCETOWN TO SWAMPSCOTT. MINOT'S 
 LEDGE LIGHTHOUSE. THE SKATE AND THE KRA- 
 KEN. 
 
 ON Thursday, July 8, at 8 A. M., we made 
 sail for Swampscott, fifty miles distant, as the crow 
 flies. We were going thither to have some alter- 
 ations made in the sloop's cabin, which would ren- 
 der it a little more commodious. The day was 
 fair, but the wind was high and the sea very rough 
 outside of the harbor. The Artist, as we passed 
 Long Point, braced himself at the companion-way 
 to take a sketch of the picturesque lighthouse 
 there, but, before he had finished, a wave struck 
 the sloop on the bows and poured over her, drench- 
 ing the sketch-book, giving the Artist a ducking, 
 and kicking up a bobbery among the Professor's 
 specimen jars and bottles that sent that gentleman 
 rushing into the cabin in a state of high excite- 
 ment. Fortunately, not many were smashed, and 
 the remainder were made secure with a care that 
 preserved them from similar mishaps during the 
 rest of the cruise. 
 
 We had a splendid run, the sky cloudless, the 
 sea sparkling, and the wind fair and steady. As 
 we neared the south shore of Massachusetts Bay,
 
 60 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 the sea grew smoother, and it was delightful to 
 recline on deck and listen to the cool rushing and 
 dashing of the water as we swept by Plymouth, 
 Duxbury, Marshfield, and Cohasset. Now and 
 then a hot puff of air would come from the land, 
 seeming almost fetid from contrast with the pure 
 air of the sea, and reminding me strongly of 
 Washington in that horrid hot month, of June. 
 We learned afterward that it was an excessively 
 hot day ashore. 
 
 As we passed Cohasset we saw men at work 
 on Minot's Ledge, building the lighthouse. Two 
 small schooners were anchored near them. The 
 structure is of granite, and only the foundation 
 was yet laid, although the work was begun three 
 years before. The rock on which it stands is of 
 irregular form, forty-eight feet long and thirty-six 
 feet broad, and is covered even at low tide. There 
 are only three hours in the day when it is possible 
 to work there, and sometimes for months together 
 the weather is such that nothing at all can be done. 
 In 1856, one hundred and fifty-seven hours' work 
 was done, in 1857, one hundred and thirty hours', 
 and in 1858, two hundred and eight hours'. After 
 the foundation was complete, however, the work 
 went on much more rapidly. The lighthouse is 
 a circular cone, thirty feet in diameter at the base 
 and ninety feet high, and strengthened by large 
 iron rods running through several courses of stone. 
 The courses were first set up and fitted on shore
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 61 
 
 and then carried off in vessels and fixed in their 
 places. 
 
 We reached our moorings at Swampscott at 
 5 P. M. Our good friend Tufts, the aquarium- 
 stocker, was on the watch for us, and soon came 
 off with our letters and papers. While supper 
 was getting ready, we fished from the vessel and 
 caught cunners, cod, pollack, sculpins, and floun- 
 ders, using for bait lobster and salted clams. The 
 flounders were much smaller than those we caught 
 at Provincetown, and were what is called " flat- 
 fish" in New York, I believe. They are taken 
 all along our -Northern coast, in shallow water. 
 On the coast of Maine they are speared in the 
 winter when lying in the mud, the fishers detect- 
 ing them by their eyes, which stick out from the 
 mud that covers the rest of the body. They 
 are very abundant on the coasts of New Bruns- 
 wick and Nova Scotia, and are taken so plenti- 
 fully in the Gulf of St. Lawrence that they are 
 largely used for manuring land. " I have seen," 
 says Mr. Perley, " potatoes being planted in hills, 
 when the only dressing consisted of fresh floun- 
 ders, which were used with a lavish hand." 
 
 The cod we caught were of a beautiful red 
 color, and weighed about two pounds each. The 
 Pilot called them " rock-cod," and selected them 
 for supper, throwing the cunners, pollack, and 
 flounders overboard as worthless in comparison. 
 This species is of unrivalled excellence for the
 
 62 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 table. It is very numerous on the coast of Nova 
 Scotia and in the vicinity of Grand Manan. 
 
 I caught this evening, for the first time, a skate, 
 a very singular-looking fish, which sometines is 
 found of great size, weighing as much as two hun- 
 dred pounds. The one I caught weighed proba- 
 bly three or four pounds. It was a flat fish, with 
 a broad, brown back, somewhat raised in the mid- 
 dle, the under side of the body of a dirty white. 
 The snout was sharp and projecting, shaped like a 
 spade ; the mouth large, and armed with strong 
 teeth. It had a tail like a monkey's, long and 
 slender, and armed with spines. There were also 
 numerous spines upon the body. When hooked 
 it pulled with some force, and when thrown on 
 deck rolled itself up like a hedgehog, lashing the 
 deck with its tail, and uttering a faint squeak as if 
 in anger. 
 
 Mr. Perley remarks, that the peculiar form of 
 the skate adapts it admirably to exist near- the 
 bottom. Its usual mode of progression is by a 
 slight undulating motion of its pectoral fins, some- 
 thing between flying and swimming. It "is capa- 
 ble, apparently, of great muscular exertion. With 
 its powerful snout it roots up clams and crushes 
 them between its flattened teeth, which appear to 
 act upon each other like the cylinders of a rolling- 
 mill. It also feeds on other fish, as well as crus- 
 tacea. 
 
 The young of the skate are deposited by the
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 63 
 
 parent fish in their horny cases, nearly square in 
 form. These are often found empty on the shore, 
 and are familiarly known as " sailors' purses." As 
 food, large quantities of the skate are consumed in 
 London, where the flesh is considered delicate and 
 well-flavored. It is also eaten by the French, 
 and, I believe, is sold in the markets of Boston 
 and New York. But our fishermen treated the 
 creature with great disdain, and did not seem to 
 like to have it on board. The old Pilot expressed 
 especial disgust at the suggestion of eating it. 
 
 The skate is taken all along our coast with 
 hook and line, by the cod-fishers. A specimen 
 has been seen by Dr. Storer measuring fifty-four 
 inches long and thirty-six inches wide. I have 
 myself, in the subsequent part of the cruise, taken 
 one that was nearly three feet in length, and have 
 also seen two large ones pulled up at one haul on 
 a single line. In the seas of Great Britain they 
 have, been found of the weight of two hundred 
 pounds. But even these were pigmies compared 
 with one caught in the vicinity of Guadaloupe in 
 the West Indies, which is said to have measured 
 twenty-five feet in length by thirteen in breadth. 
 Who knows but that their power of growth is 
 illimitable, and that the kraken of the Norwegians 
 is after all no fiction, but only a skate of antedi- 
 luvian age and expansion ? 
 
 After supper the Skipper and the Pilot went 
 ashore to sleep at their own homes in the town.
 
 64 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 After their departure we lighted our cigars, and 
 held a council of war. It was evident that the 
 next day would be consumed by the carpenters in 
 altering the cabin. We resolved, therefore, to 
 spend our share of it in dredging and fishing in 
 the vicinity, off Nahant and at Dread Ledge, the 
 formidable roar of whose breakers was sounding 
 in our ears. On the day after, Saturday, we 
 would sail for Marblehead, stopping to fish on 
 the way at certain famous shoals and ledges. 
 Sunday we should pass at Marblehead. The rest 
 of the week we decided should be given to Cape 
 Ann and the Isles of Shoals. Another Sunday 
 would find us at Portsmouth or Portland, as the 
 wind and weather might serve, and the succeed- 
 ing week would take us through Casco Bay and 
 its hundred islands, to the lakes, and caves, and 
 mountain peaks, and gorges of Mount Desert.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 65 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE HELEN'S CABIN. HARDHEADS. DREAD LEDGE 
 FISHING. 
 
 FRIDAY morning, July 9, I awoke soon after 
 daylight, and, by a prodigious exertion of energy, 
 got up. I did not dress, for on board the Helen, 
 during this cruise, we have undressed only when 
 we bathed or went ashore, in which latter case, 
 to prevent misconception, I will state, that after 
 undressing we dressed ourselves again in shore 
 clothes ; the main constituents of shore clothes 
 being coats and white shirts. White shirts and 
 coats we put on, however, only when visiting 
 some considerable place, like Gloucester, Ports- 
 mouth, or Portland. At other places we gener- 
 ally went ashore in our sea rig, consisting of panta- 
 loons well smeared with the slime of fish, and 
 bleached with constant drippings and splashings 
 of sea water, and thick red-flannel shirts, one or 
 more shirts being worn at a time, according to the 
 weather or the fancy of the wearer. The Pro- 
 fessor, whose ardor in pursuit of science exposed 
 him most to the wet, generally arrayed himself in 
 three shirts at once ; the oldest in service being 
 worn uppermost and outermost. 
 
 Getting up, as I said, soon after daylight, and
 
 66 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 giving myself a shake by way of making my toi- 
 lette, I could scarcely keep from laughing as I 
 looked around the little cabin. The Professor, 
 whose berth was on the same side with my own, 
 was sleeping almost in a sitting posture, his back 
 propped up by a pillow, a great coat, and a huge 
 volume of the United States Coast Survey Re- 
 port. He had fallen asleep while reading, for his 
 unextinguished lamp yet burned dimly beside him, 
 and his spectacles were still on his nose. His 
 blanket was lying folded beneath him, and he had 
 passed the night close to the open cabin-door, with 
 no other protection from the cool air than his three 
 shirts. They, however, seemed to be sufficient, 
 for he was sleeping soundly and comfortably. 
 
 The Assyrian's berth was opposite to the Pro- 
 fessor's. An extra mattress, which the two sea- 
 men spread for themselves on the floor when they 
 were on board, had been thrust on the top of his 
 mattress during the day. He had neglected to 
 remove it on turning in, and the space that was 
 left between it and the ceiling was barely suffi- 
 cient for his somewhat ample proportions. He 
 had no pillow, and with his head thrown back and 
 his mouth resolutely shut, he was sounding a blast 
 with such sonorous and sustained vigor that I 
 could almost imagine he had served as a trum- 
 peter through all the seventeen campaigns of his 
 famous ancestor, the mighty Temenbar, who, if 
 he writ his annals right on the sculptured walls
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 67 
 
 of his palace, was the most successful and sangui- 
 nary of the long line of Ninevjte kings and con- 
 querors. In the struggles and contortions induced 
 by his inconvenient posture, the Assyrian had 
 twisted his blanket around him^in such fashion, 
 that, while a triple fold enveloped his body, his 
 nether continuations were exposed at full length, 
 protected only by his coarse blue pantaloons. 
 
 The Artist, on the contrary, was lying, like 
 gray-haired Saturn, " quiet as a stone," snugly 
 wrapped in his blanket, which swathed him as 
 closely as a mummy is swathed by its bandages. 
 He had converted his portmanteau into a pillow, 
 and was taking his sleep with a resolute expres- 
 sion of countenance, \vhich said plainly that he 
 was very comfortable, and did not mean to be dis- 
 turbed. 
 
 I pinched the Assyrian's nose till he opened his 
 mouth, which I have always found an effectual 
 mode of checking a snorer, and went on deck to 
 see the sun rise. 
 
 The air was mild and still, and the view superb. 
 Before leaving us the evening before, the Skipper 
 had purchased from a neighboring jigger a num- 
 ber of " hardheads," as he called them, for bait. 
 This fish belongs to the shad and herring family, 
 and is found in prodigious numbers all along our 
 coast. It is known by a variety of names, " bony- 
 fish," " pauhagen," " menhaden," and " moss- 
 bonker." Dr. Storer in his Report on the Fishes
 
 68 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 of Massachusetts, uses the term menhaden, while 
 the moss-bonker is used by Mr. Perley, and Mr. 
 Spencer F. Baird in his Smithsonian Report on 
 the Fishes of the New Jersey Coast. The fish- 
 ermen whom we met on this cruise never gave it 
 any other name than " hardhead," which is lit- 
 erally descriptive of the hardness of its head. It 
 grows to the length of fourteen inches, and is 
 about three inches in width. The upper part of 
 the body is of a greenish-brown color, the lower 
 part whitish. The back is slightly arched, the 
 mouth opens very wide, the lower jaw being 
 shorter than the upper. The flesh is sweet, 
 though so full of small bones that it is seldom 
 eaten by those who can get other fish. 
 
 The hardhead enters Massachusetts Bay about 
 the middle of May, and remains till November. 
 It is exclusively a sea fish, and does not, like the 
 herring and shad, ascend the fresh-water streams. 
 They swarm in every bay and inlet in immense 
 schools, swimming at the surface, with their dor- 
 sal fins sticking out of the water, and causing by 
 their rushing a rippling, which the fishermen term 
 "breaking," and which is sometimes visible at a 
 great distance. The shark and bluefish follow, 
 and feed upon these schools, making such ravages 
 among them that the gulls and other sea birds 
 sometimes join in the chase for the purpose of 
 picking up the fragments that have fallen from 
 the jaws of the finny slaughterers. It is also said
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. G9 
 
 to be a favorite food of the great whale, who takes 
 several hogsheads into his mouth at a time, though 
 his gullet is so small that he can only swallow 
 them one by one. 
 
 The common mode of taking the hardhead is 
 by seines, many thousand being taken at a single 
 haul. They are sold for bait to the cod and mack- 
 erel fishers, and are also used in great quantities 
 as manure and for the oil which they contain. I 
 have visited some establishments on the islands on 
 the coast of Maine where oil was expressed from 
 these fish. They are first chopped up and boiled, 
 and the oil skimmed off'. The residuum is then 
 put into a press, and still more oil is extracted. 
 What is left of the fish is then used as manure. 
 The entire fish, however, just as it comes from 
 the sea, is largely used for manure on Cape Cod, 
 on the southern coast of New England, and on the 
 coasts of Long Island and New Jersey. They are 
 spread over the land at the rate of 2,000 or 3,000 
 to an acre, and are ploughed or hoed in. In plant- 
 ing corn, a single fish is sometimes placed in each 
 hill, to the manifest improvement of the growth 
 of the crop. Each fish of ordinary size, weighing 
 about a pound, is computed to be equal in rich- 
 ness to a shovelful of barnyard manure. 
 
 The chief value of the hardhead in Massachu- 
 setts Bay is for bait. It is in great demand among 
 the fishermen, who use it profusely, not only by 
 putting pieces of it on their hooks, but by grinding
 
 70 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 it up fine in a bait-mill and throwing it overboard 
 by handfuls, to attract the mackerel near their ves- 
 sels. The marauding bluefish this season caused 
 a comparative scarcity of hardheads in Massa- 
 chusetts waters ; and later in our cruise we met 
 Swampscott and Cape Ann vessels which had 
 gone as far east as Mount Desert in search of 
 hardheads for bait. 
 
 Cutting one of these fishes into small pieces 
 with an old butcher-knife, which was always lying 
 about on deck for that service, I baited a couple 
 of small hooks on a cunner-line, and dropped them 
 over the side of the sloop, more for the sake of 
 having something in my hand as I sat on the rail 
 looking at the scenery, than with much expecta- 
 tion of catching anything. In a moment I had 
 a bite and pulled up ; there were two good-sized 
 flounders, one on each hook. 
 
 " Pretty well for a beginning," said I to myself, 
 throwing them on the deck with a splash that 
 evidently startled a little the sleepers below, for 
 I heard some one of them muttering and rolling 
 about in his berth. The flounders had not got 
 the bait off, and as soon as I had disengaged them 
 I dropped the line again. It was still sinking 
 when I felt a bite, a stout, vigorous tug, very 
 unlike the feeble pull of the flounder. Hauling 
 in, I found the largest pollack we had yet caught, 
 a handsome, lively fellow, weighing nearly four 
 pounds. I threw him on deck with considerable
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 71 
 
 emphasis, and again dropping the line, which had 
 yet one bait left upon it, drew up almost instantly 
 another pollack of about the same size. 
 
 The Professor just then stuck his head out of 
 the companion-way, and on seeing my captures, 
 rigged a line with his usual quickness, and for a 
 few minutes we pulled up pollack as fast as one 
 could wish. But in a quarter of an hour the 
 sport was all over. For ten minutes we did not 
 get a bite. 
 
 " This is the way with sea-fishing," said the 
 Professor. " A small school of fish comes along 
 and bites to your heart's content for a while. 
 Suddenly they cease to bite, and you may fish for 
 an hour and catch nothing." 
 
 " What can be the cause ? " I asked. 
 
 " Either that we have caught the whole school, 
 or so many of them that the survivors have be- 
 come cautious and have gone off, or some larger 
 fish of another species has chased them away ; or, 
 perhaps, mere whim. Who can tell?" 
 
 The Skipper and the Pilot came on board at 
 seven and got breakfast for us. At nine we took 
 the dory, the Professor rowing, and went to Dread 
 Ledge, a famous and formidable reef running out 
 into the sea about a mile from where our vessel 
 lay. The surf was foaming splendidly in the bril- 
 liant sunshine, over the black, savage rocks. We 
 anchored the dory as close to them as we could 
 with safety. Southwest of us, two or three miles
 
 72 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 distant, was Nahant, with Egg Rock rising be- 
 tween. Northwest was the picturesque rocky 
 promontory on which stands the Ocean House, 
 embowered in trees. East and south stretched 
 the sea, dotted with the sails of the commerce of 
 Boston. 
 
 The Professor baited two lines, and, standing up 
 in the middle of the boat, was soon hauling in on 
 each side of the dory, cod and pollack weighing 
 three or four pounds apiece, much to the an- 
 noyance of the Assyrian, who was comfortably 
 stretched out in the "arm-chair," as the fish- 
 ermen call the stern of the dory, with a cigar in 
 his mouth, and a half-baited line in his hand. 
 The Professor, as he quickly bent first to one side, 
 then to the other, to pull up and throw back his 
 lines, caused the little flat-bottomed skiff to oscil- 
 late in a way sufficiently alarming to one not used 
 to it. The person who sits in the narrow stern 
 always feels this oscillation most strongly. The 
 Assyrian who had scarcely ever before been in 
 a dory was evidently a little frightened. At 
 length he said, 
 
 " I wish you would sit down, Professor, and 
 keep still. You make the boat rock so with your 
 confounded jumping about, that I haven't been 
 able to bait my line." 
 
 " Sit down ! certainly, certainly," responded the 
 Professor. " I did not observe by George ! 
 what a bite ! I've got him." And up he jumped, 
 
 ....,
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 73 
 
 with a sudden spring that sent the gunwale of the 
 dory under water, and made the startled Assyrian 
 drop his line and clutch nervously the sides of the 
 boat, uttering at the same time a slightly profane 
 ejaculation. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said the Professor, re- 
 seating himself, and taking' from his hook a very 
 lively pollack, weighing five pounds, which he 
 threw at the Assyrian's feet, " I forgot that you 
 wished me to sit down. Isn't that a fine fel- 
 low?" 
 
 The dory had imbibed a good deal of water in 
 the dippings to which the Professor's activity had 
 subjected it, and the lively pollack was slapping 
 his tail on the bottom with rapid energy that spat- 
 tered a shower of dirty spray in the face of the 
 gentleman from Nineveh. That personage, how- 
 ever, said nothing, but put his heel on the tail of 
 the fish with an emphasis that indicated considera- 
 ble exasperation. He threw over his now baited 
 hook, and in half a minute had pulled up a fine 
 cod. Another and another followed, and in the 
 excitement of the sport, the splashing of dirty 
 water and the rocking of the boat were alike un- 
 heeded. He was soon almost as actively employed 
 as the Professor himself, though he fished with a 
 little less vigorous action. 
 
 We did not continue long the sport, for its 
 abundance soon satiated us. We had more fish in 
 our boat than we could possibly use, and had no 
 
 4
 
 74 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 desire to be guilty of wanton destruction. We 
 stopped in time to get back to the sloop at noon, 
 bringing with us forty-two pollack, twenty-seven 
 cod, and a dozen cunners that weighed about a 
 pound apiece.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 75 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DREDGING OFF NAHANT. MISADVENTURES. A 
 NIGHT ROW. 
 
 WE found the carpenters in possession of the 
 vessel, making cupboards and putting up racks 
 and shelves for books, charts, clothes, and other 
 articles. As their presence made the vessel in- 
 conveniently crowded, after dinner the Professor, 
 the Assyrian, and the Artist got into a " whale- 
 boat," belonging to Mr. Tufts, and made sail for 
 Nahant Point, intending to dredge in that neigh- 
 borhood. The fishermen make great use of these 
 boats, which are called whale-boats because in 
 some particulars of their build they resemble the 
 boats used in the whale fishery. They are really 
 a convenient species of sail-boat, and generally of 
 about five tons burden. 
 
 My companions promised to get back in time 
 for tea, but at tea-time there was no trace of them 
 visible. About sunset I saw them through the 
 telescope far away beyond Nahant, six or seven 
 miles distant. The breeze had died away where 
 the sloop was lying, though there seemed to be 
 some wind in the offing. Just before dark the 
 whale-boat disappeared behind Nahant, and I con- 
 cluded that my friends, finding it impossible to
 
 76 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 regain the sloop, had concluded to put into Na- 
 hant and pass the night there at the hotel. The 
 Skipper and the Pilot coincided in this view, and 
 at dark went ashore to spend the night with their 
 families, leaving me in sole charge of the vessel. 
 
 The night was exceedingly dark, and the air 
 chilly. I confined myself, therefore, to the cabin, 
 occupied in writing till nearly midnight, when, as 
 I was about to turn in, I heard a distant, faint 
 
 c - rv > 
 
 " Helen, ahoy ! " 
 
 I stepped on deck, and held the light in the 
 companion-way, so that the wind could not reach 
 it, while yet its glare could be seen from without. 
 The hail was repeated, and I recognized the strong 
 voice of the Assyrian. But the sound came not 
 from the direction of Nahant, but from the oppo- 
 site quarter, toward the shore of the mainland. 
 Without stopping to speculate on this phenome- 
 non, I ran below, grasped a bunch of Roman can- 
 dles, and lighting one at the lamp held it aloft, so 
 that its fiery shower threw a momentary radiance 
 over the sloop. I caught a glimpse of the sail- 
 boat slowly approaching, and a shout from her 
 crew announced their satisfaction at my signal. I 
 lighted two more candles in succession, guided by 
 which they got safely on board. 
 
 They were tired, wet, cold, and hungry. For- 
 tunately the Pilot, before going on shore, had 
 cooked a plentiful supper in the expectation that
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 77 
 
 they might possibly return before nightfall. Dry 
 clothes proved an adequate remedy for both cold 
 and wet. The Assyrian crawled into the fore- 
 peak, and presently emerging with two bottles of 
 ale, proceeded to make himself comfortable in his 
 own way. The Professor, having arranged his 
 Coast-Survey volume for a pillow, turned into his 
 berth, lighted his cigar, and favored me with an 
 account of their adventures in the sail-boat. 
 
 First, they had dredged laboriously and success- 
 fully for three or four hours in the deep waters 
 beyond Nahant, which abound in curious speci- 
 mens of marine life. 
 
 Dredging, by the way, I believe I have not yet 
 described. The implement used by naturalists is 
 a square iron frame, like a shallow box without a 
 bottom. It is generally about two feet square, 
 the sides of the frame being four inches high. It 
 has a handle like that of a pail or bucket, with 
 a ring to which a rope is tied. Below the frame, 
 fastened to a row of holes near its lower edge, 
 hangs a bag of network with tolerably small 
 meshes. A stout rope, two or three hundred 
 feet long, is used. The dredge is dropped over- 
 board while the boat is in motion, and is dragged 
 along until the net-bag is supposed to be full of 
 mud, gravel, stones, shell, and whatever else may 
 be upon the bottom. It is then hauled up to 
 the surface and swashed about for a few min- 
 utes to get rid, as much as possible, of the mud,
 
 78 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 which generally constitutes the chief part of 
 its contents. Lifted upon deck, buckets, pans, 
 basins, and other vessels are put in requisition, 
 filled with sea-water. Handful by handful the 
 mud is then taken from the net and thoroughly 
 examined. Stones and other rubbish are flung 
 overboard, but every living creature is carefully 
 handled and washed and put into a bucket, pan, 
 tumbler, or whatever vessel may be most conve- 
 nient, taking care always to immerse the animal 
 as soon as possible into cool, freshly dipped sea- 
 water. 
 
 On board the sail-boat they had but a single 
 bucket. Their dredging, as I said, had been suc- 
 cessful, and at the end of three or four hours the 
 bucket was nearly full of fine specimens. What 
 they were the world will never know, for just as 
 they had hauled up the last dredgeful an unlucky 
 flaw struck the vessel. There was a commotion 
 on board, a rushing or rather a rolling to and fro 
 to get out of the way of the boom. The Profes- 
 sor's hat was knocked off his head by the boom, 
 and went overboard, nearly taking the head with 
 it. The Assyrian's long legs swung round and 
 struck the bucket containing the specimens, the 
 greater part of which, consequently, a minute 
 afterward, were rapidly descending to their na- 
 tive depths. 
 
 Disheartened by this mishap, they gave up 
 dredging and made sail for a fishing-bank some
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 79 
 
 miles farther out to sea. They caught nothing 
 there worth mentioning ; and when it grew dark, 
 an 1 they essayed to return, the wind had died 
 away. The vessel had no oars, nor anything that 
 could be used as a paddle, except a broken pitch- 
 fork that had somehow found its way on board. 
 With the aid of this, they slowly moved onward, 
 and, as they went, picked up a tolerably good 
 straw hat floating by, which had doubtless fallen 
 from some vessel. It fitted the Professor's head 
 as well as the one he had lost. 
 
 About 9 o'clock a light breeze sprung up, and 
 enabled them to make their way into Swampscott 
 Bay. It was so dark, however, that they could 
 not distinguish the sloop, and they did not ascer- 
 tain their position till they found themselves close 
 to the shore. Tacking about, they stood out again, 
 till they discerned a faint glimmer of a light, which 
 proved to come from my lamp in the cabin. They 
 hailed it gladly, for the shore was too rough to 
 permit a landing in the dark, and they were al- 
 ready suffering from cold and hunger.
 
 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 SHROWDEN'S BANK. A SEA-WOLF. A SEA-RAVEN. 
 A HEMDURGAN. HOPE OF HALIBUT. 
 
 SATURDAY morning, July 10, the weather was 
 dull and cloudy, and my companions, exhausted 
 by the fatigues of the previous evening, were in 
 no hurry to get up. At seven, the seamen came 
 on board and got ready our breakfast, consisting 
 mainly of the codfish we had captured the day 
 before. The old Pilot selected three of these fish 
 to cook, throwing the rest overboard. I noticed 
 that he selected them with care, and without any 
 reference to size. I asked him why he picked out 
 those three in particular. He replied that they 
 were the best, much the best of the lot. He 
 could not tell why, exactly. He judged by the 
 look, by the shape. Some cod were logy, heavy, 
 dull ; others were lively, sprightly. These last 
 were best for food, though all cod were good eat- 
 ing. His explanation reminded me of the New 
 England proverb : " All deacons are good, but 
 there 's odds in deacons." 
 
 At 8 o'clock we made sail for Shrowden's Bank, 
 a noted fishing-place nine miles distant. We took 
 our last look at Swampscott, whose name, by the 
 by, is Indian, though apparently compounded of
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 81 
 
 two familiar English words. It was once a favorite 
 resort of the Indians, and was the site of one of 
 their villages. The tribe by whom it was inhab- 
 ited were called Abergonians, and at the time of 
 the settlement of the colony they were governed 
 by a " squaw sachem." From 1634 to 1641 
 Swampscott was occupied as a farm by Sir John 
 Humphrey, one of the original patentees of Mas- 
 sachusetts. For more than two centuries it was a 
 part of Lynn. I remember it ten or twelve years 
 ago as a small, dirty fishing- village, romantically 
 situated, with a succession of picturesque coves, 
 beaches, and rocky points. The summer sojourn- 
 ers at Nahant were fond of visiting it as a droll, 
 queer place, very like the Scotch fishing- village 
 described in The Antiquary. Now, it is a flour- 
 ishing, populous town, clean and neat, its houses 
 resplendent with white paint, and its beaches lined 
 with the most elegant sea-side mansions in the 
 State. 
 
 We anchored on Shrowden's Bank, and began 
 fishing with cod-lines, with a pound of lead for 
 sinker. We baited with hardheads, and caught in 
 a few minutes twenty or thirty codfish, averaging 
 about three pounds weight. 
 
 The Pilot and the Skipper expected here to 
 catch halibut, which they evidently regarded as 
 the greatest of prizes. At length I hooked some- 
 thing of greater size and vigor than anything we 
 had yet taken. Observing the force with which 
 
 4* F
 
 82 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 it resisted capture, the seamen watched with eager- 
 ness its arrival at the surface, in the Jiope that it 
 might be a halibut. 
 
 It proved to be a catfish, or wolf-fish, or sea- 
 wolf, as it is sometimes called. The Scotch fish- 
 ermen term it sea-cat, and in the Orkneys it is 
 known as the swine-fish, from a swinish move- 
 ment of its nostrils. It was a hideous-looking, 
 black, and slimy monster, thirty-two inches long 
 by sixteen wide, weighing ten pounds. The head 
 was large, flat on the top, and blunt at the snout ; 
 the jaws filled with long, thick-pointed teeth, with 
 which the creature snapped ferociously whenever 
 we touched him. These jaws have great strength, 
 and our fishermen handled their owner very cau- 
 tiously. They shook their heads with marked dis- 
 gust at a proposal to cook the animal for dinner ; 
 yet Dr. Storer says the catfish is excellent food. 
 He has had it upon his own table, and found it, 
 when boiled, very delicate and palatable. Before 
 cooking, the tough skin should be stripped off. 
 The flesh, when smoked, is said to have the flavor 
 of salmon. It is caught as far south as Rockaway 
 Beach on Long Island, and abounds in high north- 
 ern latitudes, where it attains the length of six or 
 eight feet. Along the Atlantic coast of Nova 
 Scotia it is caught at all seasons, and it abounds at 
 the entrance to the Bay of Fundy. Its food con- 
 sists chiefly of shell-fish, which are easily crushed 
 by its powerful jaws and teeth. It swims rapidly,
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND, 83 
 
 with a lateral, undulating motion, and spawns in 
 May and June among the reefs and rocks which 
 form its favorite lurking-places. 
 
 Half an hour afterward I hooked another cat- 
 fish, of such size that when I attempted to lift him 
 over the vessel's side the stout cod-line broke and 
 he escaped. 
 
 The Assyrian, seated comfortably at the stern 
 of the sloop, with his invariable cigar in his mouth, 
 was lazily pulling up the occasional cod or haddock 
 that were so accommodating as to fix themselves 
 on his hook, when suddenly he started to his feet 
 exclaiming, " I 've got a halibut, now, I think." 
 
 We all gathered round him as, with surprising 
 animation, he pulled in his line, of which he had 
 out a great quantity, the tide having carried it 
 away from the vessel. A brief observation of the 
 process of hauling in satisfied the old Pilot. He 
 stepped back to his own line, saying, " You 've 
 got no halibut there." 
 
 It was evidently, however, a large fish of some 
 sort, and in time arrived at the surface. On catch- 
 ing sight of it the Assyrian paused, as if paralyzed 
 with astonishment. 
 
 " What in Tophet is this ? " he muttered. 
 
 " Lift it up," said the Artist, " and let us look 
 at it." 
 
 The Assyrian reluctantly complied. It was a 
 frightful, spinous, blood-red creature, about two 
 feet long.
 
 84 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 " A sea-raven," said the Professor. 
 
 The old Pilot laughed. "You may call it a 
 sea-raven, but it 's a sculpin, a deep-water scul- 
 pin." 
 
 " So it is," rejoined the Professor ; " but there 
 are many kinds of sculpin, and the books call this 
 one the sea-raven." 
 
 The Professor then took the dory and rowed 
 away from the sloop about one eighth of a mile, 
 where he fished for half an hour, apparently with- 
 out much success. On coming alongside he held 
 up to our inspection a beautiful rose-colored fish 
 about eight inches in length. 
 
 "What do you call that?" he inquired of the 
 Pilot. 
 
 " I call that a humdruggan." 
 
 " A hemdurgan ? " said the Professor, repeating 
 the word as Dr. Storer spells it. 
 
 " No, a humdruggan," persisted the old fisher- 
 man ; " that 's what I have always heard it called, 
 a hum-drug-gan." 
 
 It was a Norway haddock. The fishermen call 
 it " rose-fish," " red sea-perch," and " snapper." 
 It is a rare fish on our coast, and seldom eaten 
 when taken ; though on the coast of Norway, 
 where it is caught plentifully, it is a favorite arti- 
 cle of food, being considered a great delicacy, and 
 eaten either cooked or dried. It is common in the 
 seas around Newfoundland, and in the deep bays 
 on the southern coast of Greenland it is caught in
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 85 
 
 great numbers, in the way that the Professor 
 caught it, on baited hooks attached to long lines. 
 It lias spines on the head, which the Greenlanders 
 formerly used for needles. The greatest length of 
 the Norway haddock is two feet. It is caught, 
 though rarely, I believe, as far south as New York. 
 
 The Pilot and the Skipper both expressed a good 
 deal of dread of this handsome and apparently 
 harmless fish. They considered the spine poison- 
 ous, and the Skipper related several instances in 
 which he had known persons to be dangerously 
 wounded by handling it. The Professor pooh- 
 poohed at these stories, though it was possible, he 
 said, that a wound made by the spines of the fish 
 might become badly inflamed, as was often the 
 case with wounds made by the claws of a cat or 
 the teeth of a rat. 
 
 The Artist, who was fishing from the side of the 
 vessel, now called out that he had got a halibut. 
 The old Pilot took hold of his line, and after pull- 
 ing for a moment his countenance lightened up 
 and he exclaimed exultingly : " A halibut, and a 
 big one too ! Now, gentlemen, you '11 see some 
 sport. Now you '11 see what fishing is. Let me 
 manage him ! " 
 
 Rapidly, but continuously, he pulled on the line 
 for a few moments, holding it so that a sudden 
 rush of the huge fish would not meet with suffi- 
 cient resistance to break the cord. We held our 
 breath, and gathered round to watch the struggle
 
 86 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 which was to ensue when the halibut put forth 
 his strength. But no struggle came. The Pilot 
 pulled and pulled with greater difficulty, till it was 
 evident that the line would bear no more strain. 
 He then paused, and fingered it a little, gave a jerk 
 or two, dropped it suddenly as if it burned his fin- 
 gers, uttered a low, prolonged whistle, and walked 
 to his own line, which he began to pull in slowly 
 with a chapfallen expression of countenance. 
 
 *' What's the matter?" inquired the Artist. 
 " Why don't you pull up the halibut ? " 
 
 " Halibut be hanged ! " responded the old man ; 
 " your line is foul of a cable which somebody has 
 lost here." 
 
 The Artist pulled stoutly and the line broke, 
 coming up minus the hooks. He protested, how- 
 ever, that he had, at first, something living on the 
 line, which had probably got away in consequence 
 of coming in contact with the sunken cable.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 87 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 TINKER'S ISLAND. THE TAUTOG. MARBLEHEAD. 
 SKIPPER IRESON'S RIDE. 
 
 ALL hope of halibut failing us, and satiated 
 with catching cod and haddock, we hoisted the 
 anchor and made sail for Tinker's Island, near 
 Marblehead. We anchored in a narrow channel 
 between the island and the mainland. While the 
 seamen were getting dinner we took the dory and 
 went first to the island to gather crabs for bait, as 
 we intended to fish for tautog. A large Boston 
 yacht was at anchor not far from us, and a party 
 of gentlemen from her were already on the island 
 fishing for tautog with rods. The island is a mass 
 of rocks, a quarter of a mile in length, uninhab- 
 ited, and covered with a thin growth of grass and 
 bushes. 
 
 The Professor being expert at crab-catching, we 
 soon had bait in plenty. Selecting a place at the 
 north end of the island, where an eddy whirled 
 and seethed around a huge isolated rock, we an- 
 chored and began to fish. Gunners of a large size 
 soon gathered around our boat in such multitude 
 that we caught them nearly as fast as we could 
 bait. We threw back into the sea all but the 
 largest, which would weigh somewhat more than
 
 88 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 a pound apiece. Of tautog we caught only seven, 
 the largest of which weighed three pounds, and 
 was sixteen inches in length. 
 
 The tautog, or blackfish, as it is commonly called 
 in New York, tautog in the Mohegan language 
 meaning black, naturally ranges only from the 
 Capes of the Delaware to Cape Cod. But twenty 
 or thirty years ago some gentlemen of Boston 
 caused a number to be brought in well-boats 
 around Cape Cod and set free in Massachusetts 
 Bay. They have since multiplied rapidly, and 
 have extended northwest as far as the coast of 
 New Brunswick. Mr. Perley says that in 1851 
 many of them were exhibited for sale in the fish- 
 market of St. John, the largest of which weighed 
 eight pounds. The largest specimen of which 
 Dr. Storer had any knowledge, twenty years ago, 
 weighed sixteen pounds. They are now caught 
 plentifully at Nahant, at Plymouth, and at Marsh- 
 field, so plentifully, indeed, at Marshfield, that 
 they are used there for lobster bait, and are little 
 esteemed for food, probably because they are im- 
 properly cooked. Frank Forester, in the earlier 
 editions of his " Fish and Fishing in North Amer- 
 ica," says that the savoriness of the tautog depends 
 mainly on the cook. But in the revised edition, 
 he says, " He is better in the pan than on the 
 hook, and better on the table than in the pan." 
 
 After dinner we hoisted sail for Marblehead, 
 with a stiff breeze from the northeast, which swept
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 89 
 
 us with a rush into the harbor of that famous fish- 
 ing town. We came to anchor pretty close to the 
 wharves, with a huge cliff rising abruptly from the 
 water about a hundred yards ahead of us. 
 
 The harbor, which is separated from the ocean 
 by a narrow, rocky peninsula, is a mile and a half 
 long and half a mile wide. It is easy of access, 
 with depth enough for the largest vessels, and is 
 perfectly safe, except in a northeast storm, when 
 the waves roll in with such force that, said the old 
 Pilot, " I have seen twenty vessels ashore at once 
 on yonder beach." 
 
 He was a native of Marblehead, and had sailed 
 from its port for a quarter of a century. Nearly 
 everybody in the town knew him, though he had 
 lived for many years past in Swampscott. Soon 
 after we anchored we were surrounded by a swarm 
 of boat filled with enterprising youngsters, who, 
 in accordance with the traditional habit of the 
 youth of the place, had come off to chat with 
 " Uncle Widger," and to " haze " the strangers. 
 
 They paid special attention to my gold specta- 
 cles, and when the Professor and the Artist, with 
 their eyes arrayed in the same manner, appeared 
 on deck, there was a general shout of amazement 
 and delight. The Assyrian, hearing the uproar, 
 and learning its occasion, borrowed a spare pair 
 of spectacles which the Professor had provided in 
 case of accident, and putting them on, though his 
 eyes are like those of a hawk, came out of the
 
 90 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 cabin and gravely contemplated our noisy visitors, 
 whose exultation at this fourth apparition was 
 loudly manifested. 
 
 It was evident that a vessel navigated by men 
 in red shirts and wearing gold spectacles had not 
 been seen in Marblehead harbor within the mem- 
 ory of the present generation. 
 
 After a while these ingenuous youth departed, 
 and betook themselves to skimming in their dories 
 to and fro over the surface of the harbor for amuse- 
 ment. 
 
 " Make 'em give you a pair of gold barnacles, 
 Uncle Widger," was their parting salutation, " and 
 then the whole crew will be in uniform." 
 
 We witnessed a glorious sunset, which set off to 
 great advantage the picturesque old town with its 
 quaint houses and ragged heights. As I sat on 
 deck gazing at it, I repeated the lines which Whit- 
 tier's ballad in the Atlantic Monthly have made 
 familiar to the public : 
 
 " Skipper Flood Ireson, for his hard heart, 
 Was tarred and feathered, and carried in a cart." 
 
 " I was in that scrape," said the old Pilot, who 
 overheard me. 
 
 "The deuce you were! Why, it happened 
 long before you were born," said I, with an indis- 
 tinct impression that the " scrape," as he called it, 
 was a pre-Revolutionary affair. 
 
 " It happened fifty years ago, when I was eigh-
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 91 
 
 teen years old, and I was one of them that dragged 
 Ireson in his dory over to Salem after he was tarred 
 and feathered." 
 
 The old man proceeded to relate what he re- 
 membered of the transaction. Skipper Ireson, it 
 will be recollected, basely passed a wreck on which 
 were four or five men appealing to him to rescue 
 them. He left them to perish, his townspeople 
 of Marblehead thought, because he begrudged the 
 cost of keeping them on board his vessel for even 
 the short passage from Cape Cod to Cape Ann. 
 The circumstances becoming known, the indig- 
 nant Marbleheaders tarred and feathered him, put 
 him in the boat of his own vessel, and dragged 
 him as far as the entrance of Salem. There they 
 were stopped by the Selectmen of that town, who 
 informed them that an enraged mob was waiting 
 for them with the intention of hanging Ireson. 
 According to our Pilot, upon hearing this the 
 Marblehead mob turned back and took their vic- 
 tim home, because they had been strictly charged by 
 the Selectmen of Marblehead to take care that he 
 sustained no serious injury, a circumstance which 
 indicates a strange mixture of order and lawless- 
 ness in the proceeding. 
 
 The traditional story used by Whittier, that 
 Ireson repeated, as he was carried along, the 
 
 ' I, Flood Ireson, for my hard heart, 
 Am tarred, and feathered, and carried in a cart"
 
 92 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 the Pilot pronounced untrue. The verses were 
 made afterward by the boys. 
 
 Ireson endured his punishment with fortitude, 
 sitting like a statue and uttering not a word, ex- 
 cept once ; the weather being extremely cold, he 
 asked for some grog to warm him, when about 
 half-way on the road to Salem. His request was 
 granted, and he made the rest of his unpleasant 
 expedition in silence. He lived till within a few 
 years, and was a commander of ships almost to 
 the time of his death, the merchants favoring him 
 because he was noted for successful voyages.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 93 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE GREAT THUNDER-STORM. FROM MARBLEHEAD 
 TO GLOUCESTER. MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS. 
 A SKIPPER LOST. 
 
 THE morning of Sunday, July 11, in the pic- 
 turesque harbor of Marblehead, was as lovely as 
 sunshine and sea and scenery could make it. As 
 the day advanced, the heat became oppressive. 
 On shore, we afterward learned, it was the hot- 
 test day of that hottest of the heated terms of 
 the year, the mercury rising in some instances 
 above 100. 
 
 Toward noon we got into the dory, and, with 
 the Pilot for oarsman, rowed across the harbor to 
 the narrow peninsula which separates it from the 
 ocean. Leaving him in charge of the boat, we 
 walked across the field half a mile or so, till we 
 found ourselves on the shore of our yesterday's 
 fishing-ground, at Tinker's Island. It is a bold, 
 rocky coast, indented with many little coves, with 
 tiny sandy or gravelly beaches. Selecting the 
 prettiest and shadiest of these recesses, we cooled 
 off with a long, luxurious bath. Strolling then to 
 a headland, crowned by a group of stately elms, 
 we sat down in their shade on the grass, lighted 
 our cigars, and refreshed our eyes with the con-
 
 94 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 templation of a scene of blended land and water, 
 promontory and inlet, hill and meadow, cultivation 
 and wildness, that has, southward, no rival nearer 
 than the bay of Rio Janeiro, and northward is not 
 surpassed in natural beauty till you reach Mount 
 Desert. 
 
 Certain interior sensations, premonitory symp- 
 toms of the approach of the dinner hour, at length 
 caused us to turn our steps toward the Helen. 
 Crossing the Neck, we found the dory where we 
 had left it on the beach, but the Pilot had disap- 
 peared. We hunted for him up and down the 
 shore, in caves, behind rocks, under bushes, 
 everywhere. He was not to be found. He had 
 absolutely vanished. We had no resource but to 
 await his reappearance. To sit or stand in the 
 fierce sunshine, which poured down upon the boat, 
 was out of the question. Descrying a barn at 
 some distance we went to it for shelter, and dis- 
 covered our missing Palinurus stretched upon a 
 heap of hay fast asleep. He, too, had prudently 
 retreated from the fervor of the sun, and yielded 
 himself to his usual proclivity to sleep when there 
 was nothing else to do. Rousing him, we rowed 
 back to our vessel, and after dinner, the heat hav- 
 ing grown still more oppressive, we turned in and 
 went to sleep ourselves. 
 
 Our slumbers were not of long duration. They 
 were cut short by a tremendous peal of thunder. 
 We arose and went on deck.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 95 
 
 " The sky was changed, and such a change ! " 
 
 When we went below not a cloud marred the 
 serene blueness overhead, not a breath of wind 
 disturbed the fervid, glowing atmosphere, or miti- 
 gated the fierce heat ; now, the heavens were 
 shrouded with a pall whose blackness was irra- 
 diated only by flashes of lightning, while furious 
 gusts swept madly over the harbor, lashing the 
 waters into short, sharp waves, crested with foam. 
 It was the most formidable thunder-storm ever 
 known in the annals of New England. It raged, 
 I believe, over the whole of Massachusetts. In 
 Cambridge alone the lightning struck in more 
 than forty places, though that city, from its pecu- 
 liar position, is usually remarkably exempt from 
 the influence of thunder-storms. 
 
 The temperature lowered very rapidly. There 
 was a gust of rain, and then suddenly we were 
 engulfed in a dense fog, which, however, did not 
 rise high above the surface of the water ; for I 
 was struck by the strange appearance in the air 
 of the topmasts of the surrounding vessels, while 
 their hulls were entirely hidden. Gradually the 
 fog turned into rain, and by nightfall the weather 
 was so cold that we were fain to go to bed at dark 
 to keep ourselves warm. The wind was north- 
 east, and blowing pretty hard, and I noticed, be- 
 fore turning in, that the Skipper and the Pilot 
 were busy rigging a large anchor, which we had 
 on deck, but which we had not yet had occasion
 
 96 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 to use. They predicted that the wind would 
 increase in the night, and, as it was blowing di- 
 rectly into the harbor, we should be likely to need 
 an additional anchor. The old Pilot said that he 
 remembered a northeast storm, many years ago, 
 in which every vessel in the harbor was driven 
 ashore. 
 
 The prediction of the seamen was verified. 
 About midnight we were roused by an outcry on 
 deck, and, turning out, found that the wind was 
 blowing almost a gale, and that the sloop, in spite 
 of her additional anchor, was drifting under the 
 impulse of wind and waves directly upon the great 
 black rock which rose from the water a hundred 
 yards southwest of us. She drifted slovvjy, and 
 we watched her progress with some anxiety. 
 Fortunately, when we were about fifty yards from 
 the frowning rock, our anchors caught in the 
 moorings of another vessel and arrested our dan- 
 gerous progress. 
 
 The next morning, Monday, July 12, was so 
 cold and damp that the seamen dragged forth a 
 small stove from the forepeak, and made a fire in 
 the cabin. We went ashore to take a look at the 
 town, which has always been reputed one of the 
 queerest places in New England. It was settled 
 before 1645, and is built on a high, rocky, irregu- 
 lar peninsula about four miles in length and two in 
 breadth. The streets are narrow, and are laid out 
 on the pattern of the paths in a modern landscape
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 97 
 
 garden, with a careful avoidance of right lines. 
 We saw few of the inhabitants, and most of those 
 we saw were small boys, who had a weather- 
 beaten look, and sported pea-jackets and top-boots. 
 The people were formerly the most uncivilized in 
 New England, and the boys so rude and turbulent 
 as to be a terror to strangers, whom they were 
 accustomed to stone, or, as they themselves ex- 
 pressed it, to " rock," for amusement. But of 
 late years the place has much improved. 
 
 After dinner we made sail for Gloucester. The 
 wind having abated, our progress was very.slow^ 
 and about the middle of the afternoon we lay to 
 and fished. Half a dozen rock-cod were hauled 
 up in a few minutes, and the Pilot, having nothing 
 else to do, began to prepare them for the frying- 
 pan. As he cleaned them, he threw overboard 
 the entrails, which floated for a while on the 
 surface. 
 
 Almost instantlv a flock of stormy petrels, or 
 Mother Carey's chickens, as the sailors call them, 
 gathered round the garbage. A moment before 
 but one of these birds was visible. They were 
 very bold, coming close alongside of the vessel, 
 and seizing pieces of the floating prey larger than 
 themselves, with which they would strive to fly 
 away. Sometimes two of them would take hold 
 at the same time of the same piece, and tug in 
 opposite directions. The Professor seized his dip- 
 net, and stationing himself at the side of the vessel,
 
 98 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 directed the Pilot to throw over a handful of gar- 
 bage so close that it would float within reach. The 
 birds gathered round, and the Professor, with his 
 usual singularly quick adroitness, captured in suc- 
 cession half a dozen of them. They were so 
 greedy and so bold, that he might, if he had 
 pleased, have taken the whole flock. 
 
 In taking them from the dip-net and throwing 
 them on deck near the companion-way, they 
 showed remarkable stupidity, or inability to walk 
 on anything but water. They dashed about under 
 the bench which surrounded the small standing- 
 place for the helmsman, in front of the cabin, 
 knocking their heads against the under surface of 
 the bench as blindly as a bird or any insect will 
 sometimes knock against the glass of a half-opened 
 window, instead of flying out of the aperture. In 
 no case did one of them succeed in getting clear 
 of the deck without our assistance. When liber- 
 ated, I noticed that they all flew away in the same 
 direction until they were out of sight. 
 
 The last one that we caught the artist took into 
 the cabin to make a drawing of it. It was very 
 tame, and remained for a quarter of an hour with- 
 out struggling, loosely held in the hand \mtil its 
 portrait was secured, when it was suffered to rejoin 
 its companions. Like all those we captured, it had 
 a singularly gentle and innocent expression, and 
 its resemblance in this respect to a young chicken 
 was so great that we were satisfied of the appro-
 
 COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 99 
 
 priateness of the term chicken commonly applied 
 to the bird by sailors, though why it should be 
 called Mother Carey's is an unsolved and unsolv- 
 able mystery. 
 
 A flock of these birds will sometimes follow a 
 vessel for months together. They sleep on the 
 water at night, and catch up with the ship in the 
 morning, guided in their search for it perhaps by 
 instinct, perhaps by the small floating substances, 
 such as scraps of food, which their keen eyes can 
 detect in its wake. The Professor told us that he 
 had frequently caught them in the Pacific Ocean, 
 and let them go again with a colored thread tied 
 to their legs. One individual, thus marked, fol- 
 lowed the ship for six weeks, and was seen every 
 clay. It has been a question much discussed 
 among naturalists where and how this bird breeds. 
 But at Grand Manan the Professor found their 
 nests in immense numbers. They burrow, like the 
 cliff swallow, in cliffs of sand. There are cliffs of 
 great extent at Grand Manan, so perforated by 
 them as to resemble gigantic honeycombs, around 
 which they swarm in multitudes so prodigious as 
 almost to blacken the air. 
 
 About sunset we cast anchor in Gloucester har- 
 bor. The weather was thick, and the wind very 
 light. As we slowly made our way in, the Skip- 
 per noticed a small schooner, a fishing jigger from 
 his own town of Swampscott, which was also 
 creeping along with the tide. It was owned, he
 
 100 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 told us, by a neighbor of his, and was manned by 
 two men, one of whom was particularly known in 
 Swampscott by the nickname of " Cousin," who, 
 he said, was a very merry fellow, and would amuse 
 us by his droll remarks. We accordingly stood 
 toward the jigger, and when near enough for con- 
 versation, hailed it. 
 
 " Cousin" was at the helm, and in anything but 
 a jolly mood apparently. In answer to our inquiry 
 for news, he replied that he had " lost his 
 skipper." 
 
 " Lost his skipper ! " exclaimed the Assyrian, 
 " what does the man mean ? I never heard be- 
 fore of losing a skipper : the fellow must be jok- 
 ing." 
 
 But I observed that the countenances of our 
 Swampscott fishermen grew grave on hearing 
 " Cousin's " unexpected reply. They were too 
 familiar with the dangers of their perilous vocation 
 to be much perplexed to comprehend the strange 
 catastrophe that had befallen their neighbor. The 
 old Pilot silently relinquished the helm to the 
 Professor, and he and the Skipper took the dory 
 and went aboard the jigger. They returned in 
 a few minutes, and confirmed " Cousin's " state- 
 ment. He had really " lost his skipper." 
 
 The two men had been sent to some distant 
 fishing-bank, and on their return, while yet out of 
 sight of land, had been overtaken by night. They 
 kept watch, one at a time. The first half of the
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 101 
 
 night was " Cousin's " watch. At midnight he 
 roused his companion, who took the helm, while 
 "Cousin" turned in to sleep. In the morning 
 when he awoke the skipper was missing, gone, 
 vanished. Not a trace of him was visible. The 
 little schooner was easily searched, he was not 
 on board. The dory still towed at the stern, he 
 had not gone off in that. The inevitable conclusion 
 was, that he had somehow fallen overboard, and 
 been drowned. But how, when, or why, were 
 questions that would have baffled forever all the 
 coroners of the Commonwealth. After looking in 
 all manner of impossible places for his missing 
 comrade, " Cousin," with a heavy heart, steered 
 for Cape Ann, the nearest land, to report his loss 
 and take counsel with the friends and neighbors 
 whom he knew he should meet in Gloucester 
 harbor, which is the great rendezvous of the 
 Massachusetts fishermen. 
 
 Our Pilot and Skipper, who knew both the 
 men intimately, expressed the most entire confi- 
 dence in the accuracy of " Cousin's " statement. 
 His companion had probably fallen overboard in a 
 fit or by a careless misstep in the dark, and, like 
 many of the fishermen, being unable to swim, had 
 gone down unseen and unheard. They showed 
 evident concern for their neighbor, but still could 
 not repress a certain degree of amusement as they 
 thought of " Cousin's " astounding bewilderment 
 on getting up in the morning and finding that he 

 
 102 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 had lost his skipper. They had been so much in 
 the habit of laughing at, or laughing with him, that 
 a touch of the ludicrous could not but mix itself 
 with even so grave and shocking an event. 
 
 On our way up to the harbor we had dressed 
 ourselves in shore-clothes, and immediately on 
 casting anchor we went ashore and made our 
 way to the Gloucester House, where we ordered 
 supper. While that was getting ready, we strolled 
 out into the narrow, winding streets, which were 
 thronged by sailors and fishermen, of whom there 
 are sometimes three or four thousand in port at 
 once. Supper being ready at 9 P. M., we sat 
 down, and made a night of it, with appetites ren- 
 dered keen by ten days' abstinence from the forms, 
 food, and appurtenances of civilized life. It was 
 pleasant to see a table-cloth once more, to sit in a 
 chair, and to eat something beside fish and salt 
 meat. We lodged that night at the hotel, and it 
 was really delightful to turn in withojit pantaloons 
 to a bed broad enough to roll about on.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 103 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A MARINE MUNCHAUSEN. RATTLESNAKE SOUP. 
 A BIG SNAKE. HELEN'S GROTTO. 
 
 THE next day, Tuesday, July 13, there was 
 little or no wind, and not a vessel left port. We 
 amused ourselves, therefore, with walking about 
 the town during the forenoon, visiting the Pavil- 
 ion, a fine hotel, superbly situated on the edge of 
 the harbor, near to which are the ruins of an old 
 fort, commanding a fine prospect, where we basked 
 for an hour or two in the sunshine, watching the 
 mackerel-fishers in the harbor. We dined at the 
 hotel, and after dinner went on board the sloop 
 and resumed our sea-rig. 
 
 In the evening we received visits from several 
 Swampscott skippers, whose vessels, like our own, 
 were wind-bound in the port. One of these men 
 sat with us till midnight, spinning the most mon- 
 strous and incredible yarns, which he narrated 
 with a serene gravity that would almost have per- 
 suaded the hearer to believe any lie. He was a 
 marine Munchausen of the first water, and his 
 adventures were nearly as wonderful as those of 
 the renowned Baron himself. 
 
 You could mention no island that he had not 
 visited, from Borneo and Madagascar down to No
 
 104 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 Man's Land, or Pitcairn, or the Isle Royale of 
 Lake Superior. He had sailed on all seas except 
 Dr. Kane's Open Polar Sea, and that he reluc- 
 tantly admitted he had only seen at a distance. 
 He had conversed with all potentates, from the 
 Czar Nicholas to the King of the Cannibal Islands, 
 and kindly gave us each a couple of cigars, which 
 he said were from a box presented to him by his 
 friend the Captain-General of Cuba, a very choice 
 and rare brand that could not be got for any 
 money even in Havana. The last part of this 
 assertion was probably true. No such cigars were 
 ever seen in Cuba, for they were obviously of Con- 
 necticut tobacco, and we had ourselves bought 
 some of the same choice kind at a shop in the 
 main street of Gloucester for two cents apiece. 
 
 We spoke of snakes. On this topic he spread 
 himself amazingly. He had often seen the sea- 
 serpent, and once when cruising for swordfish off 
 Nantucket, had harpooned the monster from the 
 deck of his vessel, and had been towed out to sea 
 a hundred miles in thirty minutes, when the line 
 broke and the creature got away. 
 
 " Rattlesnakes ? Yes, sir ; I have seen rattle- 
 snakes. Some years ago, I grew tired of the sea, 
 and took a farm in Illinois. I had a meadow 
 on the prairie of three hundred acres, and when 
 it came haying-time rattlesnakes were so thick 
 there, that of seven Irishmen I sent to mow it one 
 morning, five were bitten so that they died in-
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 105 
 
 stantly, and the other two were only saved by 
 keeping them constantly drunk with whiskey for 
 more than a month. That job cost me a barrel of 
 good Bourbon, beside the funeral expenses of the 
 dead men." 
 
 " And you lost your hay ? " said the Professor. 
 
 " Not at all. I had seen too much of snakes to 
 be bluffed off in that way. I had a pair of boots 
 which had been given to me at Buenos Ayres by 
 General Rosas, of the kind worn by the Guachos 
 on the Pampas when they go out to hunt the 
 jaguar. They are made of the toughest bull's 
 hide, doubled, and I was confident that if they 
 could resist the jaguar's claws they could the 
 fangs of the rattlesnake. They came up to my 
 hips, and I put them on one fine morning, and 
 taking a scythe, went into the meadow and began 
 to mow. The snakes came at me, a dozen at a 
 time, and whenever they struck their fangs into 
 the tough leather it held them fast. I took no 
 notice of them, but kept on mowing till they hung 
 in such numbers about my legs that the weight 
 became troublesome, and then I stopped mowing 
 and cut them off with the scythe. I had to do 
 this about once in half an hour, and when I went 
 home to dinner there were so many heads hanging 
 to the boots that you could scarcely see the 
 leather. The boys picked off enough to fill a 
 peck measure heaping full, and when I came home 
 to supper they got off as many more. I kept this
 
 106 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 up for a fortnight, and by that time, I can tell you, 
 snakes were getting rather scarce in that particu- 
 lar meadow." 
 
 " What became of them boots ? " inquired our 
 Pilot, who had listened to this narrative with much 
 apparent interest. 
 
 " Them boots," said the visitor, lighting one of 
 the Captain-General's Havanas with much deliber- 
 ation, and rolling the weed slowly between his lips, 
 evidently to gain time for invention, "them 
 "boots saved my life not long afterwards. You see, 
 I soon got tired of farming and went to sea again. 
 I bought a brig in New York and started on a 
 trading expedition to the west coast of Africa. 
 Off the Cape de Verdes we had about the worst 
 storm I ever saw in my life, and were driven 
 ashore in the night a little south of Cape Blanco, 
 where the Great Desert comes down to the sea. 
 The brig struck a reef running out under 
 water a considerable distance. The next day a 
 whole tribe of Arabs appeared on the beach mak- 
 ing signals to us. I went ashore to see what they 
 wanted, and as I did not like to expose the boat's 
 crew to harm, before going I put on them iden- 
 tical boots, which I had always kept with care, in 
 order that I might wade from the boat to the 
 beach. As the water was shallow, the boat could 
 keep a good way out beyond the reach of the 
 javelins and spears of the Arabs, who did not 
 seem to have any fire-arms. As soon as I landed
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 107 
 
 I was seized and hurried off over some sand-hills 
 to their camp. Knowing enough of their lan- 
 guage to understand most of what they said, I 
 soon found that they meant to entice my crew on 
 shore, make slaves of them, and plunder the ship. 
 As a part of this plan, they treated me civilly for 
 a time, only taking off my boots, which seemed to 
 strike their fancy in a way that I could not at first 
 comprehend. But I soon found that they were 
 almost wholly out of provision, though they had 
 plenty of water, and that they meant to make 
 soup of the boots. They accordingly put them 
 into a big iron pot, over a fire, and in about an 
 hour invited me to partake of the broth. I de- 
 clined, and they ate it themselves. In half an 
 hour afterwards every mother's son and daughter 
 of them was as dead as Julius Cassar. There was 
 rattlesnake poison enough in them boots, sir, to 
 destroy all the Arabs of Arabia. The next day 
 we got the brig off without material damage, and 
 we found gold-dust enough in the camp of the 
 Arabs to make every one of the crew a rich man. 
 That was on the whole the most successful voyage 
 I ever made. 
 
 " But speaking of snakes, if you want to see 
 snakes you must go to the East Indies. I was 
 once lying at anchor in a little port on the coast 
 of Sumatra, waiting for a cargo of pepper. The 
 weather was intensely hot, and we left all the 
 hatches open at night. I got up early one morn-
 
 108 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 ing and found the gunwales of the ship nearly 
 down to the water's edge. Supposing that we had 
 somehow sprung a leak and were sinking, I roused 
 up the men and sent a couple of them down the 
 main hatchway to see what the matter was. They 
 did not come back, and after waiting a few min- 
 utes I sent the mate, who looked in cautiously with 
 a lantern, and reported that there was a serpent in 
 the hold, and that he had probably swallowed both 
 the seamen, as the feet of one of them were stick- 
 ing out of his mouth. From the depth to which 
 his weight had sunk the ship he was evidently a 
 big one. Prompt measures were necessary. I di- 
 rected the men to rig a tackle and fall, on the main 
 yard, and let down a stout rope with a running 
 noose right over the hatchway. I then mustered 
 all our fire-arms and gave the snake a volley to 
 rouse him. He soon reared his head out of the 
 hold, I dropped the noose over it, the men ran 
 him up, while the mate and I with axes chopped 
 him in two. He was so long, sir, that it took the 
 whole forenoon to haul him out by sections, cut 
 him up, and throw the pieces overboard." 
 
 Wednesday, July 14, there was a fog in the 
 morning, but not a very dense one, and we had 
 grown so tired of inaction that we rigged a pair of 
 oars, and about 9 A. M. began to sweep the sloop 
 out of the harbor, a slow and toilsome process, 
 but successful in time. We passed languidly by 
 the villas that line the shores of the harbor, passed
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 109 
 
 the light-houses, passed the reef of Norman's Woe, 
 the scene of Longfellow's ballad : 
 
 " Such was the wreck of the Hesperus, 
 
 In the midnight and the snow ! 
 Christ save us all from a death like this, 
 On the reef of Norman's Woe ! " 
 
 Great schools of hardheads were rippling the 
 water all around us. A light breeze at length 
 sprang up, and we laid our course for Rockport, 
 on the outside of Cape Ann. Off Thatcher's 
 Island, at the extreme end of the Cape, we en- 
 countered a fleet of large sloops, laden with 
 granite from Rockport, which they were taking 
 to Boston. They were very deeply laden, and as 
 they rolled along they dipped a volume of water 
 which immediately poured out again in great 
 streams from their scuppers. There was a heavy 
 swell on the sea, and the water had a strange 
 metallic lustre like that of blue steel. We had a 
 slow, dull breeze, and the tide was against us. We 
 did not advance, on an average, more than a mile 
 an hour, and at times actually retrograded. 
 
 The Professor with his dip-net caught a quan- 
 tity of beautiful sun-squalls as they floated by. 
 He also caught up some floating capsules offucus, 
 or rockweed, attached to which we found speci- 
 mens of the Anatifa vitrea, a species of duck- 
 barnacle. This curious animal, having a regular 
 multivalve shell, was long thought to be a mollusk, 
 and was so classed. It is now, however, placed
 
 110 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 among the crustaceans, and the young of it is 
 found to be a small crustacean, swimming freely in 
 the water. This animal has a stout, fleshy pedun- 
 cle for attachment. Its flattened body is enclosed 
 in two large principal valves and several small 
 supplementary ones. From between these valves 
 a horse-shoe shaped cluster of long, curved, cirri- 
 form arms are protruded, which sweep through 
 the water with a grasping motion, in search of 
 food. In the centre of this cluster the mouth is 
 situated. 
 
 We were nine hours in going nine miles. Grad- 
 ually the swell subsided, and the sea grew very 
 smooth, with a gray leaden hue. Flocks of terns 
 were wheeling and screaming overhead, and 
 schools of pollack leaping all around us. 
 
 When within a mile of Rockport, as we coasted 
 slowly along, at no great distance from the high, 
 rugged shore, we discerned among the fissures in 
 the rocks a cavity of unusual size which greatly 
 attracted our curiosity. The Professor and I took 
 the dory and rowed into it ; not without difficulty, 
 notwithstanding the unusual smoothness of the 
 sea. It proved to be a high narrow cavern, ex- 
 tending about a hundred feet into the rock. We 
 named it Helen's Grotto, in honor of the 
 sloop. On emerging from it we found the vessel 
 had kept on her way, instead of lying to for us, 
 and was already at the entrance of Rockport 
 harbor. We accordingly had to row after her,
 
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. HI 
 
 and as the tide was against us did not overtake 
 her till she came to anchor in the middle of this 
 curious little port, which is partly artificial, and 
 will shelter fifty or sixty small vessels. 
 
 We made our supper on cunners, which we 
 caught from the side of the vessel, and on bread, 
 for which we sent one of the men ashore, and 
 went to bed at 9 o'clock, a dark fog covering the 
 water and giving us a poor prospect for a rapid 
 voyage to-morrow.
 
 112 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 EOCKPORT HARBOR. THE KING OF THE GUNNERS. 
 LOBSTER-FISHING. THE ASSYRIAN STARTLED. 
 
 THE town of Rockport, in one of whose harbors 
 we brought the Helen to anchor about sunset on 
 Wednesday, July 14, is declared by the veracious 
 Gazetteer of Hayward to lie four miles northeast 
 from Gloucester Harbor, thirty-six northeast from 
 Boston, and eighteen northeast from Salem. It 
 comprises all the seaward portion of the extremity 
 of Cape Ann, and from the settlement of New 
 England to the present time, the men of Rockport 
 have been distinguished for their enterprise in the 
 fisheries, " thereby," as Hayward judiciously re- 
 marks, " rendering them serviceable to their 
 country abroad, and fit companions for its intelli- 
 gent and rosy-cheeked damsels at home." 
 
 We saw but little of the town. The fog was so 
 dense that we could only discern that we were in 
 a small harbor, partly artificial, with a huge mole 
 of granite between us and the ocean. There 
 were fifteen or twenty schooners in the port 
 which afforded room for perhaps twice as many 
 more. 
 
 The Artist and I got the Skipper to row us 
 ashore before breakfast next day, July 15. We
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 113 
 
 landed on a dirty beach, covered with the decay- 
 ing offal of fish, the stench of which was almost 
 suffocating. A narrow street led us to the centre 
 of a large and prosperous-looking village, where 
 we mailed our letters, and made some purchases, 
 especially of " soft tack," of which we bought a 
 quantity that caused the baker to stare and gasp 
 with amazement. We knew we should be likely 
 to get none for several days, and had found by ex- 
 perience that six healthy men, with sea appetites, 
 could consume an enormous amount of bread. 
 
 When we got on board again we found the Pro- 
 fessor and the Assyrian in a state of deep disgust 
 at the smell of rotten fish which filled the air, and 
 which, indeed, had been so disagreeable on the 
 previous evening that we should have hoisted 
 anchor and gone outside of the harbor to pass the 
 night on the open sea, had not the fog been so 
 thick that we could not see our vessel's length 
 ahead of us. It was so unpleasant on deck, that, 
 immediately after supper, we had lighted our 
 cigars and closed the cabin doors, to smother with 
 the fumes of tobacco the fishy odors from the 
 shore. 
 
 As soon, therefore, as breakfast was over, we 
 raised the anchor, rigged the oars, and rowed our 
 little vessel out of the port, just as so many Greeks 
 would have done three thousand years ago. I 
 have been amused during the whole of this cruise 
 with its resemblance to the style in which the an-
 
 114 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 cients made their voyages. The Helen, I suppose, 
 could not be much smaller than the bark which 
 carried her namesake, the faithless wife of Mene- 
 laus, from Sparta to Troy. And though we did 
 not, like the Greeks of that age, haul our vessel 
 on shore at night, we ran regularly into port as the 
 darkness approached, and never ventured far from 
 land. The coast of New England, north of Bos- 
 ton, with its inlets and islands and rocky headlands 
 and frequent harbors, is not unlike the coast of 
 Greece. Cape Ann, and Casco Bay, and Mount 
 Desert, abound in promontories, which only re- 
 quire to be crowned with temples to compare well 
 with " Sunium's marbled steep," or 
 
 " The rocky brow 
 Which looks o'er seaborn Salamis." 
 
 The fog was still as dense as ever, and when we 
 had got half a mile or so outside the harbor we 
 ceased rowing and let the vessel drift. The Pro- 
 fessor, taking a couple of cod-lines, got into the 
 dory and rowed away from the vessel. In two 
 minutes he was out of sight, and presently the 
 sound of his oars became inaudible. The tide 
 was drifting us away from the land, and we soon 
 grew anxious for the safety of our companion. 
 Though the sea was as smooth as ever I have seen 
 it, the rugged coast in that quarter is accessible to 
 boats only by the harbors. And in such a fog, 
 without a compass, the Professor, after a few turns
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 115 
 
 round, would have found it as difficult to make 
 the land as to recover the sloop. 
 
 The Skipper, who was seriously alarmed, took 
 the horn and sounded a sonorous blast. It was 
 presently answered by a blast from the land. All 
 along the coast, as far north as population extends, 
 even to Labrador, the humane and kindly custom 
 prevails of blowing a horn in time of fog as a 
 guide to the mariner. Such a signal from a vessel, 
 anywhere from Cape Ann to Labrador, will be 
 promptly responded to from the shore, if the shore 
 is inhabited. We blew again at intervals of five 
 minutes to guide the Professor. By and by we 
 heard the sound of oars, and that gentleman came 
 alongside, having caught nothing but a lobster, 
 which he had somehow contrived to entice into 
 his dory. 
 
 He seemed in no hurry to come on board, but 
 asked the Skipper to give him a cup of water, a 
 piece of bread, and half a dozen cigars. He then 
 said to me, 
 
 " You are always interested in cunner-fishing, 
 
 C . Jump into the dory and come along, 
 
 and I will show you the king of the cunners. 
 But first light a cigar, and take a couple of lines 
 from that locker. There give me a light and 
 take the oars, if you please, while I see if I can 
 make this confounded leon cToro burn. I have 
 used up half a bunch of matches on it already." 
 
 The golden lion would not burn, and was at
 
 116 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 length flung into the water. I pulled toward the 
 shore, while the Professor lighted another cigar 
 and baited the lines with the flesh of the lobster 
 he had taken. The fog was so dense that the 
 shore was not visible until we were close upon it. 
 We anchored the dory in water ten or twelve feet 
 deep, at the distance of as many yards from the 
 high, steep, rugged rocks, black and slimy with 
 sea-weed, that line all that part of the coast of 
 Cape Ann. The sea was as smooth as glass, and 
 the water so clear that the smallest objects on 
 the bottom were distinctly seen. Directly beneath 
 our boat, and for a few feet on every side, the 
 bottom was clean sand, free from weeds. But 
 this clear space, which was about twenty feet in 
 diameter, was surrounded by heaps of rocks which 
 rose to within three or four feet of the surface. 
 Around the bases of these rocks, and in their 
 crevices, grew a dense thicket of marine plants, 
 making a vegetable ring about the rocks two or 
 three feet wide. 
 
 " Here is where I caught the lobster," said the 
 Professor, " and with patience and dexterity we 
 can catch enough of them to keep us supplied 
 with food and bait for the rest of the week. Did 
 you ever see so many cunners before ? Look 
 sharp, and you will see a very large one." 
 
 The water beneath us, indeed, swarmed with 
 cunners of all sizes and all colors. There were 
 some not larger than a man's finger, and others that
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. H7 
 
 appeared upward of a foot in length. Most of 
 them were hlackish in hue, but there were several 
 of lighter colors, and one or two of a bright 
 orange tint. There must have been hundreds 
 of them in sight at once. They swam about 
 slowly and lazily, sometimes hiding in the thickets 
 of sea-weed, then gliding out and cruising vaguely 
 round, apparently without any definite object. 
 
 I lowered a baited line from the side of the 
 boat. In a moment it was surrounded by a 
 crowd of eager fishes, their apathy gone, and 
 their tails wagging with excitement. I now saw 
 an explanation of a phenomenon that had often 
 puzzled me while fishing for cunners in water so 
 deep or turbid that the fish, until caught, were not 
 visible. While so fishing, you frequently have a 
 smart, bold bite, and your line is carried off for a 
 yard or two with a rush that makes you feel sure 
 you have caught the biter. But with such a bite 
 you seldom, if ever, take a dinner. The reason 
 is, as I now saw, that it is only the smallest eun- 
 ners that bite in that fashion ; too small they are 
 to swallow the bait readily. Little fellows, not 
 yet arrived at years of discretion, will impudently 
 thrust themselves in among a crowd of larger and 
 wiser fish, who are gravely contemplating and 
 smelling the bait before venturing to touch it, and 
 suddenly snapping hold of a corner of it, a young 
 gentleman, not more than five inches long, will 
 drag the tempting morsel away from under the
 
 118 A SUMMER CRUISE 02V 
 
 very noses of his seniors. He seldom runs with 
 it more than two or three feet, however, and after 
 the first impudent rush, drops it, and scuds off as 
 fast as his tail will carry him. The larger cunner, 
 if he takes the bait at all, takes it soberly and con- 
 siderately, and does not make a greedy snatch at 
 it. He is very expert at getting the bait off with- 
 out being caught by the hook, though, where cun- 
 ners abound, there is such a crowd and so much 
 competition that the wariest fish is tempted now 
 and then to an incautious and fatal bite. 
 
 I was so much pleased with watching the move- 
 ments of the cunners, that I did not care to catch 
 them. I had taken five or six of moderate size, 
 who would hook themselves in spite of my endeav- 
 ors to prevent it, and had exhausted my share of 
 the bait, when the Professor, who had been pulling 
 them up in considerable numbers, called out to me 
 from the other end of the dory : 
 
 " There is the king of the cunners I told you of. 
 He is just coming round that point of rock. Did 
 you ever see a bigger one ? " 
 
 It was, indeed, a large one, by far the largest 
 cunner I had ever seen. His great comparative 
 size was apparent when he moved in a throng of 
 his own species, as he did presently, sauntering 
 about for a few minutes with a stately air, brushing 
 aside his subjects with a majestic sweep of his 
 tail. After promenading for a short time without 
 finding anything worthy of his royal attention, he
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 119 
 
 glided slowly into the recesses of a patch of sea- 
 weed at the base of one of the rocky heaps. Not 
 doubting that he would soon reappear, I deter- 
 mined to capture him. I cut off the head of a 
 small cunner and fixed it securely on the hook. 
 The common herd of cunners attacked this bait as 
 soon as it was dropped among them, but could 
 make nothing of it. They could not disengage it 
 nor gorge it, and it was so hard they could make lit- 
 tle impression by nibbling. Still, they tugged and 
 pulled and pushed, till nearly all had tried their 
 teeth upon it. Not one, however, could take it in. 
 
 At length the big one came out of his lurking- 
 place among the sea-weed, where probably he had 
 been feeding upon Crustacea. As he lounged 
 about, I brought my bait several times in front of 
 his nose. Again and again he poked it away with 
 disdain. At length, suddenly it seemed to strike 
 him as something that demanded attention. He 
 paused before it for about a minute, evidently con- 
 sidering what it meant as it hung within an inch 
 of his nose, wagging his tail gently all the while to 
 keep himself in position. I felt sure he would 
 take it ; but no ; with one sweep of his tail he 
 wheeled about and darted away toward the rocks. 
 
 " He is gone," said I to the Professor, who was 
 watching the affair with interest. 
 
 " No, there he comes again ; he has thought 
 better of it." 
 
 The cunner had got his nose among the sea-
 
 120 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 weeds, when he paused, wheeled again, made a 
 straight line for the bait, took it in his mouth 
 without the slightest hesitation, and deliberately 
 marched off with it to his den in the rocks. He 
 did not rush off as a" young cunner would have 
 done, but moved away with a grave unconcern, 
 that said as plainly as words could say it : "I 
 know what I am about. I have fully considered 
 this matter, and it 's all right. This prize is mine, 
 and I 'm going to enjoy it comfortably and at 
 leisure." 
 
 I gave him plenty of slack line, and when he 
 had got fairly housed in his place of refuge, I 
 slowly counted a hundred before I ventured to 
 pull him up. The bait was so large and tough 
 that I doubted whether he would swallow it. 
 When he carried it off, he merely took hold of it 
 with his thick, fleshy lips. At length I pulled. I 
 had him. He had fairly swallowed the bait, and 
 was fast enough. I had a measuring line in my 
 pocket, and found his length was sixteen inches. 
 His weight I cannot tell, for we neglected to 
 weigh him after our return to the sloop. 
 
 A few minutes later we heard the sound of a 
 horn from the direction in which we judged the 
 Helen to have drifted, though at a considerable 
 distance. 
 
 " They want us to come back," said I ; " what 
 can the matter be ? " 
 
 The Professor made no reply for a moment, but
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 121 
 
 attentively scanned the neighboring shore, as if he 
 were considering the state of the tide. At length 
 he spoke. 
 
 " What time is it ? I have left my watch hang- 
 ing in the cabin." 
 
 " So is mine. I have n't the least idea of the 
 time. In this fog, all hours of daylight seem 
 pretty much alike." 
 
 " As well as I can judge by the tide," said the 
 Professor, " it is considerably past noon. I have 
 smoked three cigars, which ought to have taken 
 three hours, and it was after ten when we set out. 
 I suppose they want us to come to dinner ; but 
 I 've no notion of going back without a lobster or 
 two for supper. What say you ? " 
 
 " Agreed. Hand me a bit of that bread, and 
 I '11 stay till dark, if you wish." 
 
 Two or three short blasts on the horn, in rapid 
 succession, indicated that our comrades were get- 
 ing impatient. 
 
 " Let them toot," said the Professor ; " it will 
 do their lungs good. Besides, they deserve to be 
 worried a little for making us row so far yesterday. 
 Now for a lobster." 
 
 Being a good deal puzzled to comprehend how 
 he expected to catch lobsters with a hook, I 
 watched his proceedings with attention. While 
 fishing for cunners I had observed several lobsters 
 prowling about, backing in and out from the sea- 
 weed and scattering the cunners by their ap- 
 
 6
 
 122 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 proach. Two or three small flounders had also 
 made their appearance, sliding along on the bot- 
 tom, taking my bait with their usual stupid greed- 
 iness and getting caught accordingly. The Pro- 
 fessor cut a piece from one of these, fastened both 
 the hooks of his line in it and dropped it over the 
 side of the dory. It was instantly surrounded by 
 a crowd of cunners. By gently jerking the line 
 up and down he kept these from stealing the bait, 
 and in a few minutes a lobster darted out of the 
 sea-weed, and rushing among the crowd as if to 
 see what was going on, put them to flight. He 
 did not seem to notice the bait himself, but the 
 Professor, following his movements, dropped the 
 tempting, morsel in front of his claws. Presently 
 he seized it with avidity and conveyed it to his 
 mouth. The Professor let him have it for a min- 
 ute until his claws were somewhat entangled in 
 the line, and then with great caution, slowly and 
 gently pulled him up till his horns or feelers ap- 
 peared above the water. Seizing these the Pro- 
 fessor drew the lobster into the boat. The instant 
 the creature felt his touch it disengaged itself from 
 the line. 
 
 " The hook is of no use," remarked the Profes- 
 sor. " I have caught them in this way with 
 merely a piece of fish tied to the end of a string. 
 All that is needed is quickness and caution. The 
 lobster will let you draw him to the surface if you 
 do it quietly so as not to alarm him, but if he is
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 123 
 
 frightened in the least he is off like a flash. You 
 must grab him the instant his horns are out of the 
 water." 
 
 I baited my line with a piece of flounder, and 
 watched for a long time in vain. But one lobster 
 showed himself, a small one, which the Professor 
 caught. I was nearly out of patience when the 
 Professor, who was watching his line on the op- 
 posite side of the boat, said : " Here is the father 
 of the family, probably just waked up from an 
 after-dinner nap. He is under the boat, look out 
 for him. I shall leave him to you." 
 
 The hard-shell gentleman thus designated soon 
 appeared on my side of the dory. He was truly a 
 large one, and hideous to look at. For a good 
 while he would pay no attention to my bait, but 
 amused himself with chasing the cunners, who 
 sculled out of his way with an alacrity that indi- 
 cated no small degree of terror. At length I con- 
 trived to attract his notice by dropping my sinker 
 on his head. He seized the bait promptly, with a 
 sort of clumsy wrath, and conveyed it to his mouth. 
 I pulled him up gently an inch or two at a time 
 till his horns were within my reach. 
 
 " Grab him ! " said the Professor who had 
 watched the proceeding anxiously. 
 
 It was easier said than done. I put out my 
 hand to take him by the horns, but with so much 
 reluctance to run the risk of an encounter with his 
 formidable claws, that before I had secured him he 
 let go the line and sank to the bottom.
 
 124 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 "Bah!" exclaimed the Professor, "you have lost 
 him. Was that cowardice or only clumsiness ? " 
 
 " A little of both," I replied ; " but you must 
 recollect that I am not accustomed to handle lob- 
 sters, whereas you have been intimate with the 
 crab tribe ever since you were out of your cradle." 
 
 I tried again, and being less nervous, succeeded 
 in getting the big lobster to the surface and lifting 
 him into the boat. We caught three more, and 
 concluded we had enough for all reasonable wants. 
 We accordingly pulled up the killock, and the 
 Professor, who hated rowing, sculled the dory 
 slowly out to sea in the direction from which we 
 last heard the sound of the horn. We soon lost 
 sight of the land, and could see nothing of the 
 sloop. Presently, however, we heard some one 
 singing, and in a few minutes the tall mast of the 
 Helen loomed through the fog. In another minute 
 we could see her deck, but no one was visible upon 
 it. Motioning me to be silent, the Professor 
 slowly and noiselessly impelled the dory toward 
 the vessel's bows. The singing continued, and 
 we perceived that it came from the Assyrian, who 
 was lying in a coil of rope on the deck, with his 
 face toward the sky, instead of watching the hori- 
 zon, as he ought to have done. His song was ap- 
 parently suggested by our absence : 
 
 " Malbrook, the prince of commanders, 
 Has gone to the war in Flanders ; 
 His fame is like Alexander's, 
 
 But when will he come home ?
 
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 125 
 
 " Perhaps at Trinity feast, or 
 Perhaps he may come at Easter. 
 Egad ! he had better make haste, or 
 Perhaps he ne'er may come." 
 
 We were now close aboard the sloop, and the 
 Professor, putting his hand to his mouth, shouted 
 through it, in the gruffest tones he could command, 
 an unintelligible order to the sloop to get out of 
 his way, or he would run her down. The startled 
 Assyrian sprang to his feet with an alacrity that 
 showed how imminent he thought the danger. 
 Evidently he expected to see a vessel of at least a 
 hundred tons bearing down upon him through the 
 fog. 
 
 " You keep a bright look-out here," said the 
 Professor, as we stepped aboard. 
 
 " Malbrook, my prince of commanders," re- 
 sponded Ninus, " you have given a great shock to 
 my nerves. But I forgive you, in consideration of 
 your safe return. We have been really anxious 
 about you, my dear fellow, and have had thought 
 of alarming the coast and turning out a dozen 
 steamboats in search. As it is, we have rowed 
 this infernal galley up and down and round and 
 round till we are all beat out. Where on earth 
 have you been hiding ? " 
 
 " Is dinner ready ? " inquired the Professor, 
 wholly unmoved by the Assyrian's distresses. 
 
 " Dinner ! What time do you think it is ? " 
 
 " About three, or perhaps four," said the Pro- 
 fessor.
 
 126 A SUMMER CRUIS& ON 
 
 It was nearly seven. They had had a dismal day 
 on board the sloop, had seen nothing, caught 
 nothing, and done nothing but eat and sleep. 
 
 As night was fast approaching, and we were re- 
 solved not to return to Rockport, we had no alter- 
 native but to pull for Pigeon-Cove Harbor, about 
 two miles distant. We reached there, by hard 
 rowing, just about dark.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 127 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 PIGEON-COVE. CAMPHENE COCKTAILS. MUSICAL 
 FISHERMEN. 
 
 THE little harbor of Pigeon-Cove, where we 
 anchored about dark on Thursday, July 15, is 
 like the neighboring harbor of Rockport, partly 
 artificial, being protected from the ocean by a high 
 granite wall. It was filled with vessels, mostly 
 fishing-schooners, of from fifty to a hundred tons, 
 manned each by ten or twelve men. They had 
 taken refuge here from the fog, and were waiting 
 impatiently for a breath of wind to enable them to 
 get away. Most of them were from Gloucester 
 and Swampscott, though there were a few from 
 the south shore, and one or two from Province- 
 town. 
 
 While we were rowing the vessel into port, the 
 Pilot had boiled the big lobster, and made tea. 
 So we had supper immediately on coming to an- 
 chor. After supper, the Assyrian, protesting that 
 in consideration of the fog, the lobster, and hard 
 work at the oar, our " stom-jacks " needed and 
 deserved a little something to strengthen them, 
 volunteered to concoct a general cocktail. He 
 produced his bottle of strong bitters, which he 
 kept carefully tucked away in a corner of his
 
 128 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 berth: It was nearly empty. Still there was 
 enough to lay the foundation of a cocktail in each 
 of the six tumblers, which stood in a row before 
 him on the cabin table. The dark-red fluid was 
 drained to the last drop. Recorking the empty 
 bottle, the Assyrian, forgetting that we were not 
 out at sea, flung it through the cabin door with 
 such force that it fell smash on the deck of a ves- 
 sel astern of us, causing a gruff shout of, 
 " Halloa ! what are you at there ? " 
 
 The Skipper, who was always properly tenacious 
 of the proprieties of sea-life, stepped on deck for 
 a moment to explain to our neighbors that the 
 missile was unintentionally sent in their direction. 
 
 The Assyrian, intent only on his cocktails, 
 grasped a large stone jug which stood conveniently 
 at hand, in a recess near the head of his berth. 
 He elevated it in a peculiar way that he had 
 prided himself on, which brought the body of the 
 jug to rest in the hollow of his extended arm. I 
 heard him mutter as he felt its weight, that the 
 whiskey held out well, if the bitters had given 
 out. 
 
 At this moment the Professor, who was seated 
 at the opposite end of the table, drew our solitary 
 lamp toward him to light his cigar. The Assy- 
 rian, not seeing very well what he was about, de- 
 canted a pretty large allowance into each glass, 
 and putting in a little water, handed the tumblers 
 around and requested us to drink.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 129 
 
 " Confusion to the fog and success to the last of 
 the cocktails." 
 
 We drank ; and then followed a general splut- 
 tering and spitting forth, accompanied by ener- 
 getic requests to the Assyrian to know what on 
 earth he had made the cocktails of? 
 
 That gentleman himself had swallowed a copi- 
 ous draught, and was exhibiting alarming symp- 
 toms of strangulation. As soon as he could speak, 
 he produced the jug and held it up for inspection. 
 The Skipper burst into a roar of laughter. 
 
 " Why, that is the burning-fluid jug ; I filled 
 the lamp from it just before supper, and put the 
 jug there so as to have it handy." 
 
 " Handy it was," said the Assyrian with a 
 groan : " it has spoiled our cocktails, and for 
 aught I know, poisoned us. But what have you 
 done with the whiskey ? " 
 
 " The whiskey is all gone," replied the Skipper, 
 " and I put the empty jug in the forepeak, where 
 I used to keep the burning-fluid." 
 
 " Well, well," said the Assyrian, " what is 
 swallowed, is swallowed. There is an end to 
 cocktails. But I must have something to dilute 
 this confounded camphene in my stomach, or I 
 shall die of spontaneous combustion. There is a 
 box of claret in the forepeak, Skipper ; get out a 
 couple of bottles, and let us wash down the abom- 
 ination. Keep your mouth away from that lamp, 
 S ," addressing the Professor, who was relight-
 
 130 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 ing his cigar ; " if your breath comes in contact with 
 the flame, you will certainly explode, and we shall 
 have another dreadful burning-fluid accident." 
 
 The Skipper produced the claret, and as the 
 night was warm and still, we adjourned from the 
 cabin to the deck. 
 
 It was very dark. The soft white fog envel- 
 oped us like a veil, through which we could dimly 
 discern the sea-wall of the harbor, looking, as it 
 loomed in the haze, like some huge castle, or like 
 
 " the far-famed hold 
 Piled by the hands of giants 
 For godlike kings of old." 
 
 We could see vaguely the outlines of the 
 thronged vessels around us, and that was all. 
 Everything was weird and mystic and spectral in 
 aspect. All around us were voices, but not a man 
 was visible. We felt like those in the Arabian 
 story,, who, in the enchanted forest, heard many, 
 but saw no one. Talking and laughter on every 
 side showed that the hundreds of fishermen in the 
 harbor were, like ourselves, on deck, enjoying the 
 mildness of the night. 
 
 As the evening wore away we sipped our claret, 
 smoked our cigars, and chatted over the events of 
 the past and the projects for the future, or listened 
 dreamily to the laughter and the talk that came so 
 gayly out of the darkness. At length there was a 
 momentary silence. It was broken by a song.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 131 
 
 A rich, deep, manly voice from the Venus, a 
 schooner that lay some distance astern of us, 
 sang in fine style a sentimental song, elegantly 
 worded, and full of simple, tender feeling. I 
 cannot recall the lines, but it expressed the long- 
 ing of a sailor for his home, for the scenes of his 
 childhood, for the peace and innocence of rural 
 life, for his mother and sisters, for the waving 
 woods, and grassy, flowery fields. It was long, 
 and was sung slowly and distinctly, with perfect 
 taste and propriety of pronunciation. The most 
 entire silence prevailed. Not a sound broke the 
 universal hush of attention, save the low ripple of 
 the tide pouring through the narrow entrance of 
 the port. As the song closed there was an in- 
 stant's pause, and then there resounded at once 
 over the harbor the vehement clapping of hun- 
 dreds of hard hands. It was very striking, this 
 simultaneous and hearty applause from an invisible 
 audience, shrouded in darkness and mist. 
 
 Presently some one on the other side of the har- 
 bor began a song which our Pilot said was called 
 " Cape Ann." It seemed to have no meaning, or 
 if any, a mystical one, like " the House that Jack 
 built." It began : 
 
 " We hunted and we halloed, and the first thing we did find 
 Was a bam in the meadow, and that we left behind. 
 
 Look ye there ! " 
 
 The only allusion to Cape Ann that caught my 
 ear was :
 
 132 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 " We hunted and we halloed, and the next thing we did find 
 Was the lighthouse on Cape Ann, and that we left behind. 
 
 Look yc there ! 
 
 " One said it was the lighthouse, but the other he said nay, 
 He said it was a sugar-loaf with the paper blown away. 
 
 Look ye there ! " 
 
 A good many voices joined in singing this, as if 
 it were familiarly known, but it was not applauded. 
 The same voice began " Annie Laurie," in which 
 also a number joined. 
 
 " They sing of love, and not of fish, 
 
 Forgot is Gloucester's glory ; 
 Each heart recalls a different name, 
 Though all sing Annie Laurie ! " 
 
 said the Assyrian, parodying the lines of Bay- 
 ard Taylor on an incident in the siege of Sebasto- 
 pol. 
 
 The voice from the Venus took up the strain of 
 love in a song which none of us remembered to 
 have heard or read, and of which I caught only a 
 few lines : 
 
 " Bend softly down, ye gentle skies, 
 
 Bend softly down to me, 
 That I may see those spirit eyes, 
 
 If spirit eyes they be. 
 Bend gently down, for I have dreamed 
 
 That there were forms above, 
 In every pearly star that beamed, 
 
 Made up of light and love." 
 
 It was well sung, and warmly applauded. The 
 singer continued with another song, beginning :
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 133 
 
 " When stars are in the quiet skies, 
 
 Then most I pine for thee ; 
 Bend on me, then, thy tender eyes, 
 As stars look on the sea." 
 
 " Bulwer, by Jove ! " exclaimed the Assyrian. 
 " Where did the fellow pick that up, I wonder ? " 
 
 " In some sailor's song-book," said the Professor. 
 " The most popular song-books among our New 
 England sailors abound in pieces of that sort, sen- 
 timental and poetical. You will find the best 
 songs in the language in them. But, come, son of 
 Semiramis, let them hear your voice. Give them 
 something stirring, something bacchanal. We 
 have had enough of the lackadaisical. With a 
 bottle of claret down your throat, you ought to do 
 justice to the theme." 
 
 The son of Semiramis, who sang finely, and 
 liked to hear his own voice,, readily complied. " I '11 
 try them with Wendell Holmes's Song of Other 
 Days, though I fear it 's a touch above their com- 
 prehension." 
 
 " Not a bit," said the Professor, " they '11 under- 
 stand it as well as you do, go ahead." 
 
 And so the Assyrian lifted up his voice and sang 
 that song which is in parts so beautiful that it can- 
 not be too often copied : 
 
 " As o'er the glacier's frozen sheet 
 Breathes soft the Alpine rose, 
 So through life's desert, springing sweet, 
 The flower of Friendship grows ;
 
 134 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 And as, where'er the roses grow, 
 
 Some rain or dew descends, 
 'T is Nature's law that wine should flow 
 To wet the lips of friends. 
 
 Then once again, before we part, 
 
 My empty glass shall ring; 
 And he that has the warmest heart 
 Shall loudest laugh and sing. 
 
 " They say we were not born to eat ; 
 
 But gray-haired sages think 
 It means, Be moderate in your meat, 
 
 And partly live to drink ; 
 For baser tribes the rivers flow, 
 
 That know not wine or song ; 
 Man wants but little drink below. 
 
 But wants that little strong. 
 
 " If one bright drop is like the gem 
 
 That decks a monarch's crown, 
 One goblet holds a diadem 
 
 Of rubies melted down ! 
 A fig for Caesar's blazing brow, 
 
 But, like the' Egyptian Queen, 
 Bid each dissolving jewel glow 
 
 My thirsty lips between. 
 
 " The Grecian's mound, the Roman's urn, 
 
 Are silent when we call, 
 Yet still the purple grapes return 
 
 To cluster on the wall ; 
 It was a bright immortal's head 
 
 They circled with the vine, 
 And o'er their best and bravest dead 
 
 They poured the dark-red wine. 
 
 " Methinks o'er every sparkling glass 
 
 Young Eros waves his wings, 
 And echoes o'er its dimples pass 
 From dead Anacreon's strings ;
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 135 
 
 And, tossing round its beaded brim 
 
 Their locks of floating gold, 
 With bacchant dance and choral hymn 
 
 Return the nymphs of old. 
 
 " A welcome, then, to joy and mirth, 
 
 From hearts as fresh as ours, 
 To scatter o'er the dust of earth 
 
 Their sweetly-mingled flowers ; 
 'T is Wisdom's self the cup that fills, 
 
 In spite of Folly's frown, 
 And Nature from her vine-clad hills 
 That rains her life-blood down ! 
 
 Then once again, before we part, 
 
 My empty glass shall ring ; 
 And he that has the warmest heart 
 Shall loudest laugh and sing." 
 
 The applause was immense. Round upon 
 round of clapping rolled over the harbor, shaking 
 the fog and reverberating among the piles of 
 granite. 
 
 " Do you remember, C ," said the Assyrian, 
 
 " where we heard that song before ? " 
 
 " Ay, well do I remember." The question car- 
 ried me back from the fogs and fishermen of Cape 
 Ann to a far different scene in Boston, where, 
 amid a gay circle that included some of the fore- 
 most wits and poets of New England, the brilliant 
 Autocrat of the Breakfast Table had sung the 
 song himself. 
 
 Again the voice from the Venus began to sing. 
 
 Drink to me only with thine eyes, 
 And I will pledge with mine," 
 
 was the song.
 
 136 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 " Where did you first hear that before ? " said 
 I to the Assyrian. " In the course of your three 
 or four thousand years of Pythagorean existence 
 you must have heard it somewhere, long ago, 
 either in the original Greek or in Ben Jonson's 
 English." 
 
 " I probably first heard it sixteen hundred years 
 ago, sung by some Greek fisherman in an island of 
 the jJEgean, perhaps at Lemnos itself. Who 
 knows? But the circumstance has escaped my 
 memory. Skipper," continued the Assyrian, turn- 
 ing to that personage, who was sitting on the taf- 
 frail soberly solacing himself with a pipe, " take the 
 dory and carry a bottle of claret over to the Ve- 
 nus, with the compliments of the Helen to the man 
 who has been singing." 
 
 " Nonsense," interposed the Professor. " Don't 
 send them claret, they will take it for bad vin- 
 egar. A couple of bottles of ale will be much 
 more acceptable." 
 
 The amendment was accepted by the original 
 mover, and in a moment or two the Skipper sculled 
 away in the dory, his pipe gleaming through the 
 fog like a will-o'-the-wisp. He presently returned 
 with the thanks of the Venus for the present. 
 The vessel, he said, was a mackerel-fisher, with 
 eight or ten men on board, and was waiting for the 
 fog to lift before she started for the fishing-grounds. 
 The singer was a good-looking young man who 
 seemed to be the mate.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 137 
 
 The Professor, whose summer cruises in past 
 years had brought him much in contact with the 
 fishermen, said they were a remarkably intelligent 
 and efficient body of men. A slow, stupid, lazy 
 fellow could not succeed in their vocation, which, 
 as pursued on our shores, was well calculated to 
 call out each man's individual smartness and gump- 
 tion. Of the hundreds of fishermen then in the 
 harbor where we lay, probably every one had re- 
 ceived a good common-school education, and nine 
 tenths of them were qualified, by character and 
 intelligence, to take command of vessels. 
 
 It was now midnight, and the air had become 
 chilly. So we went below and turned in to sleep.
 
 138 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. . 
 
 CONGER-EELS. FOR THE ISLES OF SHOALS. THE 
 VIKINGS. 
 
 THE next morning, Friday, July 16, the fog 
 was very dense, but the sun was shining, and the 
 air soon grew hot. The old Pilot said he thought 
 the fog would lift at noon, so we rowed the sloop 
 out upon the ocean to be ready for the breeze if it 
 should spring up. 
 
 Off Halibut Point the Professor dredged, but 
 got little, the bottom being muddy. The rest of 
 us fished, and caught, among other things, a couple 
 of conger-eels about two feet each in length. 
 They were of a yellowish white, mottled with 
 dirty spots, the head and neck thick, the mouth 
 large, but the body slender and snake-like. These 
 creatures have been caught ten feet long and as 
 thick as a man's arm. The Professor dissected 
 those we took, and found in their stomachs a large 
 quantity of crustaceans belonging to the order Te- 
 tradecapoda, fourteen-legged. This order, he told 
 us, is very numerous in species, and contains two 
 principal groups ; the first group consisting of ver- 
 tically compressed species, the second, of hori- 
 zontally flattened species. The first group, from 
 the form of their bodies, walk upon their sides,
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 139 
 
 and the second upon their bellies. About fifty 
 species of the first group have been found on our 
 coast. They are very active little creatures, and 
 are interesting in aquaria, because they are very 
 quarrelsome, and are generally engaged in mis- 
 chief, except when they are at work building their 
 houses, which consist of little tubes. They are 
 found at all depths, from high-water mark to fifty 
 fathoms. Some kinds are found floating at the 
 surface, and are known as sand-hoppers, beach- 
 fleas, sea-fleas, sea-screws. Of the flattened forms, 
 some are known as sea-cockroaches, sea-pillbugs, 
 and other strange appellations. 
 
 About the middle of the forenoon, to our great 
 relief, for we were heartily tired of the fog, and 
 longed to be on our way Down East, a light 
 southeast breeze sprung up. We started at once 
 for the Isles of Shoals, which lay nearly due north 
 from us, about twenty miles distant. We headed 
 somewhat easterly to counteract the current which 
 sets into Ipswich Bay on the flood tide. The 
 breeze increased, and we dashed on finely through 
 the fog, keeping a sharp lookout ahead. After 
 running about two hours, we suddenly met a large 
 schooner bearing down upon us. She emerged 
 from the fog like a spectre, and passed close to us. 
 Her skipper, standing on the taffrail, hailed as she 
 swept by : " Whereaway is Cape Ann ? " 
 
 " Ten or twelve miles south by west," responded 
 our Pilot, who said the stranger was a mackerel
 
 140 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 vessel, probably on her way home from the Isles 
 of Shoals. In a moment she vanished into the 
 mist. 
 
 Soon after this the fog began to clear away, 
 which it did rapidly and beautifully, curling and 
 wreathing and rolling off its soft fleeces whiter 
 than wool, until insensibly they melted into thin 
 air. Then, far off before us, about 2 o'clock, we 
 saw on the horizon a white spot, like an immense 
 ship, or like a house built right in the sea. This, 
 the Pilot said, was White Island Lighthouse, the 
 southernmost point of the Isles of Shoals. 
 
 I remembered, as we silently glided on in our 
 little bark, with our eyes fixed upon the white 
 spot in the distance, which gradually rose higher 
 and higher above the horizon, a story in the Ara- 
 bian Nights, in which some one embarks in a boat 
 and sails away on the sea till presently he discerns 
 a castle rising from the water far off before him. I 
 remembered also Lowell's description of a storm at 
 the Isles of Shoals, and what he says of the white 
 spot toward which we were steering : 
 
 " Look southward for White Island Light, 
 The lantern stands ninety feet o'er the tide ; 
 
 There is first a half-mile of tumult and fight, 
 
 Of dash and roar, and tumble and fright, 
 And surging bewilderment, wild and wide, 
 
 Where the breakers struggle left and right, 
 Then a mile or more of rushing sea, 
 
 And then the lighthouse, slim and lone ; 
 
 And whenever the whole weight of ocean is thrown
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 141 
 
 Full and fair on White Island head, 
 
 A great mist-jotun you will see 
 
 Lifting himself up silently, 
 High and huge, o'er the lighthouse top, 
 With hands of wavering spray outspread, 
 
 Groping after the little tower 
 
 That seems to shrink and shorten and cower, 
 Till the monster's arms of a sudden drop, 
 
 And silently and fruitlessly 
 
 He sinks again into the sea." 
 
 A grand image that, comparing the columns of 
 spray that sometimes in a great storm rear them- 
 selves above the lighthouse a hundred feet high, 
 to the jotuns or giants of Scandinavian mythology, 
 rising terrible from the sea to assail the tower. 
 It would have pleased the bold Northmen, the 
 Vikings, who a thousand years ago sailed down 
 this coast in search of Vinland, led by Leif, the 
 son of Erik the Red, and by Thorstein, his brother. 
 Doubtless they, as well as we, saw the surf break- 
 ing over White Island. For, though we saw not 
 the jotun, who only rises in a storm, the breeze 
 that bore us along sent the breakers dashing and 
 foaming splendidly over the rock on which the 
 lighthouse stands. 
 
 At 2 the blue peak of Agamenticus, a moun- 
 tain on the coast of Maine, appeared in sight be- 
 yond the Isles. It is seen to a vast distance on 
 the ocean, and is a noted landmark among the fish- 
 ermen and seamen who navigate these stormy 
 waters. About 4 o'clock we reached the islands,
 
 142 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 running through a squadron of seine-boats, cruis- 
 ing for mackerel, and passing close to a high coni- 
 cal rock, rising like a haystack from the water, on 
 the top of which stood a picturesque group of red- 
 shirted fishermen watching for mackerel schools. 
 
 We ran to the westward of the southern islands 
 for some distance, and then hauled up and entered 
 the harbor, which is a sort of roadstead, where we 
 anchored between Star Island and Appledore, 
 famous in song and story.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 143 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE ISLES OF SHOALS. THE PRINCE OF APPLEDORE. 
 NIGHT ON THE WATER. 
 
 THE Isles of Shoals form a group of eight small 
 rocky islets, lying close together, about nine miles 
 from the Portsmouth lighthouses. The largest of 
 them, Appledore, has an area of three hundred and 
 fifty acres, or a little more than half a square mile. 
 Star Island, the next in size, comprises one hundred 
 and fifty acres ; Haley's, the third in extent, about 
 one hundred. The five other isles are mere rocks, 
 the largest measuring not more than eight acres 
 in extent. 
 
 These islands were discovered in 1614 by Cap- 
 tain John Smith, the founder of Virginia, and seem 
 at one time to have been of some importance. It is 
 on record, I believe, that a session of the Provin- 
 cial Legislature of New Hampshire was once held 
 here ; and on Appledore there was once a court- 
 house and a church, though now the only buildings 
 on the island are a summer sea-side hotel and one 
 or two deserted houses. For a century before the 
 Revolution the population of the group had risen 
 to six hundred. Now it numbers only a hundred, 
 who live chiefly in a village on Star Island, off 
 which our vessel lay. William Pepperell, an an-
 
 144 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 cestor of Sir William Pepperell, the taker of Louis- 
 burg, was among the first settlers at the Shoals, 
 and there, in the fisheries, became rich, and laid 
 the foundation of the fortunes of his family. 
 
 The neighborhood of the Isles is a famous fish- 
 ing-ground, and as soon as we had cast anchor we 
 got out our lines. The water was very deep, and 
 we caught plenty of pollack weighing two or three 
 pounds apiece, cunners a foot in length, and sev- 
 eral cod and haddock. After fishing awhile, the 
 Professor determined to try his luck with the 
 dredge in the harbor. The Artist and I got the 
 Pilot to row us in the dory to Appledore, whose 
 huge five-storied hotel, perched on the western 
 side, excited our curiosity. We landed with diffi- 
 culty on the steep and slippery rocks, and the Pilot 
 returned to the sloop to take the Professor and his 
 dredge. 
 
 The Artist and I rambled for an hour or two 
 over Appledore, which is nothing but a huge rock, 
 nearly a mile in length, with an elevation at the 
 highest of sixty feet above the sea. It is seamed 
 with fissures, apparently the work of earthquakes, 
 for no other power is adequate to their production. 
 The vegetation is of the scantiest, a little grass, a 
 few bushes, an elm and a cherry tree, and a patch 
 of potatoes a few rods square, being all that we 
 could discover. A small green snake was the only 
 wild animal I saw. The tame ones were a cow 
 and a few sheep.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 145 
 
 "We found the landlord of the hotel, the proprie- 
 tor and prince of the island, sitting on the broad 
 veranda watching the western sky. He was im- 
 mensely stout and jolly, and facetious as becomes 
 a Boniface. He told us he had not been off the 
 island for thirteen years, and pretended to be much 
 surprised at our fondness for wandering about, 
 when we might stay quietly at home. Our pro- 
 jected visit to Grand Manan, he spoke of as one 
 would a voyage to Felix Boothia or the Antarctic 
 Continent. In early life he had been a member of 
 the New Hampshire Legislature and an active pol- 
 itician, but a disappointment of some kind, perhaps 
 of love, perhaps of ambition, I do not remember 
 which, had led him to obtain the office of keeper of 
 White Island light, on which lonely, storm-beaten 
 rock he had passed many years, cut off from man- 
 kind more completely than any hermit of the The- 
 baid. Tired at length of his isolation, he had re- 
 linquished his office and settled on Appledore, 
 which, though more extensive in territory, was 
 hardly more populous than his lighthouse rock, 
 except for a few months in summer. 
 
 Returning to the shore of the island fronting the 
 harbor, we saw afar off the Professor, in his red 
 shirt, busily dredging, with the Pilot rowing the 
 dory. We had, of course, to wait their pleasure 
 to be taken off, for the Assyrian and the Skipper 
 had no boat. So, after exploring a ruined house 
 near by, we seated ourselves on the rocks and 
 7 j
 
 146 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 watched the purple sunset behind the blue moun- 
 tains on the mainland. In the course of half an 
 hour the Professor returned to the sloop with 
 the spoils of his dredging, and, after putting him 
 on board, the Pilot came and took us off the 
 rocks, not without difficulty, so steep and slip- 
 pery with sea-weed was the shore. 
 
 Among other things, the Professor had drawn 
 up from the bottom specimens of the Hippolyte, a 
 beautifully painted shrimp, which lives in groves 
 of laminaria and other sea-weeds ; of the sea-cul- 
 lender, a broad, rounded, or oblong flat leaf, with 
 a narrow midrib, and perforated throughout with 
 small round holes like those of a cullender or 
 strainer ; of the sea-balloon (JBeroe pileus), a beau- 
 tiful, transparent, bullet-shaped creature, of the 
 size of a common walnut, ornamented with eight 
 rows of minute flippers, arranged like the ribs of a 
 melon or the meridians of a globe ; these flippers, 
 striking in the proper direction, enable the animal 
 to move through the water, to change its direction, 
 and to turn over. It is provided with two long 
 ciliated arms, which are often stretched out to six 
 or eight times the length of the animal's body. 
 These arms are thrust out from two cylindrical cav- 
 ities, extending obliquely upward from the circum- 
 ference to the centre. These sea-balloons are 
 among the most beautiful of the many curious ob- 
 jects that may be seen floating in the waters of the 
 ocean on a summer's day.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 147 
 
 There was also a specimen of the Bolina, alata, 
 an animal of the same family and habits as the 
 Beroepileus, but much larger and more elongated. 
 It is flattened in shape, and has eight pectinated 
 ribs, but no long arms. A large opening at the 
 lower extremity forms the mouth. 
 
 From the depth often fathoms the Professor drew 
 up some specimens of the Hyas coarctata, or north- 
 ern spider-crab. This creature is very sluggish, 
 and consequently becomes so overgrown with sea- 
 weeds and polypes as to resemble a walking forest 
 rather than a crab. Its covering serves, however, 
 for concealment, and two glistening eyes among 
 the foliage, forever on the watch for prey, enable 
 him to espy and seize many an unlucky mollusk 
 who creeps unsuspectingly near. 
 
 Night came, and with it a slight mist, which 
 glorified while it partially veiled the surrounding 
 objects. There were several mackerel-jiggers in 
 the harbor from Swampscott and Cape Ann, and 
 their officers visited us to inquire for news. As 
 we sat on deck chatting and smoking, I was struck 
 with the wildly picturesque nature of the scene. 
 The moon was up, and her light blending and 
 struggling with the soft, floating and drifting mist, 
 disclosed imperfect, irregular glimpses of the rocky 
 ribs against which the low rote of the sea was sound- 
 ing. Southward, at no great distance, White 
 Island light was revolving, heightening, as it now 
 appeared and now disappeared, the weird impres-
 
 148 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 sion of the moonlight and the mist. Presently a 
 large schooner came gliding into the harbor, start- 
 ing out from the mist with a silent, ghost-like sud- 
 denness, the effect of which upon the imagination 
 is unlike any phenomenon of the land that I have 
 ever witnessed.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 149 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE E PLURIBUS UNUM. A BAIT-MILL. THE MONK- 
 FISH. TO PORTSMOUTH AND PORTLAND. 
 
 NEXT morning (Saturday), July 17, we all went, 
 after breakfast, to visit a Swampscott mackerel 
 schooner, the E Pluribus Unum, which lay at an- 
 chor not far off. On our way to her, we saw 
 horse-mackerel swimming about the harbor with 
 their sharp back fins sticking out of the water. 
 This huge fish is the tunny of the Mediterranean, 
 where it swims in large schools, and is caught in 
 great quantities, especially off the coast of Sicily. 
 They are comparatively rare on our coast, and 
 these were the first we had seen, though we heard 
 of them almost every day. They are found some- 
 times fifteen feet in length, and weighing a thou- 
 sand pounds. Their flesh is good eating, looking 
 like young pork, and tasting like the finest mack- 
 erel. The men of the island caught them with 
 harpoons. 
 
 The E Pluribus Unum was a fine, clean vessel 
 of thirty-six tons. We went on board, partly to 
 see the vessel, partly to grind bait, and partly to 
 see a " bait-mill," which to the Assyrian, the Ar- 
 tist, and myself was an entirely novel institution. 
 In fishing for mackerel with line and hook from
 
 150 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 the side of a vessel, the first thing done is to throw 
 over bait to attract the fish to the surface. This 
 bait consists of hardheads or other poor fish cut up 
 into very small pieces. It is generally reduced to 
 the requisite size by being ground in a mill. The 
 bait-mill consists of an oblong wooden box, stand- 
 ing on one end, and containing a roller armed 
 with knives, which is turned by a crank on the 
 outside. It cuts up the bait very expeditiously. 
 
 From the E Pluribus Unum we went ashore to 
 look at the curiosities of the isles, which are all of 
 a melancholy and sinister nature. The first and 
 most famous is a chasm in the rocks called Betty 
 Moody's Cave. Early in the old colony times the 
 Indians from the mainland made a descent upon 
 the islands, and killed or carried off all the inhab- 
 itants except a Mrs. Moody, who hid herself under 
 the rocks, with her two small children. The In- 
 dians made sharp search for fugitives, and the un- 
 happy mother, unable to keep her infants quiet, 
 killed them with a knife to prevent their crying 
 from attracting the attention of the savages to her 
 hiding-place. 
 
 Another spot among the rocks on the shore was 
 the favorite resort of Miss Underbill, a young lady 
 from New Hampshire, who taught school at the 
 island for two or three years. She was sitting 
 there reading on the llth of September, 1848, 
 when a huge wave came and swept her off into the 
 ocean, never to be seen again on earth. Another
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 151 
 
 place of tragical interest is marked by the graves 
 of sixteen shipwrecked mariners washed ashore in 
 a storm. They lie side by side, each with a stone 
 at his head and feet. 
 
 From some fishermen on shore we got a monk- 
 fish, which they had just taken in a seine. This 
 hideous monster is known among the fishermen by 
 many names, "frog-fish," " mouse-fish," " goose- 
 fish," " bellows-head," " sea-devil," " wide-gab," 
 " fishing-frog," and " angler." It is called " wide- 
 gab " because its mouth is so large sometimes that 
 a man's head might be put in it. The term " an- 
 gler " is derived from its habits. It lies on the 
 bottom, concealed in mud and weeds, with two or 
 three hair-like filaments sticking up from its head, 
 looking not unlike certain marine worms, of which 
 other fishes are fond, who, seeing these apparent 
 worms, approach to eat them, and are seized by 
 the lurking " angler," who is too sluggish to catch 
 his prey by active pursuit. 
 
 The head of the monk-fish is wide and flat ; the 
 mouth nearly as wide as the head. The jaws are 
 armed with numerous teeth, of different length, 
 conical, sharp, and curving inward. The lower 
 jaw is the longer, and is fringed all round the 
 edge with a sort of beard. The eyes are large 
 and dull ; the pectoral fins broad, and rounded at 
 the edge, and wide at the base. The body is nar- 
 row compared with the breadth of the head, and 
 tapers gradually to the tail. The whole fish is
 
 152 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 covered with a loose, rough skin, blackish brown 
 on the upper surface, and white on the lower. 
 The specimen we got measured forty-four inches in 
 length and thirty inches in breadth. It weighed 
 thirty pounds. We took it on board, disembow- 
 elled it, filled it with salt, sewed it up and packed 
 it with salt in a box, which we directed to the 
 Smithsonian Institute at Washington and forward- 
 ed the same day by express from Portsmouth. 
 
 The morning had been foggy ; but at 11 A. M., 
 in the words of a poet who I remember was a 
 visitor at Appledore five or six years ago, 
 
 " The mist that like a dim, soft pall was lying, 
 
 Mingling the gray sea with the low gray sky, 
 Floats upward now, the sunny breeze is sighing," 
 
 and we raised the anchor and made sail for Ports- 
 mouth. Outside the harbor we passed a number 
 of seine-boats watching for mackerel. These boats 
 are each manned by six men, and are accompanied 
 by three smaller boats with one man in each, which 
 row around and keep the mackerel in a body while 
 the seine is being cast. After the seine is thrown, 
 its edges are drawn into the large boat, leaving 
 the mackerel in the centre of the seine, from which 
 they are scooped out into the small boats and car- 
 ried ashore. 
 
 We had a fine southerly breeze, and in some- 
 what more than an hour had passed the Whale's 
 Back Lighthouse, romantically situated on a rock
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND, 153 
 
 in the sea, and had come to anchor inside of Fort 
 Constitution, off New Castle, a village three miles 
 below Portsmouth, at the mouth of the Piscataqua. 
 The tide soon turning, and running very strongly 
 up the river, we took advantage of it, and ran up 
 to Portsmouth, where we fastened the sloop to a 
 wharf, and went ashore to get our letters and make 
 some purchases. 
 
 The city a quiet, clean, aristocratic-looking 
 place, of ten or twelve thousand inhabitants is 
 beautifully situated on a peninsula on the south 
 side of the river, the land sloping gently toward 
 the water. The harbor is remarkably commodi- 
 ous, well protected from every wind, and with 
 forty feet of water at low tide. The river oppo- 
 site the city seemed to be nearly a mile wide, with 
 a very rapid current, moving at least five miles an 
 hour. 
 
 At 6 P. M. we dropped down to our former 
 anchorage at New Castle. On our way down, we 
 were greatly pleased with the sight of the work- 
 men at the Navy- Yard which is on an island 
 opposite Portsmouth crossing the river in boats, 
 returning to their homes in the city after the con- 
 clusion of the day's labor. It was the largest 
 flotilla of boats I ever saw, and was a very gay and 
 animated scene. 
 
 While the Pilot was getting supper ready, the 
 rest of us went ashore to visit the fort, which was 
 built in 1808, on the site, I believe, of an old 
 
 7*
 
 154 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 British fort. We were very civilly received by 
 the keeper, Sergeant Davison, who, with his wife 
 and children, constitute the entire garrison at 
 present. We found him an intelligent and com- 
 municative man, and remarkably young looking 
 for a soldier who had been in service forty-one 
 years. The fort mounts forty-six guns, mostly 
 twenty-four pounders. The ramparts command a 
 beautiful view of land and ocean, and we lingered 
 upon them till long after sunset, watching the 
 passing ships, and the lighthouses flaring up as the 
 sun went down, and listening to the talk of the old 
 soldier about his battles and adventures. He had 
 fought through the Mexican war, and had served 
 for many years in Florida against the Indians. 
 
 Soon after supper we were boarded by one of 
 the pilots of the harbor, who was so drunk that he 
 became disagreeable, and we had to intimate to 
 him pretty clearly that he had better take his de- 
 parture, which he accordingly did. If his condi- 
 tion at the time was any specimen of his usual 
 state, it is a proof of the excellence of Portsmouth 
 harbor that vessels get in at all under such 
 guidance. 
 
 The next morning (Sunday), July 18, was clear 
 and mild, with a fair and gentle breeze from the 
 south. We got under way at 7 o'clock, and, 
 passing out of the harbor, steered to the northeast, 
 keeping about two miles from the shore. We were 
 soon surrounded by large schools of mackerel, and
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 155 
 
 as we wanted some for dinner, we laid to and 
 tried to " toll " them, as the fishermen call it, by 
 throwing over handfuls of our minced bait. But 
 we could not get a bite. The Professor took the 
 dory and rowed repeatedly into the middle of a 
 school with no better success. The fish were ca- 
 pricious, and would not touch the bait. 
 
 The weather was delightful, and we basked lux- 
 uriously on deck, gazing at the picturesque coast, 
 with its hills, headlands, and towns sparkling in the 
 sun, or watching the rippling mackerel as they 
 cruised about us, or occasionally dipping up a sun- 
 squall, of which vast numbers were floating by. 
 Toward noon we reached Cape Neddick, or rather, 
 Cape Neddick's Nubble, a huge and high rocky 
 promontory which juts far out into the sea, and is 
 visible from a great distance. We sailed close by 
 to enable the Artist to make a sketch of it. 
 
 About an hour after we passed Cape Neddick, 
 a sudden storm of wind and rain rose up right 
 ahead of us, presenting a very singular appearance. 
 We were sailing in the most brilliant sunshine, and 
 straight before us to the north, at the distance of a 
 mile, the air was filled with a dense, black, scowl- 
 ing cloud, which came driving down upon us with 
 fearful velocity. We struck our mainsail, and the 
 squall swept by, deluging us with rain, and causing 
 the little sloop to shiver and reel with the blow. 
 We were, happily, not in the mid-path of the 
 whirlwind ; but I suppose touched only an edge of
 
 156 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 it. Its direction was toward the southwest, and it 
 broke with fury on the mainland. On the sea, the 
 sky soon cleared up, and, like Barney O'Reirdon, 
 the Irish navigator, we kept on our " nor-aist 
 coorse." 
 
 At 6 P. M. we were near Cape Elizabeth, and 
 had a fine view of the White Mountains of New 
 Hampshire, Mount Washington bearing N. W. by 
 N. At sunset, off Cape Elizabeth, it fell calm, 
 and we lay and watched the lighthouses and the 
 moon. The two lights looked like large stars near 
 the horizon, and, at one time, formed the corners 
 of a triangle of which the moon was the apex. 
 
 About 8 P. M. a breeze sprung up from the 
 northwest, and we began to beat up into Portland 
 harbor through a large fleet of coasters bound 
 southward, which were taking advantage of the 
 wind to come out to sea. The tide as well as the 
 wind was against us, and it was not till 3 o'clock 
 the next morning that we reached a safe anchor- 
 age, between House and Peake's Islands, alongside 
 of a revenue cutter. We were still several miles 
 from the city, and were glad enough to turn in 
 and get some sleep. 
 
 At daybreak the seamen got the sloop under 
 way without disturbing us, and, on awaking about 
 breakfast time, we found the Helen moored along- 
 side of a wharf at Portland. Discarding our sea- 
 stained shirts and trousers, we donned our best 
 attire, and went ashore, to spend a day or two with 
 our friends in the city.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 157 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CASCO BAY. THE POWER OF MELODY. THE HAD- 
 DOCKJEWELL'S ISLAND 
 
 No July morning was ever finer than that on 
 which we bade adieu to the fair city of Portland 
 and its generous hospitality, and turned the prow 
 of our little sloop toward the nearest of the count- 
 less isles of Casco Bay. As the gentle breeze 
 swept the Helen slowly over the sparkling waters, 
 we spread on the top of the cabin the ample charts 
 of the coast of Maine with which our good friends 
 in Portland had provided us, and fell to diligent 
 study of our proposed route. 
 
 Casco Bay extends from Cape Elizabeth, on the 
 west, to Cape Small Point, on the east, a distance 
 of about twenty miles. It is an indentation in the 
 coast whose greatest depth does not exceed fifteen 
 miles. Beside Portland, at its western end, there 
 are three or four nourishing towns on the shores 
 of the bay, and embosomed in its waters, if the 
 popular account be true, are no less than three 
 hundred and sixty-five islands, a compliment to 
 the days- of the year which is also commonly attrib- 
 uted to Lake George, Lake Winnipiseogee, and 
 several other bodies of water. Without vouching 
 for the exact number, it is doubtless safe to say
 
 158 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 that there are at least three hundred isles and 
 islets, beside many bold and picturesque headlands 
 and peninsulas, so that scarcely anywhere else in 
 the world can you find a more varied or more 
 lovely commingling of land and water. 
 
 The shores of the islands and the promontories 
 are mostly covered with woods of maple, oak, 
 beech, pine, and fir, growing nearly to the water's 
 edge, and throwing their shadows over many a 
 deep inlet and winding channel. It is impossible 
 to conceive of any combination of scenery more 
 charming, more romantic, more captivating to the 
 eye, or more suggestive to the imagination. No 
 element of beauty is wanting. Many of the islands 
 are wildly picturesque in form, and from their 
 woodland summits you behold on the one hand the 
 surges of the Atlantic, breaking almost at your 
 feet, and on the other the placid waters of the bay, 
 spangled by multitudinous gems of emerald, while 
 in the dim distance you discern on the horizon the 
 sublime peaks of the White Mountains. 
 
 For several hours we sauntered, rather than 
 sailed, through this enchanted and enchanting 
 fairy-land, steering now hither and now thither 
 as caprice impelled, or as the perpetually-changing 
 views attracted. At length the Skipper, whose 
 taste for the picturesque was yet undeveloped, and 
 who beside, from a former residence of many 
 years at Harpswell, on the northern side of the 
 bay, was sufficiently familiar with its beauties,
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 159 
 
 began to intimate that it was time to think of din- 
 ner, and that a few fresh fish would lend addi- 
 tional grace and unction to that important cere- 
 mony. So, in spite of the protest of the Artist, 
 who was still unsatiated with the scenery, the 
 hint was taken, and we anchored in deep water, 
 in a broad channel called Hussey's Sound. The 
 Pilot kindled his fire in the furnace at the com- 
 panion-way, and we baited our lines and began 
 to fish. 
 
 " Fish being more distinguished for the size of 
 their heads than for the amount of brains lodged 
 in them," observes the Rev. David Badham, at the 
 beginning of his erudite and entertaining Prose 
 Halieutics, "fell early victims to the crafts and 
 assaults of their arch-enemy, man." 
 
 The remark of the learned author is undoubt- 
 edly founded in truth, but whether it was that 
 the fish of Casco Bay are gifted with more brains 
 than the rest of their tribe, or that they were natu- 
 rally unwilling to quit their charming dwelling- 
 place, certain it is that, in our case, they did not 
 fall early victims. For more than an hour we 
 fished without a bite. We suggested to the Skip- 
 per that our lines were not cast in pleasant places, 
 and that we had better shift our ground. But that 
 worthy, who had an innate repugnance to hoisting 
 the mainsail oftener than he was fairly obliged to, 
 held for some moments silent and mysterious com- 
 munion with the sky, the water, and the neighbor-
 
 160 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 ing shores, and then confidently predicted that the 
 fish would soon bite. Having, from past expe- 
 rience, considerable faith in his penetration into 
 the whims and ways of our finny friends, and sus- 
 pecting that in this instance his judgment was 
 based upon observation of the state of the tide, we 
 patiently pursued our sport, if sport it could be 
 called. 
 
 The Assyrian, who was prone to easy postures, 
 had been for the last half-hour Iving on his back 
 with his hands clasped on the top of his head, and 
 his feet, about which he had fastened his line, pro- 
 truding over the low rail of the sloop. He now 
 began to sing a song, to which he was apt to have 
 recourse when the time was passing heavily, and 
 he was too lazy to make much exertion of intellect 
 or memory. It began : 
 
 " The grasshopper sat on the sweet-potato vine, 
 Up came the turkey-gobbler and yanked him off behind." 
 
 The second stanza, intended to show the careless 
 security of the grasshopper, was next sung : 
 
 " The grasshopper sat on the sweet-potato vine, 
 Up came the turkey-gobbler and yanked him off behind." 
 
 Then followed the third stanza, illustrating the 
 perfidy of the turkey-gobbler : 
 
 " The grasshopper sat on the sweet-potato vine, 
 Up came the turkey-gobbler and yanked him off behind." 
 
 This elegant ditty, whose chief merit was its 
 capacity for indefinite prolongation, was suddenly
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 161 
 
 interrupted by a bite which nearly "yanked" the 
 minstrel into the water. He rolled over and scram- 
 bled to his feet with remarkable agility, exclaiming, 
 as he hauled in his line, " A halibut at last, I 
 think ! " To catch a halibut had been for some 
 time the main object of the Assyrian's ambition, 
 and the farther east we went the more confident 
 he became that every large fish he hooked would 
 prove to be the coveted prize. I observed, how- 
 ever, that the old Pilot, who always grew excited 
 at the prospect of halibut, after one eager glance 
 at the line, turned with indifference to his furnace, 
 on which, by this time, he had a large iron pot, 
 bubbling with boiling water, all ready for a cod or 
 haddock, or even for a pollack, if nothing better 
 could be got. There was evidently no hope of 
 halibut yet. 
 
 The capture proved to be a skate, a flat, broad, 
 spiny, brown-backed monster, with a dirty-white 
 belly, a tail like a monkey's, and a spade-shaped 
 snout armed with powerful teeth. He was very 
 large, about three feet in length, and it re- 
 quired a good deal of careful management to get 
 him aboard without breaking the stout cod-line. 
 The creature was very angry at the liberty we had 
 taken with its person, and furiously lashed the deck 
 with its tail, squeaking and writhing in a droll 
 manner. 
 
 " Behold the power of melody," said the Pro- 
 fessor to the Assyrian. " It was your singing that
 
 162 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 brought this fellow to his bait. Sixteen hundred 
 years ago, Claudius .JSlianus, in his De Animalium 
 Natura, affirmed that the skate had musical ears, 
 and could be attracted and entranced by concord 
 of sweet sounds ; and I believe Aristotle said the 
 same thing some centuries before him." 
 
 " They were a couple of ignorant heathens," re- 
 sponded Ninus, a little vexed about his worthless 
 prize, "and would believe anything but the Gos- 
 pel. What does Perley say, or Storer ? " 
 
 " Nothing about it. , But Rondelet, of Montpel- 
 ier, the greatest of French ichthyologists, who was a 
 careful and accurate observer, and had uncommon 
 facilities for investigating the habits of fishes, makes 
 the same statement. Cuvier cites him as a stand- 
 ard authority on the fishes of the Mediterra- 
 nean." 
 
 " Very well," said Ninus, " I yield the point, 
 and admit the musical ears, though I suspect it 
 was the fresh lobster on my hook that attracted 
 the wretch, and not the song of the grasshopper on 
 the sweet-potato vine. But in future I shall be 
 careful how I exercise my voice while we are 
 fishing." 
 
 The capture of the skate did not materially im- 
 prove our prospect of dinner, for though the Pro- 
 fessor proposed to cook the creature, or at least a 
 portion of it, the Pilot would not hear of such an 
 abomination. In vain he was assured that it was 
 a favorite fish in the markets of London, Paris, and
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 163 
 
 Edinburgh ; in vain I cited to him the Rev. Bad- 
 ham's assertion that all skate is eatable, though not 
 all equally good ; in vain the Professor assured him 
 that Galen, in his treatise on aliments, particularly 
 recommends the flesh of the skate as agreeable in 
 flavor and light of digestion. His objections were 
 immovable. At length the Assyrian, who had 
 a bad habit of inventing quotations, recited to him 
 an imaginary passage of Aristotle about the obsti- 
 nacy of fishermen with regard to the edible qual- 
 ities of the skate. 
 
 " Damn Aristotle ! " responded the old fisher- 
 man ; " don't you suppose I know what fish are fit 
 to eat ? " and with the aid of the Skipper, who fully 
 sympathized in his repugnance, which indeed is 
 common to most American fishermen, he tossed 
 the monster overboard, and seizing a line, he said 
 he would soon give us something worth cooking. 
 Sure enough, in a few minutes, probably because 
 of his fresh bait, he pulled up a haddock weighing 
 about seven pounds, as we judged by the eye, for 
 we were too anxious for dinner to delay his trans- 
 fer to the pot by putting him to the test of the 
 steelyards. While he is being boiled, and the 
 Skipper is setting the table, let me give some ac- 
 count of the haddock. 
 
 It belongs to the same family as the cod. A 
 jet-black lateral line runs from the head to the 
 tail, and above this line the color of the fish is a 
 dark gray, and beneath it a beautiful silvery gray.
 
 164 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 Purple and gold gleams are visible on the back 
 and sides, but disappear soon after the fish dies. 
 The body is stout forward and tapers to the tail. 
 The head is large and arched, the eyes large, and 
 the lower jaw shorter than the upper. On jeach 
 side of the fish, behind the gills, there is a dark 
 spot ; and this peculiarity has led the fishermen of 
 Catholic countries to believe that the haddock is 
 the fish from whose mouth St. Peter, at the com- 
 mand of Christ, took the tribute-money, these 
 spots being supposed to be the marks made by the 
 apostle's thumb and finger as he held it. It is 
 found everywhere on the American coast north of 
 New York. On the coast of New England it ap- 
 pears in the spring in immense schools, which 
 continue till the autumn, though many remain 
 through the winter. In summer the catch of had- 
 dock in Massachusetts Bay is about twelve times 
 as great as that of cod, but in winter these propor- 
 tions are exactly reversed. In fact, the haddock is 
 so plentiful in the New England fish-markets in 
 the summer, that, though it is one of the best of its 
 tribe for the table, it brings the lowest price, a 
 fish weighing several pounds being often sold for 
 a cent, and myriads being used for manure. It 
 swarms on the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 particularly on the east coasts, swimming in large 
 schools, which appear in certain localities nearly 
 at the same time in different years, arriving on 
 the Yorkshire coast, for example, about the 10th
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 165 
 
 of December. The school in that quarter, on its 
 first arrival, has been seen to extend from Flam- 
 borough Head to the mouth of the Tyne below 
 Newcastle, a distance of eighty miles in length, 
 with a breadth of three miles. The fishermen at 
 these times catch them in such quantities that 
 they sell them at the rate of two or three for a 
 penny. They are taken with hand-lines, in the 
 same manner as cod. In stormy weather they 
 refuse the bait, and take refuge in deep water till 
 the commotion has subsided. 
 
 The haddock is found far north, in the Green- 
 land Seas, but has never been seen in the Baltic 
 nor in the Mediterranean. It is singular that the 
 mark of St. Peter's thumb, which is never wanting 
 in the specimens taken in British waters, nor, so 
 far as I know, in those taken on the coasts of New 
 England, is not found in the haddock of the Arc- 
 tic Seas. At least Fabricius, the naturalist, who 
 observed the fish on the coast of Greenland, did 
 not find one with these marks, out of the many he 
 examined, and neither Artedi nor Linnasus, in 
 their description of Scandinavian haddock, makes 
 any mention of the spots. The French fishermen 
 call the haddock hadot, from which it is probable 
 that the English name is derived. 
 
 As cooked by the Pilot, we pronounced the 
 haddock excellent ; and after dinner we raised the 
 anchor, hoisted sail, and cruised idly about among 
 the islands till near sunset, when we put into a
 
 166 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 delicious little cove, narrow, deep, and shady, on 
 Jewell's Island. As we glided in, an old fisher- 
 man who resided on the island came alongside in 
 his dory to have a little chat, and gave us a mag- 
 nificent lobster, which went immediately into the 
 pot for supper. After coming to anchor, we all 
 went ashore in our boat, except the Pilot, who 
 was detained on board by his duties as cook, to 
 explore the island, witness the sunset, and get 
 milk, eggs, and butter from a farm-house near our 
 landing-place. 
 
 The island, which lies about ten miles east of 
 Portland, is large enough for a German principal- 
 ity, and seemed to be fertile and well cultivated. 
 The farm-house was built on elevated ground, and 
 the view of the sunset and of the island-studded 
 bay was superb. Fresh and sweet were the eggs 
 and milk and butter with which we returned to 
 our sloop as the twilight died away, and very jolly 
 the supper we had in the little cabin before turn- 
 ing in to our berths. The evening was pleasantly 
 cool, and the Assyrian, who was naturally of a 
 medical turn of mind, remarking that boiled lob- 
 ster was not wholesome unless well qualified with 
 something acid, availed himself of the Pilot's 
 steaming teakettle, and brewed a pitcher of hot 
 lemonade with a strong infusion of whiskey, which 
 he administered to each of us, in proper doses, as 
 a sure preventive against any ill effects from our 
 supper.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 167 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 TO HABPSWELL POINT. ON A REEF. A COLD BATH. 
 
 THE next morning, Wednesday, was fair and 
 warm, and we rose early, and, after breakfasting 
 on rock-cod and blue-perch, which the Artist, who 
 was up first, caught alongside, while the Pilot was 
 making his fire, we resumed our cruise among the 
 islands. We skirted the shores of one of the larg- 
 est of these, the Great Jebeig, and landed on its 
 neighbor, the Little Jebeig, around which we 
 walked, picking up shells on its beaches, and ex- 
 ploring caverns in its rocks. Toward noon the 
 wind freshened, and, blowing fair and strong for 
 Harpswell Point, we stretched across a broad ex- 
 panse of the bay for that place, which the Skipper, 
 who had formerly resided there, said was more 
 beautiful than anything we had yet seen. We 
 were running along pretty rapidly, when the Skip- 
 per, who had the helm, began to show symptoms 
 of uneasiness. It was so many years, he said, since 
 he had sailed these waters, that he was not quite 
 sure of his course, there were a good many 
 sunken reefs in this part of the bay. 
 
 The Professor brought out the Coast Survey 
 chart, and he and I attempted to spread it on the 
 top of the cabin ; but the wind blowing too hard
 
 168 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 for that, we carried it below, and spread it on the 
 cabin table. We had just begun to examine it, 
 when my attention was arrested by a strange 
 grinding and pounding sound apparently just be- 
 neath my feet, under the cabin floor. I had never 
 heard anything like it, and had not the least sus- 
 picion of its cause. I glanced inquiringly at the 
 Professor, who turned pale and darted on deck. 
 He had heard that sound once before, while cruis- 
 ing on the coast of Japan, and under circum- 
 stances not likely to make him forgetful of its 
 meaning. 
 
 I followed him to the deck. The Skipper stood 
 with the helm yet in his hand, looking sheepish 
 enough at the result of his pilotage. The As- 
 syrian and the Artist were staring wildly about 
 them, while the prompt old Pilot, though so sud- 
 denly roused from a nap he had been taking on 
 the shady side of the deck, had already let go the 
 jib, and was lowering the mainsail. Our vessel had 
 run her length on to a reef about five feet below 
 the surface, and was stuck fast about a mile from 
 land. Fortunately the tide was rising, and in the 
 course of an hour, by carrying out an anchor 
 astern, and hauling with all our strength, we suc- 
 ceeded in getting her off without any other dam- 
 age, as we subsequently ascertained, than the loss 
 of a part of her keel. Stationing the Assyrian 
 and the Artist at the bow, with instructions to 
 keep a sharp lookout for rocks, we ran a few miles
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 169 
 
 farther, and, entering the heart-shaped bay at the 
 end of Harpswell Point, anchored in deep water, 
 not far from its eastern shore. 
 
 As the Skipper said that this was a good place 
 for fish, we got out our lines while the Pilot was 
 getting 'dinner. Before we had caught anything 
 the meal was ready, and we went below, leaving 
 our lines in the water, in hopes of finding that 
 some fish had been foolish enough to hook himself 
 during our absence. 
 
 It so happened that I was first on deck after 
 dinner. I tried the lines, but found nothing 
 caught. The Assyrian's line was over the stern, 
 and, as the tide was running very fast, he had let 
 it out to its whole length of several hundred feet. 
 I hauled it in to see that it was still baited, and as 
 no one had yet followed me out of the cabin, I was 
 enticed by the opportunity to play the Assyrian a 
 trick. A huge stone jug weighing many pounds, 
 and capable of holding several gallons, stood near 
 me on the deck empty. It was our principal 
 water jug, and the Skipper had placed it there to 
 have it handy, intending to take it ashore and fill 
 it after he had cleared away the dinner things. 
 The temptation was irresistible. I quickly tied 
 the end of my friend's line to the handle of the 
 jug, and lowered it overboard. The strong tide 
 swept it far along until it had gurgled full of water, 
 when of course it sank plumb. I returned to my 
 own line, and presently caught a large cod, the 
 
 8
 
 170 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 sound of whose flapping on deck brought out my 
 comrades with the exception of the Skipper, who 
 remained to put the cabin to rights a little. 
 
 The Assyrian, cigar in mouth, sat down on the 
 tafrrail, and gently fingered his line with the air 
 of a man who has had a satisfactory dinner, and 
 does not yet care to exert himself to catch fish for 
 supper. Presently, however, he had a bite, and 
 began languidly to pull up his line. The unusual 
 weight soon made itself felt. The Assyrian grew 
 suddenly excited. He said nothing about halibut, 
 for previous disappointments had made him reticent 
 of expression on that point, but halibut was evi- 
 dently in his mind, by the gingerly way in which 
 he handled his line, holding it in readiness to yield 
 judiciously in case the monster should suddenly 
 put forth his strength. We gathered round to 
 witness the struggle. The gentleman from Nine- 
 veh tugged and tugged, growing gradually more 
 and more astonished at the weight of his capture, 
 and the passive nature of his resistance, for the 
 halibut, as the fishermen often told us, never 
 yields without a desperate and powerful contest. 
 At length his prize reached the surface. Without 
 remark the Assyrian quietly lifted it on board, 
 amid roars of laughter, and as he passed into the 
 cabin to relight his cigar, good-humoredly nodded 
 to me, saying, 
 
 " I '11 pay you for that, my boy, before you are 
 much older." He kept his word.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 171 
 
 By and by the Skipper put the jug into the 
 boat, and the Assyrian and I went ashore with 
 him to a fisherman's cottage, the only house in 
 sight. I had been struck, as I saw it from the 
 deck of the sloop, with the singular beauty of the 
 place, and its resemblance to the abode of the fish- 
 erman in Undine. 
 
 " He 1 dwelt in a very beautiful spot. The 
 grassy land on which his cottage was built ex- 
 tended far out into a great lake ; and it seemed as 
 if out of love, this slip of ground stretched itself 
 into the clear, blue, and wonderfully bright waters, 
 and also as if the waters, with loving arms, clasped 
 the fair meadows with their high-waving grass and 
 flowers, and the refreshing shade of the trees. 
 Yet was this pleasant place seldom or never trod- 
 den by any but the fisherman and his household, 
 for behind the slip of land lay a very wild 
 wood " 
 
 No description could be more exact. Here, be- 
 fore our eyes, was the solitary cottage, the grassy 
 point of land, the clear, blue, bright waters, the 
 refreshing shade of trees, and behind the house 
 the identical wild wood that separated the dwell- 
 ing of Undine's foster-father from the rest of the 
 world. Surely La Motte Fouqud must have seen 
 Harpswell Point in a vision or dream. The only 
 differences between the two places were, that in- 
 stead of a great lake there was a great bay, and 
 that the surges of the Atlantic were rolling on the
 
 172 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 other side of the strip of land ; but these were not 
 material. 
 
 The men of the fisherman's family were away, 
 but there were several women at the house, who 
 received us kindly, and gave us milk and berries. 
 The Assyrian speedily made himself at home with 
 the ladies, and when I proposed to go to the 
 beach, about two hundred yards from the house, to 
 take an ocean bath, he refused to accompany me, 
 but offered to wait where he was till I came back. 
 The Skipper had gone to his sloop with his jug of 
 water, to invite the Artist and Professor on shore 
 to partake also of milk and berries. So I went 
 alone to the sea, and strolled along the beach till I 
 came to a convenient pile of rocks, out of sight of 
 the house, and took off my clothes, and went in. 
 
 The water was awfully cold, though the air was 
 warm, and being unable to swim, and so not 
 daring to plunge boldly, I endured fearful torture 
 in the heroic efforts to get a thorough bath. A few 
 rods farther along from where I went in, there was 
 a large rock almost covered by the water, to which 
 I determined to go, calculating that by the time I 
 could reach it, and return, I should have had as 
 much sea-bathing as it was desirable, or, for me, 
 possible to endure. 
 
 I reached it easily enough, and after clinging to 
 it for a moment thoroughly chilled, turned to go 
 to the shore. 
 
 Conceive my consternation at beholding, as I
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 173 
 
 looked around, a woman approaching along the 
 beach from the direction of the house. A tall, 
 elderly female, wearing a veil, and carrying a para- 
 sol. Evidently she was bent on a sea-side stroll. 
 She must have seen me if she had looked in my 
 direction, for the distance that separated us was 
 inconsiderable. But she walked with her eyes 
 cast clown, either wrapt in thought, or searching 
 for shells and pebbles, I could not determine which. 
 Nor did it much matter. I was nearly dead with 
 cold, but of course could not quit the shelter of 
 the water while the lady was in sight. If she only 
 kept onward, however slowly, I thought I could 
 hold out, for, thank Heaven ! there was a rocky 
 point at no great distance which would conceal 
 her, or rather me, from view as soon as she should 
 pass it. So I crouched behind the rock to which I 
 was clinging, shuddering with anguish as the chill 
 waves rolled in succession over me. 
 
 The lady was provokingly slow. She lingered, 
 she stopped, she stooped to examine every shell 
 and every pebble. I grew almost frantic with suf- 
 fering, and was twenty times on the point of cry- 
 ing out, and warning her off. Still, I trusted she 
 would pass without seeing me, and thought I could 
 endure a little longer. 
 
 At length she reached the rocks, among which I 
 had deposited my clothes. She did not notice the 
 garments apparently, but, after pausing for a min- 
 ute, coolly sat down, and, to my horror and de-
 
 174 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 spair, pulled a book from under her shawl, and 
 began to read. 
 
 I could stand it no longer. All the tales I had 
 ever heard of persons who had died from staying 
 too long in the water rushed upon my memory. 
 I felt convinced that I was not only blue around 
 the mouth, but blue all over. It seemed as if I 
 had been in the water at least two hours. I should 
 certainly die. But death itself was preferable to 
 this infernal ..cold, which caused my very bones to 
 ache. Positively I could stand it no longer. 
 
 I began by coughing, gently at first, afterward 
 more vigorously. It did no good. She was ab- 
 sorbed in her book, some foolish novel, doubt- 
 less, confound the author ! I hemmed, hawed, 
 hooted. 
 
 I splashed the water. All to no effect. A hor- 
 rible thought flashed across me : perhaps she was 
 deaf, as deaf as Dame Eleanor Spearing. I tried 
 to get a stone from the bottom to throw at her, or 
 rather near her, in hopes of attracting her atten- 
 tion, but found I could not reach bottom without 
 putting my head under water. It suddenly oc- 
 curred to me that the tide was rising, and that my 
 post would no longer be tenable even if I could 
 stand the cold. That settled the question. 
 
 " Hallo ! hallo there ! " I shouted, with all the 
 force of my lungs. 
 
 " Hallo, yourself ! What are you making such 
 a row for ? Are n't you ashamed to yell at a lady 
 in that way ? "
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 175 
 
 I recognized the voice at the first word, and was 
 beside the speaker before the sentence was fin- 
 ished. Throwing up the veil, which had concealed 
 his features, the Assyrian burst into a laugh, in 
 which, though at first I thought of stoning him, 
 I finally joined. He had persuaded the women at 
 the cottage to lend him his disguise, in order to 
 repay me, as he had promised, for the affair of the 
 jug. I forgave him for the sake of the provoca- 
 tion, though he had put me to direful torture, 
 but we entered then and there into a compact to 
 desist from such pranks for the future. 
 
 A smart run on the beach in the warm air re- 
 lieved me of the chill I had got in the water, 
 and being soon after joined by the Professor and 
 the Artist, we rambled till sunset amid the groves 
 and glades and rocks and beaches of the peninsula, 
 which we all agreed far surpassed Nahant in beauty, 
 while it almost exactly resembled it in situation. 
 The sunset, as we watched it from a lofty bank, 
 crowned with noble trees, was glorious. Our view 
 extended over Casco Bay to the mainland beyond, 
 and, farther still, to the White Mountains, of which 
 we had never from any point obtained a more 
 beautiful or more impressive view. 
 
 We lingered long after Mount Washington had 
 vanished in the gloom of twilight, and then, de- 
 scending to the shore, assented fully to the patri- 
 otic remark of the Skipper, as he rowed us to the 
 sloop, that " There was n't a finer place in the 
 world than Harps well."
 
 176 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 SUCCESSFUL FISHING. WHITING, HAKE, AND COD. 
 A CHOWDER-PARTY. 
 
 THE next morning, when I came out of the 
 little cabin of the sloop, the sky was gray with the 
 faint light of dawn, and a few of the largest stars 
 were yet visible. The air was fresh and fragrant, 
 and the water of the bay looked singularly cool 
 and clear, as it swayed and eddied with the rush- 
 ing of the tide. The distant isles seemed shadowy 
 and spectral in the morning mist, and from the 
 groves on the Point came the twitter of land-birds, 
 occasionally breaking into song ; while overhead 
 a couple of large sea-birds were slowly wheeling 
 in eccentric orbit, as they scanned the depths in 
 search of prey. 
 
 " I stood, 
 And watched the pulses of the tide, 
 
 The huge hlack rocks, the sea-weeds brown, 
 The gray beach stretched on either side. 
 A cool light brooded o'er the land ; 
 
 A changing lustre lit the bay ; 
 The tide just plashed along the sand, 
 
 And voices sounded far away." 
 
 Presently the old Pilot came on deck, and, as 
 he filled and lighted his pipe, he scrutinized the 
 sky, and said we should have a hot day. He then
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 177 
 
 began his preparations for breakfast, and, after call- 
 ing my comrades to come on deck and see the sun 
 rise, I fished from the side of our vessel, and soon 
 caught flounders and cod sufficient for our morning 
 meal. After that was despatched, we went ashore 
 for a farewell look at Harpswell Point and its ro- 
 mantic groves of pine and cedar, and its stately 
 oaks and maples. On returning to the sloop, we 
 made sail, and were soon gliding slowly onward 
 with a gentle breeze that scarcely ruffled the water. 
 At the end of an hour, the breeze, faint as it was, 
 grew fainter still, and we came to anchor in a 
 channel, where we had in every direction charm- 
 ing views through long and liquid vistas edged 
 with green islands. It was also, the Skipper said, 
 a famous place for fish. 
 
 We got out our lines and had good luck, catch- 
 ing cod and haddock in abundance, and also, in 
 lesser quantity, whiting and hake. The whiting 
 were small, none of them more than a foot in 
 length. According to Dr. Storer's Report on the 
 Fishes of Massachusetts, that which our fishermen 
 call the whiting is really the European hake ; and 
 that which they call the hake is really the English 
 codling. This statement is correct as far as it 
 goes, but yet the real whiting is found in Ameri- 
 can waters and on the coast of New England, 
 though perhaps not as far south as Massachusetts. 
 Those that we now caught were the genuine whit- 
 ing, a handsome fish, elegantly formed, the head
 
 178 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 and upper part of the body of a lead color, and the 
 sides and belly white. When perfectly fresh it is 
 very sweet and palatable, the most delicate, in- 
 deed, of our sea fishes, but its softness will not 
 admit of its being kept long. It prefers a sandy 
 bottom, and generally swims in schools a few miles 
 from the shore. Its principal food is the fry of 
 other fishes, but it is extremely voracious, and 
 devours almost any kind of small shell-fish. It 
 reaches sometimes the weight of four pounds. At 
 Grand Manan it is very abundant and is there 
 called the silver hake. 
 
 The hake is much larger than the whiting, and 
 varies in size from three pounds to thirty. One 
 of those that we captured weighed twelve pounds, 
 and was upward of three feet in length. The up- 
 per part of the fish is of a grayish brown ; the 
 lower part is somewhat lighter. Great quantities 
 of hake are taken in Massachusetts Bay during 
 the summer. They are caught with the hook on 
 muddy bottoms, and bite best at night. Some- 
 times a single fisherman, after spending the night 
 in " haking," as they call it, will come home in 
 the morning with a boat-load exceeding a ton in 
 weight. When salted and prepared for market, 
 the hake is called stockfish. Those taken off Cape 
 Cod are said to be the best. In the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence and Bay of Chaleur, this fish is called 
 the ling. 
 
 The cod is so well known that any description
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 179 
 
 of it will seein superfluous, and yet there must be 
 millions of persons in the interior of the United 
 States to whom the fish is an utter stranger, ex- 
 cept in its dried and salted condition. For such 
 readers, I will say that it has a long, smooth, and 
 well-shaped body ; the back is of a light olive- 
 green color, with numerous reddish or yellowish 
 spots ; the belly is dusky white. The color, how- 
 ever, of some individuals is a beautiful bright red, 
 while others are of a lemon yellow, and others 
 again will be found entirely gray, without spots. 
 The general run of cod are about two feet in 
 length, and weigh three or four pounds, though 
 the fish sometimes grows to great size. In 1807, 
 one was captured at New-Ledge, about fifty miles 
 from where we were now fishing, which weighed 
 one hundred and seven pounds. The English spe- 
 cies, which varies very little in appearance from 
 the American, does not seem to attain so great a 
 size, for Yarrell, in his account of British fishes, says 
 that the largest cod of which he had ever heard 
 weighed sixty pounds. A later writer, Dr. Ham- 
 ilton, mentions one that weighed seventy-eight 
 pounds, and was upward of six feet in length. 
 Mr. Perley says that the largest brought into Hal- 
 ifax market, in 1851, weighed eighty-six pounds. 
 
 These fish generally dwell in water from twenty 
 to fifty fathoms deep, though sometimes the attrac- 
 tion of a plentiful supply of food will bring them 
 to shallow places. They are voracious, and will
 
 180 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 eat any of the smaller inhabitants of the ocean. 
 They devour large quantities of mollusca and 
 Crustacea. In fact, the cod is the great collector 
 of deep-sea shells for the naturalists, many of the 
 rarest specimens having been obtained from his 
 stomach. 
 
 The cod is unknown in the Mediterranean, but 
 it swarms in the Atlantic north of latitude 40, 
 becoming more abundant and larger in size as you 
 go toward the Arctic Seas. Immense quantities 
 are caught on the coasts of Norway, and on those 
 of Greenland, but the great cod-fishing ground of 
 the world is the banks of Newfoundland. They 
 seek their food near the bottom, and are therefore 
 always taken with lines, and not with nets. They 
 will bite at almost any bait, but our fishermen gen- 
 erally tempt .them with clams. 
 
 The cod-fishery of the United States employs 
 two thousand vessels, and about ten thousand men, 
 and is carried on almost exclusively from New 
 England. The vessels generally used are schoon- 
 ers of about eighty tons burden. About thirty mil- 
 lions of fish are annually taken, and their value, 
 when dried and salted, is $ 2,000,000. The French 
 cod-fishery at Newfoundland is as productive as the 
 American, and employs about as many men, but 
 the vessels used are generally three times as large, 
 and consequently fewer in number. 
 
 Our fishing was at length interrupted by a cir- 
 cumstance in itself indicative of success : we had
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 181 
 
 used up all our bait. The Pilot, in whom our 
 unusual luck seemed to have aroused his dormant 
 love of the pursuit to which he had devoted so 
 many years, seizing a spade and bucket, jumped 
 into the dory, into which I followed him, and 
 rowed to the nearest island. We walked across 
 a cornfield to the other side, where a broad, muddy 
 shore spread its blackness before us, the tide 
 having left it bare and weltering for many^ rood. 
 There were no traces to my eyes of clams, and, 
 in fact, nothing was visible but black mud, mixed 
 with sand enough to make it sufficiently firm to 
 bear our footsteps. But the Pilot at a glance 
 selected a spot where, on digging, we disclosed a 
 bed of happy mollusks, " Happy as a clam " 
 being a proverb on the coast. 
 
 While he was filling the bucket I climbed over 
 a huge rock that bounded on one side the cove 
 of the clams, and found beyond it a beautiful 
 gravel beach, where I was soon busily engaged in 
 picking up shells of a brilliant yellow color. By 
 the time I had filled my hat with these, the Pilot 
 had obtained sufficient bait, and, recalled by his 
 shout, I rejoined him, and we returned to the 
 sloop, where the fishing was resumed with such 
 luck that by dinner time we had captured more 
 than a hundred fish of a large size. 
 
 We now thought it time to stop. The Pilot 
 overhauled our pile, and as he handled each fish in 
 its turn, he put some aside on the deck for preser-
 
 182 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 vation, and others he threw overboard. Notwith- 
 standing this sifting out, enough remained to more 
 than supply our wants for several days, and the 
 Skipper said that after dinner he would salt them 
 for use in case we caught nothing on the mor- 
 row. 
 
 A brilliant idea suddenly struck the Assyrian as 
 he was wiping his face after washing it, on the top 
 of the cabin. 
 
 " I say," he exclaimed, looking round with a 
 countenance glowing partly with the rubbing he 
 had given it, and partly with delight at the new 
 idea, " let us have a chowder." 
 
 It was an inspiration. " A chowder," we echoed 
 simultaneously ; " why did n't we think of it be- 
 fore ? " 
 
 " Captain," said the Professor to the Pilot, " can 
 you make a chowder ? " 
 
 The old man had just lighted the chips in his 
 furnace, and was down on his knees blowing them 
 into a flame. He looked up, with a strong degree 
 of scorn depicted on his honest face. 
 
 " Can I make a chowder? " he repeated ; "well, 
 I should think I could ; I 've made more 'n forty 
 thousand." 
 
 The Professor, who had a rapid mathematical 
 mind, remarked that that large figure must be only 
 a figure of speech, for to make forty thousand 
 chowders in sixty years would require an average 
 of two a day.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 183 
 
 " Well, well," said the old man, " I did n't mean 
 forty thousand exactly. I never kept count on 
 'em ; but I 've made a great many, and if you 
 like, I '11 give you as good a one as Daniel Webster 
 himself ever turned out." 
 
 He went to work, and as we had salt pork, pota- 
 toes, and onions on board, and plenty of " hard 
 tack," or crackers, in less than an hour we were 
 sitting in front of as fine a chowder as one could 
 wish to eat. Our morning sport had given us 
 good appetites, and the chowder rapidly vanished, 
 much to the delight of the concoctor thereof, who 
 was not a little proud of our appreciation of his 
 culinary skill. We had lighted our cigars, and 
 the Assyrian was brewing a mighty pitcher of what 
 he persisted in calling lemonade, especially since 
 we had got within the bounds of the State of 
 Maine, when suddenly we heard a shout. 
 
 " Sloop ahoy ! " We went on deck. A yacht, 
 crowded with ladies and gentlemen, was lying 
 within hailing distance. 
 
 "Have you got any fish?" 
 
 " Plenty. Do you want some ? " 
 
 They answered with a joyful shout, and four of 
 the gentlemen, jumping into their skiff, were soon 
 on board. One of them proved to be an acquaint- 
 ance of ours from Portland. They had set out on 
 a chowder excursion to Diamond Cove, and had 
 been fishing all the morning, with scant luck. We 
 gave them fish enough for their chowder, and the
 
 184 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 Assyrian, whose hospitable instincts had kindled 
 up at the sight of visitors, invited them into the 
 cabin to partake of his favorite liquor, which, like 
 the Chaplain in " Jonathan Wild," he was fond of 
 recommending as a wholesome beverage nowhere 
 condemned in Scripture, and, as he added, not 
 contraband to Maine law, so long as you called it 
 lemonade. He gravely checked one of the stran- 
 gers who inadvertently spoke of it as punch. 
 
 Ascertaining that the people on the yacht had 
 nothing to drink on board but ale, the Assyrian 
 insisted on sending to them a pailful of his lemon- 
 ade, with the compliments of the Helen. The 
 Skipper in our dory accordingly accompanied the 
 strangers back to their vessel, bearing with him 
 the steaming oblation, together with a dozen of our 
 best fish. They received the present with a cheer, 
 and making sail for Diamond Cove, were soon out 
 of sight among the islands.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 185 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE SEA-CUCUMBER JAQUISS AND BAILEY ISLANDS. 
 MACKEREL COVE. THE MAINE LAW. 
 
 SHORTLY after their departure we got under 
 way, and as the sloop began to move, the Profes- 
 sor threw over the dredge. In a few minutes it 
 was full, and we hauled it up, and found among the 
 contents several rare shells, fine specimens of star- 
 fishes, and, what was then new to me, a number 
 of sea-onions and sea-cucumbers. These last are 
 living creatures, denizens of the bottom of the sea, 
 lying at considerable depths. The sea-onion re- 
 sembles a large vegetable onion, cut in two longi- 
 tudinally ; and the sea-cucumber, in size, shape, and 
 color, is so similar to its namesake of the land that 
 we were almost tempted to slice it up and try it 
 with vinegar. It belongs, in fact', to the same fam- 
 ily with the trepang, of which many species are 
 eaten by the Chinese, who employ it in the prepa- 
 ration of nutricious soups, in common with an escu- 
 lent sea-weed, shark's fins, edible bird's-nests, and 
 other materials affording much jelly. The length 
 of the sea-cucumber is from four to eight inches, 
 but it possesses the power, within certain limits, of 
 extending or contracting its body at will. Its head, 
 when the animal is alarmed, is so concealed as to
 
 186 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 be almost imperceptible, but, if it be placed in a 
 bucket of sea-water, and left awhile undisturbed, 
 the head will be gradually protruded and expand- 
 e*d, until it assumes the appearance of a beautiful 
 flower, generally of a brilliant rose-color. The 
 least touch, however, will cause this efflorescence 
 to suddenly disappear. The creature moves prin- 
 cipally by the aid of sucker-like, feet, of which, in 
 most species, there are five longitudinal rows. 
 
 As the Pilot and Skipper wished for news from 
 home, we directed our course to Herring Gut, an 
 anchorage between Bailey's Island and Jaquiss, 
 which, as it communicates directly and easily with 
 the ocean, is much frequented by fishermen, and 
 we could hardly fail to find there some vessel fresh 
 from Swampscott, and certainly some one from 
 Gloucester. We anchored about the middle of 
 the afternoon, among a small fleet of schooners, 
 with whose crews our seamen were soon in deep 
 conference about persons and affairs on the north 
 shore of Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 Leaving them to enjoy their gossip on board of 
 a Swampscott schooner, we rowed the dory into a 
 charming little nook on the rocky shore of Jaquiss, 
 and landed to explore the island. It proved to be 
 a perfect gem of the sea, and fit to be the habita- 
 tion of Calypso or of Prospero and his daughter. 
 Like many of these islands of Casco Bay, it has 
 long been used as a pasture for sheep, and to pro- 
 tect the flocks from the wind a thick belt of the
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 187 
 
 original forest of evergreens has been left growing 
 all around the shore. These trees, pines, cedars, 
 firs, hemlocks, and spruces, kept sacred from the 
 axe, and permitted to grow at their own sweet 
 will, bent only by the storms of ocean, are as 
 wildly picturesque as poet or artist could desire. 
 The sheltered interior was a meadow, interspersed 
 with copses and clumps of oaks and maples, some 
 of them of great size. No house or barn, or sign 
 of human occupancy, broke the sylvan solitude of 
 the island, which was not marred even by a fence, 
 the encircling sea confining the sheep more se- 
 curely than a wall. A pond in the centre, fed by 
 springs and garlanded by lilies, gave the animals 
 drink. 
 
 From the summit of the island the view was 
 superb, embracing on one side the ocean, dotted 
 with sails, and on the other, across the little road- 
 stead where our vessel lay amid its kindred craft, 
 the pleasant groves and fertile fields of Bailey's 
 Island, and beyond, the far-stretching peninsulas 
 of Harpswell and the countless isles of the bay. 
 A long, long while we 
 
 " Looked from the rocky cliff, 
 Whose foot the tender foam-wreaths kissed, 
 Towards the outer circle of mist 
 
 That hedged the old and wonderful sea ; 
 Below us, as if with endless hope, 
 Up the beach's rnarbled slope, 
 
 The waters clomb unweariedly." 
 
 The Assyrian was enraptured with Jaquiss, and
 
 188 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 his enthusiasm broke out in random citations from 
 The Tempest: "How lush and lusty the grass 
 looks ! how green ! " he cried in the words of old 
 Gonzalo. And then, following Caliban : 
 
 " I '11 show thee 
 Every fertile inch of the island, 
 
 I '11 show thee the best springs ; I '11 pluck thee berries ; 
 I '11 fish for thee, 
 I prythee let me bring thee where crabs grow ! " 
 
 This last line was addressed to the Professor of 
 Marine Zoology, who, heedless of the beauties of 
 sky and sea, of woods and rocks, was already, 
 with his customary ardor, in the service of science, 
 attentively inspecting the beaches in search of 
 specimens of natural history. The Assyrian, who 
 was something of a naturalist himself, took the 
 man of science by the hand, and led him to a great 
 mass of rock, sloping down to the water, and 
 thickly covered with slimy sea-weed. This place 
 swarmed with crabs, and the Professor, whom 
 much practice had made singularly expert in 
 catching these creatures, soon pulled out of its 
 recesses as many as it was convenient for us to 
 carry. We returned to the sloop, and putting 
 the Professor and his prey on board, we left him 
 to study the crabs at his leisure, and went to Bai- 
 ley's Island, to which we were rowed by the Skip- 
 per, who had finished his gossip and come aboard 
 in our absence. 
 
 Bailey's Island being several miles long, we de-
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 189 
 
 termined to explore it, and visit a store which was 
 said to be at the other end, in order to purchase 
 some things we needed. We, therefore, on part- 
 ing with the Skipper, directed him to take the 
 sloop round to Mackerel Cove, a harbor on that 
 side of the island toward which we proposed to 
 walk, and be ready to take us on board in time 
 for supper. 
 
 Our steps were first directed to a respectable 
 looking farm-house which had been in sight from 
 the sloop, and had attracted our attention by its 
 fine situation on a height near the shore, from 
 which there could not fail to be a noble view. 
 We wanted to see the view, to see also the people, 
 and to get a drink of water, for our supply of that 
 element on the Helen had grown to be somewhat 
 stale, and the day was warm, and our walk on 
 Jaquiss had heated us a little. 
 
 The view we found magnificent. The peo- 
 ple all that were at home consisted of two 
 young ladies, both barefooted ; the oldest, a 
 handsome, healthy, frank-looking girl of eighteen, 
 or thereabouts, arrayed in a dress distended by a 
 single hoop, taken probably, as the Artist sug- 
 gested, from some old barrel. The second dam- 
 sel, several years younger than her sister, was 
 reading, when we entered, a volume which proved 
 to be Robinson Crusoe, a not inappropriate book 
 for such a situation. 
 
 They received us cordially, and the younger
 
 190 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 girl ran for water to the well, which stood at some 
 distance from the house, and was worked by an 
 old-fashioned sweep. We sat down and had a lit- 
 tle chat with the elder girl, whose manners were 
 good, and her language excellent. She had visited 
 the mainland, and had once travelled even as far 
 as Boston, but maintained, very justly, that she 
 had seen no place so beautiful as her native island. 
 She seemed fully to appreciate the romantic natu- 
 ral loveliness of her home, and talked with dis- 
 crimination of all the characteristics of the scenery. 
 
 Bidding adieu to these damsels, we walked 
 through a grove of stately pines, and then through 
 cultivated fields on the road toward the store. 
 Shortly after passing the grove we met, at the top 
 of a long hill, a bevy of children coming home 
 from school. We stopped them, and after they 
 had answered some inquiries as to the road, the 
 Assyrian pulled out a quantity of coppers which 
 had been burning his pockets ever since he left 
 Portland, and with impressive gravity distributed 
 them among the urchins. 
 
 The effect of this donation was prodigious. Ap- 
 parently so much money had never before been 
 seen on Bailey's Island. The barefooted recipi- 
 ents, after one eager and amazed glance at their 
 acquisitions, simultaneously broke into a run, and 
 as we watched them scudding down the long hill, 
 we could see one after another darting into the 
 lanes which led to their respective homes, each
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 191 
 
 anxious to display his treasures to the admiring 
 eyes of his family. 
 
 A pretty long walk brought us to the store, 
 near which was the house of the Principal Inhab- 
 itant of the island, a retired sea-captain, renowned 
 for his wealth and magnificence, of whom we had 
 heard much from our female friends at the farm- 
 house. His abode was surrounded by apple-trees, 
 and the Principal Inhabitant himself was standing 
 in front of it ; and we paid him our respects in 
 passing, and endeavored to enter into conversa- 
 tion, but found it rather difficult. He would not 
 answer a question directly, and spoke with most 
 exasperating slowness. He had, beside, a queer 
 habit of always turning his back to us when he 
 said anything. We tried to circumvent him in 
 this, by dividing our forces and surrounding him ; 
 but he was not so easily baffled. He walked to 
 his garden fence, and, getting over, placed his back 
 against it, and thus continued the conversation in 
 his old attitude. 
 
 We got little out of him, however, except some 
 Jack Bunsby opinions about the cultivation of 
 apple-trees, and the assurance, given after a slow 
 and circumspect observation of the sky, that a 
 thunder-storm was coming up, and that it would 
 probably rain within an hour. As our own me- 
 teorological observations corroborated this proph- 
 ecy, we turned our backs on the back of the Prin- 
 cipal Inhabitant and proceeded to the store.
 
 192 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 It was a square wooden building, painted white 
 on one side, red on another, blue on a third, and 
 yellow on a fourth, and contained a little, appar- 
 ently, of everything on the earth or beneath the 
 earth. We made our purchases under the scru- 
 tiny of three or four of the islanders, who eyed us 
 attentively, in profound silence, evidently much 
 perplexed to reconcile our red shirts and fish- 
 stained trousers, with something in our appear- 
 ance and speech that was not exactly in congruity 
 with such garb. The Assyrian, whose long walk 
 had made him drouthy, drew the storekeeper aside 
 from these spectators, and asked if he had any- 
 thing to drink. The answer was a decided nega- 
 tive, nothing of the kind was to be had on the 
 island. 
 
 We departed with a realizing sense of the effi- 
 ciency of the Maine Law, and made the best of our 
 way to Mackerel Cove, where we arrived consid- 
 erably after sunset. The thunder-storm had be- 
 gun, and the rain was already falling. We were 
 very tired and hungry, and anxious to get on 
 board the Helen, whose single mast and graceful 
 hull were visible in the middle of the harbor. We 
 hailed her, and after shouting for some time we 
 saw the Skipper come on deck. He replied to 
 our hail, but the distance was such that his 
 answer was unintelligible, and we could make 
 nothing of his gesticulations. We could see, how- 
 ever, that the dory was absent from the sloop, and,
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 193 
 
 as no one but the Skipper appeared on deck, could 
 easily conjecture that the Professor had gone on 
 one of those untimely expeditions to which he was 
 addicted, and had taken the Pilot with him. 
 
 Here was a predicament. But there was no 
 help for it. We lighted our cigars, and, tired as 
 we were, paced up and down the beach to keep 
 ourselves warm, for it was raining hard, and the 
 air had become chilly. At length, as it was grow- 
 ing dark, we dimly saw at the mouth of the cove 
 the returning boat. It grew dark so fast that we 
 lost sight of her before she gained the sloop, but 
 after the Professor got on board, the Skipper took 
 the place of the Pilot, and, guided by our shouts, 
 came for us. 
 
 In explanation of the absence of the boat, he said 
 the Professor had been " scow-banging," a term 
 new to us. It meant that, as the Helen sailed into 
 the Mackerel Cove, she passed a school of the fish 
 from which the harbor derives its name, and the 
 Professor, who was peculiarly fond of mackerel- 
 fishing, had taken the Pilot and the dory, as soon 
 as the sloop came to anchor, and had gone in pur- 
 suit, the chase of mackerel with a boat being 
 called by the fishermen " scow-banging." They 
 had caught plenty, and by the time we got on 
 board, and had changed our wet clothes for dry 
 ones, the Pilot placed on the supper-table a heap 
 of delicious broiled mackerel. We fell to with 
 avidity, but the Assyrian turned with disdain 
 
 9 M
 
 194 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 from the mug of tea which the Skipper set before 
 him. 
 
 " Skipper," he said, " I am wet to the bones, 
 nothing will dry me but whiskey. Let us have 
 some lemonade." 
 
 The Skipper opened the locker in which the 
 lemons were kept, and, after rummaging for some 
 time, declared that the lemons were all gone, 
 the last had been used in making that pail of punch 
 for our friends of the yacht. 
 
 The Assyrian growled a little at this announce- 
 ment, but at length said : " Well, well, never 
 mind, we must do without lemons. Whiskey and 
 hot water and sugar make a very good drink ; let 
 us have the whiskey." 
 
 The Skipper slowly produced the jug, and I saw 
 by his countenance that something was the mat- 
 ter. He said nothing, however, but handed the 
 vessel to the Assyrian, who placed a tumbler be- 
 fore him, and began to turn the jug upside down. 
 Nothing came ; it was empty. The Assyrian 
 looked at the Skipper, and the Skipper looked at 
 him. They understood each other without speak- 
 ing. The whiskey had not given out solely in 
 consequence of our liberality to the people of the 
 yacht. During our absence ashore, the Skipper 
 had been entertaining some of his Swampscott or 
 Cape Ann friends. His hospitality was pardon- 
 able, perhaps commendable, but the consequence, 
 at that particular time and place, was rather dis-
 
 THE COAST -OF NEW ENGLAND. 195 
 
 " Skipper," said the Assyrian, after he had for 
 some time contemplated that individual's physiog- 
 nomy, " what is the nearest large town on our 
 course eastward ? " 
 
 "Boothbay." 
 
 " How far is it ? " 
 
 " Fifty or sixty miles." 
 
 " Can we get lemons there ? " 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " And whiskey ? " 
 
 " Very likely." 
 
 " Make sail for Boothbay as soon as it is light 
 to-morrow. And now, Skipper, get out half a 
 dozen bottles of ale, and let us have some clean 
 mugs.
 
 196 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 FLOUNDER-FISHING. CATCHING A HALIBUT. 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING the Assyrian's impatience 
 to reach Boothbay, we found, when we came on 
 deck Friday morning, that there was little induce- 
 ment to get under way. The air was chill and 
 damp, the sky covered with dense clouds, threat- 
 ening imminent rain, and, worse than all, there 
 was not the slightest breath of wind. To get out 
 of the cove we should have to tug at the oar for 
 at least an hour, and on gaining the open sea 
 might find ourselves still becalmed. So we con- 
 cluded to have breakfast before we started, and 
 while that was in preparation, we dropped our 
 lines over the side of the sloop and caught a num- 
 ber of large flounders. 
 
 The Rev. David Badham says the best time for 
 taking the flounder is at dawn, when he is on the 
 prowl for a breakfast : 
 
 " He that intends a flounder to surprise, 
 Must start betimes, and fish before sunrise." 
 
 The same authority declares that it is far better 
 entertainment to fish for flounders than to eat 
 them. The Frieslanders, however, think other- 
 wise, and have been at the trouble of naturalizing
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 197 
 
 them in fish-ponds. The flounders, too, about 
 Memel, on the Baltic, are held in esteem as food. 
 Mr. Franks, in his " Northern Memoirs," com- 
 mends them for their game qualities. 
 
 " These fish," he says, " are bold as buccaneers, 
 of much more confidence than caution, and so 
 fond of a worm that they will go to the banquet 
 though they die at the board ; they are endowed 
 with great resolution, and struggle stoutly for the 
 victory when hooked ; they are also more than 
 ordinarily difficult to deal with by reason of their 
 build, which is altogether flat, as it were a level. 
 The flounder, I must further tell you, delights to 
 dwell among stones ; besides, he is a great admirer 
 of deeps and ruinous decays, yet as fond as any 
 fish of moderate streams ; and none beyond him, 
 except the perch, that is more solicitous to rifle 
 into ruins, insomuch that a man would fancy him 
 an antiquary, considering he is so affected with 
 relics." 
 
 The French fishermen account for the distorted 
 mouth of the flounder by the following legend : 
 St. Christopher, a martyr of the third century, 
 one day took it into his head to bless the fishes 
 and to preach to them. All the inhabitants of the 
 deep came and listened with attention and respect 
 except the flounder, who derided the holy man 
 by making faces at him. The Saint, indignant 
 at the insult, cursed the whole brood, and con- 
 demned them forever after to exhibit themselves 
 with mouths awry.
 
 198 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 In the course of ages the rebuke thus given by 
 Saint Christopher seems to have wrought a change 
 in the character of the flounder, for a Greek 
 legend, still current at Constantinople, ascribes 
 the discordant color of the two sides of the fish to 
 the fact that when the Turks conquered Constan- 
 tinople in 1453, some priests at a church near the 
 Silivria gate were frying flounders for dinner just 
 as the Infidels entered the city, and were among 
 the first victims of the massacre. The fish, filled 
 with pious respect for the Church, expressed their 
 horror at the sacrilegious deed by jumping out of 
 the frying-pan into a neighboring stream, whence 
 they made their way to the sea, completely cooked 
 on one side. In token of the miracle, the entire 
 species has ever since exhibited the mark of the 
 fire, generally on the right side ; though, now and. 
 then, an eccentric individual displays it on the left 
 side. 
 
 After breakfast a faint breeze sprung up, and, 
 assisted by the tide, we slowly drifted out of the 
 cove, and about the middle of the forenoon reached 
 the open sea. The wind what there was of it 
 and tide still serving, the Skipper proposed to 
 run southward a few miles out of our course to 
 Drunken Ledge and fish for halibut. We as- 
 sented, and about noon anchored in the neighbor- 
 hood of a formidable reef, over which the sea was 
 foaming splendidly, while all around was calm and 
 smooth. These rocks lie in the ocean, on the
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 199 
 
 edge of Casco Bay, about five miles from the 
 nearest islands. 
 
 Taking lines stouter and with larger hooks than 
 those we used for cod-fishing, we baited with pieces 
 of flounder and tried our luck. In the course of 
 half an hour we caught several skates, large cod, 
 haddocks, and one or two hake. But these were 
 not what we came for, and the impatient Assyrian 
 was already talking of Boothbay and his everlast- 
 ing lemons, when suddenly a tremendous jerk, fol- 
 lowed by a rapid rushing of the line through his 
 fingers, put a stop to his grumbling. He had 
 hooked a halibut at last. 
 
 "Let her run!" shouted the Pilot. "Hold 
 tight, but don't pull her in I Let her play 
 awhile!" 
 
 " Go it, lemons ! " added the Professor, as the 
 Assyrian sprang from the bench of the cockpit 
 where he had been lazily reclining, and with eager 
 eyes, and teeth deeply set in his cigar, began to 
 " play " his prize. 
 
 After a long and exciting contest the subdued 
 halibut was at length brought to the surface in an 
 exhausted condition, and was skilfully hoisted on 
 board by the Pilot, who exclaimed, as he laid 
 the monster on deck, "A hundred-pounder, by 
 George ! " 
 
 The delight of the Assyrian was boundless. He 
 got upon the top of the cabin, and, swinging his 
 hat, gave three cheers.
 
 200 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 " Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah ! " 
 
 Then, protesting that his exertions in the strug- 
 gle had made him faint, and that we ought to cel- 
 ebrate the victory by a drink all round, he sent 
 the Skipper into the forepeak for a bottle of ale, 
 which order he presently countermanded for a 
 bottle of claret, declaring that such an achieve- 
 ment demanded the nobler liquor, and as the high 
 song of Odin the Old says : 
 
 " Ale 's not so good 
 Tor the children of men 
 As people have boasted." 
 
 The claret was brought, and we drank to the 
 health of the halibut, who by this time was gasping 
 his last on deck. 
 
 It was truly a noble fish, lacking but a few 
 inches of six feet in length. The body was much 
 larger in proportion to the breadth than in its kin- 
 dred, the flounder, and was smooth and of a dark- 
 brown color on the right side, the left side being 
 whitish without spots. The lower jaw was longer 
 than the upper, and both jaws were furnished with 
 two rows of strong, sharp teeth. The lips were 
 large and fleshy, and the "eyes of remarkable size, 
 between two and three inches in diameter. 
 
 The halibut is not found in the Mediterranean, 
 but is common on the coasts of Scotland and Ire- 
 land, and on the east coast of England, though it 
 is not plentiful on the southern coast of that coun- 
 try. It flourishes best in northern latitudes, and
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 201 
 
 the Greenlanders often subsist for a considerable 
 period exclusively on its flesh, which is cut into 
 slips and dried in the sun. The Norwegians and 
 Icelanders also salt and barrel it largely for home 
 consumption. 
 
 We voted to have a piece of the halibut for din- 
 ner, for which meal the Pilot had already kindled 
 his furnace, and the Skipper accordingly cut off a 
 huge chunk near the side fins, which he said was 
 the best part of the fish. The Assyrian was de- 
 termined that it should be cooked properly, and so 
 he overhauled the receipts at the end of Frank 
 Forrester's Fish and Fishing, of which we had a 
 copy on board, till he found Soyer's receipt to boil 
 halibut, which he read to the assembled crew, as 
 follows : 
 
 " ' A halibut ' and this, O Pilot, applies to a 
 piece as well as to the whole animal ' must be 
 well rubbed over with salt and lemon ' " here 
 he shook his head at the Skipper "'before it is 
 put in the water; have ready a large halibut- 
 kettle'" 
 
 "What the deuce is a halibut-kettle?" inter- 
 posed the Pilot. 
 
 " Never mind," said the Assyrian, " any kettle 
 will do, if it is only big enough. Hear what comes 
 next. ' A large halibut-kettle half full of cold 
 water, and to every six quarts of water put one 
 pound of salt ; lay the fish in, and place it over 
 a moderate fire ; a halibut of eight pounds ' and
 
 202 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 that, Pilot, will apply to eight pounds of halibut 
 ' may be allowed to simmer twenty minutes, or 
 rather more ; thus it will be about three quarters 
 of an hour altogether in the water ; when it begins 
 to crack very slightly, lift it up with the drainer 
 and cover a clean white napkin over it ; if you 
 intend serving the sauce over your fish, dish it up 
 with a napkin,' hem, hem," continued the Assy- 
 rian, after a brief pause, as he ran his eye over the 
 rest of the receipt, " I guess we may as well stop 
 here. Let the drainer and the napkin and the 
 sauce go, the amount of it is, Captain, you must 
 rub it with salt, put a lot of salt in the water, and 
 let it boil for somewhat more than half an hour." 
 
 " I knew all that forty years ago," growled the 
 old man, as he turned to his furnace and put on 
 his kettle. 
 
 Until a recent period the fishermen on the 
 banks of Newfoundland had such a hatred and 
 contempt for the halibut, that when they chanced 
 to catch one, they " spritsail-yarded " it, by thrust- 
 ing a piece of wood through its gills, and letting it 
 go to starve to death ; but we found it made an 
 agreeable dinner, in spite of its coarseness and 
 dry ness.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 203 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 A STORM OFF CAPE SEGUIN. BOOTHBAY. THE 
 COAST-SURVEY SCHOONER. 
 
 WE sat long at table that day, and when we 
 went on deck about three o'clock it was raining, 
 and the wind was beginning to blow pretty hard. 
 We made sail at once in the direction of Booth- 
 bay, but in the course of a couple of hours the 
 wind rose to a gale. The sea grew very rough, 
 and at length, almost every minute a wave would 
 break over our vessel, and, sweeping along the 
 deck, deluge the cockpit with water. We flbsed 
 the cabin to keep it dry, and, gathering at the 
 stern, watched the sea, not without anxiety. The 
 air was so thick with mist that we could see noth- 
 ing but the raging waves around us, and could not 
 tell where we were going, though the sloop was 
 plunging along at a fearful rate, her bows almost 
 continually under water, and her mast, which we 
 now found was badly sprung, opening wide cracks 
 at every tug of the sails. There was considerable 
 danger of the mast's going overboard, and in that 
 case we should have been completely at the mercy 
 of the waves, on a coast every inch of which was 
 rock-bound, so that, if our vessel struck, she 
 would be pounded to pieces in ten minutes, in 
 such a gale.
 
 204 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 We drove madly along, the grim old Pilot at the 
 helm, and the anxious Skipper, arrayed in oil-skin 
 to shed the wet, clinging to the mast and keeping 
 a sharp lookout ahead. Suddenly the mist rose 
 and rolled away before a sweeping blast, and then 
 we saw Seguin lighthouse, and knew where we 
 were. It was a superb and terrible sight, such as 
 Lowell saw in a storm from Appledore : 
 
 " North, east, and south there are reefs and breakers 
 
 You would never dream of in smooth weather, 
 That toss and gore the sea for acres, 
 Bellowing, and gnashing, and snarling together." 
 
 But the poet saw it safe on dry land, while to 
 us, dashing along in our little egg-shell, the view 
 of these wild reefs, with the waves foaming and 
 flashing over them directly in our course, was a 
 prospect of beauty not unmixed with dread. It 
 was growing late, and the gale was evidently on 
 the increase. The sea was white with foam on 
 the surface, but the great waves, as they came 
 leaping and roaring at us, had a black and angry 
 look not pleasant to behold. Our aged pilot, as he 
 sat clutching the helm, his hat drawn tightly over 
 his brows to keep it from blowing off, glanced 
 uneasily from time to time at the laboring and 
 groaning mast, whose wide seams were alternately 
 opening and shutting, but he said nothing. He 
 had weathered many a harder gale, though never 
 in so poor a craft. The Assyrian, clinging to the 
 cover of the cabin for support, and with strong
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 205 
 
 symptoms of sea-sickness in his face, at length 
 broke out as a whooping billow swept over us, 
 sousing him from head to foot: 
 
 " Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea 
 for an acre of barren ground ; long heath, brown 
 furze, anything ! I say, Skipper, this is coming it 
 rather strong. Can't we put in somewhere ? " 
 
 The Skipper had been for some minutes watch- 
 ing a large schooner about a mile ahead of us, and, 
 coming aft, said that it was hardly possible to 
 weather Cape Newagin in such a storm, even 
 if our mast held, about which he had great doubts. 
 The schooner ahead of us was running for shelter 
 into Sheepscut Bay, where there was an excellent 
 harbor, and we could easily follow her in. The 
 Pilot, after an emphatic reference to " that d d 
 old stick," as he called the mast, assented to this 
 opinion, and our course was accordingly changed 
 to the northward. 
 
 Following the lead of the schooner for several 
 miles, we reached about nightfall a beautiful and 
 perfectly sheltered harbor, which the Skipper 
 called sometimes Southport and sometimes Aben- 
 acook, it bearing both names apparently. There 
 were a few scattered houses on the shore, but 
 nothing that could be called a village. We an- 
 chored in the midst of a number of vessels which 
 had, like ourselves, sought refuge there from the 
 gale, though all except the schooner that we fol- 
 lowed had put in earlier in the day. The storm,
 
 206 A. SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 as we afterwards learned, raged all along the coast, 
 and did considerable damage to the shipping. 
 
 The weather had grown so cold as to be uncom- 
 fortable even in our snug cabin, and so, after has- 
 tily swallowing some supper, we stripped off our 
 wet clothes and turned into our berths long before 
 our usual hour of going to sleep. 
 
 I lay awake half the night listening to the rain 
 pattering on the deck, and when we arose next 
 morning it was still pouring hard. It was so cold 
 that the seamen got the stove out of the forepeak, 
 and we soon had a fire in the cabin, to which the 
 rain confined us all the forenoon. The schooner 
 we had followed into this harbor was bound for 
 Boothbay, and after dinner got underway and 
 passed into Townsend Cut, a passage of some 
 miles in length leading into Townsend Harbor, as 
 the port of Boothbay is called. We followed, 
 and, the rain having ceased, had a" delightful 
 sail through a most singular strait narrow, like a 
 river of moderate size, and bordered on both sides 
 by meadows green to the water's edge, with oc- 
 casional groves ringing the banks. We should 
 have had no suspicion that this passage was not a 
 river had it not been for the seaweed growing on 
 its rocky edges. 
 
 We reached Boothbay in the course of an hour, 
 and came to anchor a short distance off the town, 
 which seemed to be of considerable size. The 
 Assyrian immediately put on his shore clothes,
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 207 
 
 and getting the Skipper to row him to the nearest 
 wharf, went in search of lemons and whiskey. 
 After a protracted absence he returned disconso- 
 late. Lemons he had got, but whiskey was not to 
 be obtained for love or money ; the place, he said, 
 was drier than Sahara. He brought us, however, 
 letters and papers, so that his visit was not alto- 
 gether fruitless. 
 
 As we sat reading the papers, a boat from the 
 town came alongside with one man in it, a re- 
 spectable looking person, who produced an empty 
 bottle, and asked if we could let him have a little 
 brandy, for which he would pay. His wife, he 
 said, was sick, and the doctor had prescribed 
 brandy, but none was to be had in the town. 
 
 The Assyrian's sympathies were touched by 
 this appeal, and he gave the man a couple of bot- 
 tles of ale, assuring him that he would have been 
 welcome to brandy if we had not unfortunately got 
 out of everything of the sort. He was still ex- 
 pressing his admiration of the stranger's conjugal 
 devotion, when we were hailed by a boat ap- 
 proaching from another quarter of the town. 
 This, too, contained a single individual, and he 
 too produced a bottle, and, strange to say, he like- 
 wise had a sick wife, for whom the doctor had pre- 
 scribed brandy. 
 
 The Assyrian's eyes began to open. " I say, 
 my dear fellow," he remarked to the man in the 
 boat, "are all the women in Boothbay sick, and
 
 208 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 has the doctor prescribed brandy for all of them ? 
 You 're the second chap that has been here within 
 ten minutes with the same story. Had n't you 
 better call a town-meeting, and confer together, so 
 as to have a little variety in your pretences ? " 
 
 The man laughed, and explained that, as no 
 liquor could be bought in town, the only way they 
 had to get it was by buying it of vessels in the 
 harbor, and they had found the pretence of sick- 
 ness useful in inducing their visitors to violate the 
 law by selling to them. 
 
 Shortly after this fellow left us, the Professor, 
 who had been scrutinizing the craft in the harbor 
 through the telescope, pointed out a schooner at 
 some distance which he recognized as the United 
 States Coast-Survey vessel, the Hassler, and said 
 he knew one of her officers. 
 
 The Assyrian snapped his fingers in delight. 
 " I know one too," he said, " and a right good fel- 
 low he is. Let us go on board. We shall find 
 something there to wet our whistles with, I 
 know." 
 
 In a few minutes we were all in the dory, and 
 the Skipper soon rowed us alongside of the schoon- 
 er. We were cordiallv received by the three of- 
 ficers on board, and found the Assyrian's predic- 
 tion amply verified. As we sat in the cabin, 
 whose spaciousness seemed magnificent, compared 
 with that of the Helen, I was startled by the sud- 
 den apparition at my elbow of an ebony complex-
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 209 
 
 ioned individual, bearing a tray containing decan- 
 ters, glasses, lemons, and a pitcher of hot water. 
 How he had got into the cabin was inconceivable, 
 for he certainly had not descended by the only 
 visible entrance. His coming, so sudden and so 
 noiseless, made me think of the genii of the ring 
 and of the lamp that waited on Aladdin. But 
 though he came in so questionable a manner, 
 " the prince of darkness was a gentleman." Pla- 
 cing the tray before us, he vanished as silently as 
 he came behind a curtain. 
 
 We spent a merry evening, and on parting, our 
 friends of the Hassler invited us to dine with them 
 on board the schooner on the morrow, remarking, 
 by way of enticement, that their steward had been 
 to market that afternoon, and had brought back a 
 capital leg of veal. We accepted the invitation, 
 as Governor Gardiner of Massachusetts accepted 
 his renomination, " Promptly, unhesitatingly, joy- 
 ously." 
 
 " Farewell," said the Assyrian, as he descended 
 the side of the schooner into our boat. " If I 
 were a Cockney, I would say to you as Byron 
 said to his mistress, 
 
 ' Farewell ! if ever fondest prayer 
 
 For other's veal availed on high, 
 Mine will not all be lost in air ! '" 
 
 We got back to the sloop a little before mid- 
 night, and to celebrate the discoveiy of the Hass-
 
 210 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 ler, fired off, before we turned in, all our remain- 
 ing rockets, blue-lights, and Roman candles. 
 
 The next morning (Sunday) was serene and 
 mild. After breakfast, two of the officers of the 
 Hassler came to visit us in their cutter, and the 
 Assyrian proposed that, as we were going for the 
 first time in several weeks to have a Christian din- 
 ner, we should all go to church. To this reason- 
 able proposal we assented, and, dressing ourselves 
 in our best clothes, went ashore in state, in man- 
 of-war style, with the United States officers ; and 
 after rambling awhile on the beach, proceeded in 
 search of a meeting-house. A very deaf old fel- 
 low; whom we made to understand by much shout- 
 ing what we wanted, conducted us to a sort of 
 garret, where we found a small and singularly 
 hard-favored congregation, who greeted our en- 
 trance with a stare which was prolonged through- 
 out the whole service. Presently the minister 
 entered, and he too fixed his eyes upon us as we 
 sat in a row on a back bench, and seldom removed 
 his gaze, except when he shut his eyes to pray. 
 
 It was a Methodist meeting, and notwithstand- 
 ing the homeliness of the place and the people, the 
 sermon was a sound discourse, full of practical 
 good sense. The Assyrian listened with devout 
 attention, and, when we came out, declared that 
 he could now eat the fatted calf with a good con- 
 science. Re-embarking in the cutter, we were 
 soon on board the Hassler, where dinner was
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 211 
 
 speedily served, in fine style, by the mysterious 
 gentleman in black, who came and went in the 
 most absolute silence. 
 
 After dinner, we adjourned with our cigars to 
 the deck, and spent the afternoon in conversation, 
 which was prolonged, by jest and song and story, 
 far into the evening. Tea was served on deck, 
 soon after sunset, by the speechless African, whose 
 silence to this day I know not whether to ascribe 
 to absolute dumbness or to his sense of discipline 
 and propriety. 
 
 At length we bade our friends farewell, and re- 
 turned to the Helen about 10 o'clock. The night 
 was so fine, and the air so warm, that we lingered 
 on deck till after midnight. Our parting com- 
 mand to the Skipper was to get under way at day- 
 light, and make sail for the nearest large town to 
 the eastward.
 
 212 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 FROM BOOTHBAY EASTWARD. MACKEREL AND MACK- 
 EREL-FISHING. 
 
 WE rose at sunrise on Monday morning, and 
 at six o'clock took our last look of Boothbay, and 
 hoisted sail for the eastward. It was a delicious 
 
 morning, 
 
 " So cool, so calm, so bright, 
 The bridal of the earth and sky, " 
 
 that we could scarcely believe, with old George 
 Herbert, that so sweet a day must die. The 
 fearful storm, the bleak blasts, the pelting rains, 
 through which we had so lately passed, seemed far 
 off and incredible. The gentle blue heavens hang- 
 ing above us, with not a cloud to speck their se- 
 rene azure, the sparkling waters rippling so gayly 
 around us, and the soft and low breeze that wafted 
 the Helen slowly along, were in such exquisite 
 and perfect harmony with the aspect of surround- 
 ing nature, with the green shores, the delicately- 
 wooded islands, and the distant mountain-peaks, 
 wreathed with soft and shadowy mists, that it 
 seemed monstrous to think of so fair a scene dis- 
 turbed by tempests or overwhelmed by snow and 
 ice. Amid such brilliant sunshine one could hard- 
 ly even credit the coming of night.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 213 
 
 As we drifted down the harbor, we steered close 
 to the Hassler, in hopes of seeing our friends and 
 bidding them a last good-by. But no one was 
 visible save the silent African, who stood leaning 
 over the rail, watching the schools of mackerel 
 that were here and there rippling the surface 
 of the water. He said nothing, but courteously 
 touched his hat as we swept by. The mackerel, 
 as usual, excited the Professor's piscatory rage, 
 and he invited me to jump into the dory with him, 
 and go and catch a mess for breakfast, for which 
 meal the Pilot was leisurely making preparations. 
 The wind was so light that the smoke of our fur- 
 nace ascended like the smoke of a sacrifice, and at 
 the rate at which the sloop was going we could 
 easily overtake her. As we were now getting 
 fairly into the region of mackerel-fishing, the Skip- 
 per had taken care to provide bait, which he pur- 
 chased from a vessel with a bait-mill on board. 
 
 Taking a bucket of the stuff, composed of hard- 
 heads ground up, which the mackerel-fishers use 
 to toll their prey within reach, we entered the 
 dory and rowed toward the nearest school, its 
 presence being easily detected by the ripple which 
 the fishes make in passing through the water. 
 When within two or three rods of them, the Pro- 
 fessor dropped the oars and threw several handfuls 
 of the bait toward the mackerel. Our lines, which 
 were loaded only with light sinkers, were already 
 baited with pieces of hardhead, and we threw them
 
 214 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 quickly out. Instantly there was a rush at them, 
 a sharp, quick bite, and we each pulled in a mack- 
 erel. For a few minutes we drew in fish as fast 
 as we could bait and throw out our lines ; often, 
 indeed, not stopping to put on fresh bait, for the 
 merest shred of skin hanging to the hook was suf- 
 ficient. We had caught about thirty in quick 
 succession, the fish following as our boat floated 
 along on the tide, when suddenly they ceased to 
 bite, something had alarmed them, and they had 
 gone off like a flash to reappear at the distance of 
 an eighth of a mile. As we had already more 
 than enough for breakfast, we did not pursue 
 them, but regained the sloop and turned our cap- 
 tures over to the Pilot, who soon had the choicest 
 of them in his frying-pan. 
 
 This was my first experience of mackerel-fish- 
 ing, and very pleasant I found it. The author of 
 " Wild Sports of the West of Ireland" described 
 it truly when he said : " There is not on sea or 
 river, always excepting angling for salmon, any 
 sport comparable to this delightful amusement ; full 
 of life and bustle, everything about it is animated 
 and exhilarating: a brisk breeze, a fair sky, the 
 boat in quick and constant motion, all is calcu- 
 lated to interest and excite. He who has experi- 
 enced the glorious sensations of sailing on the 
 Western Ocean, a bright autumnal sky above, a 
 deep-green lucid swell around, a steady breeze, 
 and as much of it as the hooker can stand up to,
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 215 
 
 will estimate the exquisite enjoyment our morn- 
 ing's mackerel-fishing afforded." 
 
 I have not yet seen any fish so handsome as the 
 mackerel, so elegant in form, so' beautiful and bril- 
 liant in color. The upper part of the body is dark 
 green in hue, the lower part silvery white, but 
 along the sides are wavy bands of mixed and fluc- 
 tuating colors like those of changeable silk. The 
 size of the fish varies from ten to twenty inches 
 in length, and the average weight is two pounds. 
 Those we caught were small, weighing not more 
 than a pound each. 
 
 The mackerel was well known to the ancients, 
 and those taken near the Island of Paros were 
 particularly celebrated. The famous fish -sauce 
 called garum, made from their entrails, was in- 
 vented by the Greeks. The mackerel of the 
 Mediterranean, however, are poor and tasteless, 
 compared with those of the Atlantic, and though 
 Apicius wrote many receipts for sauces to dress 
 them in, and to pour over them at table, it is cer- 
 tain that the ancients hardly considered them fit to 
 eat fresh, but preferred them salted, as the Span- 
 iards do to this day. The physician Celsus, eigh- 
 teen hundred years ago, pronounced them very 
 heavy food, gravissimum alimentum. Oppian, a 
 Greek of the second century, who wrote a long 
 poem on fish and fishing, compares the mackerel's 
 fondness for brilliant colors and his readiness to 
 bite at a bit of red rag, to the rashness of an in- 
 fant playing with fire :
 
 216 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 "Just so the little smiling boy admires 
 The candle's painted blaze and curling spires ; 
 Extends his hand, but dear experience gains, 
 The greatest beauty gives the greatest pains." 
 
 JElian, another Greek writer, not long after- 
 ward, tells one of the strangest fish-stories on 
 record, to the effect that certain fishermen had 
 formed a league with a tribe of mackerel, which 
 they supplied with food, and in return the mack- 
 erel scoured the seas for them, and lured within 
 reach of their nets and lines whole schools of their 
 own species. The alliance between the fishermen 
 and these decoys was, says JElian, of a most sacred 
 and inviolable character, and even subsisted, by 
 some mode of tradition, among the descendants of 
 the contracting parties for many generations. 
 
 It has been supposed, until recently, that the 
 mackerel was a migratory fish, and that toward 
 winter it retired to the polar regions, where it 
 kept itself warm by getting under the ice. Dr. 
 Anderson gives a minute description of their line 
 of march in the spring, and represents them as 
 pouring in succession along the coasts of Iceland, 
 Scotland, and Ireland, dividing, as they approach 
 the English Channel, into two columns, one of 
 which continues its onward course along the west 
 of France, Spain, and Portugal, and streams 
 through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediter- 
 ranean ; while the other passes up the Channel, 
 along the northern coast of France and the oppo-
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 217 
 
 site coast of England, and, swarming through the 
 North Sea, arrives about July off the shores of 
 Jutland, whence it sends a detachment into the 
 Baltic, while the main army continues along the 
 coast of Norway till it again reaches its Arctic 
 winter quarters. The facts, however, do not sus- 
 tain this theory ; for while mackerel are seldom 
 seen in English waters till May, they appear still 
 earlier in the Mediterranean, and at Montpelier, 
 in the South of France, the fishermen call them, 
 in their peculiar dialect, pds cFAvril, or April 
 fish, from their recurrence in that month. 
 
 Another theory, once in vogue to account for 
 their disappearance during the winter, was that 
 they plunged themselves in the mud at the bottom 
 of the ocean a few miles from shore. A French 
 admiral, quoted by Lace"pede, declared that he had 
 seen them with their heads stuck in the sand in 
 such compact masses that the bottom of the sea 
 was literally paved with them. 
 
 It is now believed that the mackerel retires to 
 mid-ocean to spend the winter, as great schools 
 have occasionally been seen far out in the Atlantic, 
 as low as the twentieth degree of north latitude, 
 early in May, swimming northward ; while, on the 
 other hand, they have been seen in December in 
 higher latitude, swimming southward. 
 
 The mackerel is said to be particularly fond of 
 human flesh, though how this taste was detected I 
 am unable to say. Old Eric Pontoppidan, Bishop 
 to
 
 218 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 of Bergen, to whose famous work on the Natural 
 History of Norway we are indebted for the first 
 notice of the sea-serpent, and for the only authen- 
 tic account of the Kraken, and for that remarkably 
 concise chapter " On the Snakes of Norway," 
 which disposes of the subject in six words, 
 " There are no snakes in Norway," relates a 
 fearful story of the mackerel. A Norwegian sailor 
 was bathing in a state of nature on his native coast, 
 when his white skin attracted a shoal of these 
 fierce and greedy little fishes, who gathered round 
 him in such numbers and such force that they bore 
 him out to sea for some distance, nibbling and 
 gnawing him so desperately that before his com- 
 rades who were not far off, in their ship 
 could rescue him, he was so exhausted and 
 maimed that he expired soon after they got him 
 into their boat. 
 
 The mackerel is taken in great abundance on 
 the coasts of the British islands, and is pursued in 
 boats, and not in large vessels as in our American 
 waters. As the fish soon become unfit for food, the 
 mackerel dealers have been allowed, since 1698, 
 to cry their commodity for sale through the streets 
 of London on Sunday. At the fishing towns 
 on the coast the mackerel season is one of great 
 bustle and activity. The high prices obtained for 
 early cargoes, and the large returns gained by the 
 enormous numbers of fish sometimes captured 
 in a single night, stimulate the fishermen to great
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 219 
 
 exertions. In May, 1807, the first Brighton boat- 
 load of mackerel sold at Billingsgate market for 
 forty guineas a hundred, or nearly two dollars for 
 each fish. On the other hand, they were so plen- 
 tiful at Dover in 1808 that sixty were sold for a shil- 
 ling. At Brighton, in June of the same year, the 
 quantity of mackerel in the water was so great that 
 the fishermen of one boat could not drag in their 
 nets, but had to let nets and fish sink together. 
 On a Sunday in March, 1833, four Hastings boats 
 brought on shore 10,800 mackerel, and on the 
 next day two boats brought 7,000. 
 
 The first voyagers to New England noticed the 
 abundance on our coast of the mackerel, which the 
 Indians called Wawwunnekeseag, a word expressive 
 of its fatness. Winthrop relates that in 1633 the 
 ship Griffin, two days before her arrival at Boston, 
 lost a passenger by drowning as he was casting 
 forth a line to catch mackerel. Allerton, one of 
 the Mayflower pilgrims, received mackerel for sale 
 on " half profits " at New Haven in 1653. Seven 
 years after, the Commissioners of the Colonies of 
 New England recommended to the Colonial Legis- 
 latures to regulate the mackerel trade, because 
 " the fish is the most staple commodity of this 
 country." The mackerel fishery at Cape Cod 
 was held by the Plymouth Colony as public" prop- 
 erty, and its profits appropriated to public uses. 
 It was rented from time to time to individuals, and 
 a part of the fund to support the first free school es- 
 tablished in America was derived from it.
 
 220 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 Before the Revolution, the mackerel fishery was 
 largely prosecuted on the coast of New England 
 by sloops fitted out for the purpose, of which Mas- 
 sachusetts had about a hundred, while the town of 
 Scituate alone owned upward of thirty in 1770. 
 Afterward, this branch of industry decayed, and 
 for a considerable period boats only were used. 
 But about the beginning of this centuiy, a vessel 
 was sent to Mount Desert to catch mackerel, and 
 made so profitable a trip that the business soon 
 revived, and became more prosperous than ever. 
 At present, about 1,000 vessels and 5,000 seamen 
 from Massachusetts are employed in the mackerel 
 fishing, and, beside the numbers of the fish which 
 are sold to be eaten fresh, nearly 300,000 barrels 
 are annually inspected in Massachusetts, which are 
 worth about $1,500,000. The salted mackerel 
 are sold chiefly in the Slave States, but a large 
 proportion of the poorer quality is exported to 
 South America, and to the East and West Indies. 
 
 When a mackerel vessel reaches a place where 
 the fish are supposed to be plentiful, the master 
 furls all his sails except the mainsail, brings his 
 vessel's bow to the wind, ranges his crew at 
 intervals along one of her sides, and, without a 
 mackerel in sight, attempts to- i-aise a school by 
 throwing over bait. The baiter stands amidships, 
 with the bait-box outside the rail, and with a tin- 
 cup nailed to a long handle, he scatters the bait on 
 the water. If the mackerel appear, the men
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 221 
 
 throw out short lines, to the hooks of which a 
 glittering pewter jig is affixed. The fish, if they 
 bite at all, generally bite rapidly, and are hauled 
 in as fast as the most active man can throw out 
 and draw in a line. As they pull them on board, 
 the fisherman, with a jerk, throws the fish into a 
 barrel standing beside him. So ravenously do 
 they bite, that sometimes a barrelful is caught in 
 fifteen minutes by a single man. Some active 
 young men will haul in and jerk off a fish and 
 throw out the line for another with a single mo- 
 tion, and repeat the act in so rapid succession that 
 their arms seem continually on the swing. " To 
 be high-line," that is, to catch the greatest number 
 of fish, says Sabine, " is an object of earnest desire 
 among the ambitious ; and the muscular ease, the 
 precision, and adroitness of movement which such 
 men exhibit in the strife, are admirable. While 
 the school remains alongside, and will take the 
 hook, the excitement of the men, and the rushing 
 noise of the fish in their beautiful and manifold 
 evolutions in the water, arrest the attention of the 
 most careless observer." 
 
 Sometimes, after thousands have been caught by 
 the ten or twelve men of the crew, the mackerel sud- 
 denly disappear. The lines are then thrown aside, 
 and all hands go to work to dress the fish, the cap- 
 tain or mate first counting them, and noting down 
 in the fish-book what each man has caught. The 
 mackerel are split and cleaned, and soaked awhile
 
 222 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 in barrels of salt-water. They are then washed 
 and handed to the salter, who puts a handful of 
 salt in the bottom of a barrel, takes a fish in his 
 right hand, rolls it in salt, and places it skin 
 downward in the barrel, till he comes to the top 
 layer, which is placed skins up and well covered 
 with salt. When the vessel returns to port, the 
 fish are sent on shore to be sorted into three or 
 four qualities, weighed, re-packed, re-salted, and 
 re-pickled. 
 
 The mackerel fishery, as pursued by the New- 
 Englanders, is a toilsome and perilous calling, and 
 success in it can only be achieved by great energy 
 and activity. It is carried on chiefly in schooners, 
 averaging fifty tons, which follow their prey to the 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence, and even to the bleak and 
 stormy coast of Labrador. It is well described in 
 Whittier's poem, " The Fisherman," of which I 
 quote a few stanzas : 
 
 " Now, brothers, for the icebergs 
 
 Of frozen Labrador, 
 Floating spectral in the moonshine, 
 
 Along the low, black shore ! 
 Where like snow the gannet's feathers 
 
 On Brador's rocks are shed, 
 And the noisy murre are flying 
 
 Like black scuds overhead. 
 
 " Where in mist the rock is hiding, 
 And the sharp reef lurks below, 
 And the white squall smites in summer, 
 And the autumn tempests blow j
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 223 
 
 Where through gray and rolling vapor, 
 
 From evening unto mom 
 A thousand boats are hailing, 
 
 Horn answering unto horn. 
 
 There we '11 drop our lines and gather 
 
 Old ocean's treasures in, 
 Where'er the mottled mackerel 
 
 Turns up a steel-dark fin. 
 The sea 's our field of harvest, 
 
 Its scaly tribes our grain ; 
 We '11 reap the teeming waters 
 
 As at home they reap the plain I 
 
 " Our wet hands spread the carpet, 
 
 And light the hearth of home ; 
 From our fish, as in the olden time, 
 
 The silver coin shall come. 
 As the demon fled the chamber 
 
 Where the fish of Tobit lay, 
 So ours from all our dwellings 
 
 Shall frighten want away. 
 
 " Though the mist upon our jackets 
 
 In the bitter air congeals, 
 And our lines wind stiff and slowly 
 
 From off the frozen reels ; 
 Though the fog be dark around us, 
 
 And the storm blow high and loud, 
 We will whistle down the wild wind. 
 
 And laugh beneath the cloud ! "
 
 224 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE ISLAND OF MONHEGAN. OWL'S HEAD. FLAT 
 BURGLARY. 
 
 THE breeze freshened as we gained the open sea, 
 and though the swell was very rough from the ef- 
 fects of the recent storm, we swept along delight- 
 fully through a host of islands, fair to look upon, 
 though not possessing the romantic beauty of the 
 isles of Casco Bay. This part of the coast of 
 Maine is interesting from its legendary and histor- 
 ical associations. We passed in the course of the 
 forenoon the Island of Monhegan, which comprises 
 a thousand acres of good land, well cultivated by 
 about a hundred inhabitants, a remarkably intel- 
 ligent and prosperous people, who form a pure de- 
 mocracy and manage their public business entirely 
 without officers of any kind, their only public edi- 
 fice being a school-house, which serves on Sundays 
 for a church. 
 
 Close to Monhegan is an islet called Mananas, 
 on a rocky ledge, in the centre of which was dis- 
 covered, in 1808, an inscription in characters sup- 
 posed to be Runic, and of which a copy has been 
 sent to the Society of Antiquaries at Copenhagen. 
 If the Vinland of the Northmen was in New Eng- 
 land, there can be no doubt that those bold sea-
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 225 
 
 rovers must have lingered long and lovingly on 
 this coast of Maine, which so much resembles that 
 of their own Norway, with its deep fiords, its rocky 
 isles, and its sea-washed mountains. At all events, 
 it pleased my fancy to imagine the adventurous 
 Biorn, and his companions sailing along the track 
 we were pursuing, gazing with wondering eyes on 
 the same islands and headlands, unchanged in any 
 material aspect by the lapse of a thousand years. 
 I repeated to myself the words of the poet just 
 quoted, who has sought all along these shores the 
 themes of his song. 
 
 " What sea-worn barks are those which throw 
 The light spray from each rushing prow ? 
 Have they not in the North Sea's blast 
 Bowed to the waves the straining mast ? 
 Their frozen sails, the low, pale sun 
 Of Thule's night has shone upon j 
 Flapped by the sea-wind's gusty sweep, 
 Round icy drift, and headland steep, 
 Wild Jutland's wives, and Lochlin's daughters, 
 Have watched them fading o'er the waters ; 
 Lessening through driving mist and spray, 
 Like white-winged sea-birds on their way ! 
 
 " Onward they glide, and now I view 
 Their iron-armed and stalwart crew ; 
 Joy glistens in each wild, blue eye, 
 Turned to green earth and summer sky : 
 Each broad, seamed breast has cast aside 
 Its cumbering vest of shaggy hide ; 
 Bared to the sun and soft, warm air, 
 Streams back the Norseman's yellow hair. 
 I see the gleam of axe and spear, 
 The sound of smitten shields I hear, 
 
 10* o
 
 226 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 Keeping a harsh and fitting time 
 To Saga's chant and Runic rhyme ; 
 Such lays as Zetland's Scald has sung 
 His gray and naked isles among, 
 Or muttered low, at midnight hour, 
 Round Odin's mossy stone of power." 
 
 The earliest attempts of the English at coloniz- 
 ing New England were made here early in the sev- 
 enteenth century by Sir Ferdinando Gorges. The 
 navigator Gosnold was here in 1602, and Martin 
 Pring in 1603. Captain John Smith visited Mon- 
 hegan in 1614 for purposes of trade, and a settle- 
 ment was made on the island in 1618, two years 
 before the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth. A little 
 farther to the eastward, on the island of Mount 
 Desert, the mission of St. Saviour had been found- 
 ed in 1613 by the French Jesuit, Father Pierre 
 Baird, and destroyed, together with other French 
 settlements in Maine, by Sir Samuel Argal of Vir- 
 ginia. At a later period, the adventurous Baron 
 de St. Castine came from Canada and built a for- 
 tress on the site of the town which now bears his 
 name. He married the daughter of the great Mo- 
 docawando, the most powerful sachem of the East, 
 and had a wild and romantic career till his castle 
 was taken and plundered by Sir Edmund Andros, 
 Governor of Massachusetts. Over these waters 
 during the same period had cruised the Huguenot 
 La Tour, the Baron d'Estienne, the Lord of Aca- 
 dia, of whom Whittier sings :
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 227 
 
 " St. Saviour had looked 
 
 On the heretic sail, 
 As the songs of the Huguenot 
 
 Rose on the gale. 
 The pale, ghostly fathers 
 
 Remembered her well, 
 And had cursed her while passing 
 
 With taper and bell ; 
 But the men of Monhegan, 
 
 Of Papists abhorred, 
 Had welcomed and feasted 
 
 The heretic Lord. 
 They had loaded his shallop 
 
 With dun-fish and ball, 
 With stores for his larder, 
 
 And steel for his wall." 
 
 The breeze being fair and steady, we held on 
 our course without stopping, till, at 6 P. M., we 
 reached Owl's Head, an exceedingly picturesque 
 promontory where a large white lighthouse 
 crowned a high rock rising abruptly from the 
 water. Here we anchored in a broad channel 
 between the mainland and two islands, amid a fleet 
 of vessels. This channel is much frequented by 
 coasters and fishermen, and five hundred sail have 
 been seen passing Owl's Head in one day. 
 
 After supper the Assyrian persuaded the Artist 
 and me to go ashore and walk with him to the 
 large town of Rockland, where, he was assured by 
 the Skipper, that whiskey could be obtained without 
 fail. To make a proper impression on the people 
 of that place, he arrayed himself in his best attire, 
 putting on for the occasion, for the first time, a
 
 228 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 fashionable stove-pipe hat which he had carefully 
 reserved for a great emergency. In spite of his 
 remonstrances, we perversely adhered to ouf red 
 shirts, fishy pantaloons, and old felt hats, and con- 
 sequently made rather a rowdy appearance by the 
 side of 
 
 '" Our oiled and curled Assyrian bull." 
 
 We set off at a good round pace, and the dis- 
 tance to Rockland, according to the Skipper, being 
 only three miles, and the weather fine, though 
 growing cold, we were highly pleased at the pros- 
 pect of stretching our legs in a moderate walk, after 
 being cramped up in the little sloop. We went on 
 cheerfully for perhaps a couple of miles, on a road 
 bordered by woods, till we met a man driving a 
 wagon apparently on his way to Owl's Head. We 
 stopped and asked : 
 
 " Is this the road to Rockland ? " 
 
 Wai, it is." 
 
 " How far is it ? " 
 
 " Wai, a little mor'n three miles." 
 
 The wagoner drove on, leaving us not very well 
 satisfied with the result of our inquiries. We kept 
 on, however, for about a mile farther, where we 
 encountered a traveller on foot, who assured us 
 that Rockland was still about three miles distant. 
 The distance was evidently diminishing, and we 
 pushed vigorously onward, till at length, after 
 walking, as we computed, in all about five miles, 
 we reached the town of which we were in search,
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 229 
 
 about 9 P. M. To our surprise, it proved to be a 
 handsome, city-like place, with well-built brick 
 blocks and granite sidewalks. The whole popula- 
 tion appeared to be in the street, returning, as we 
 learned, from a brass-band concert. 
 
 The Assyrian, perceiving that most of the shops 
 were shut, directed his steps to a hotel, where he 
 made inquiries as to the fluid resources of the town. 
 The answer was discouraging. Nothing stronger 
 than lager-bier was to be had for love or money. 
 Unwilling to credit so fearful a state of destitution 
 in a place of such size and apparent business, our 
 thirsty friend went forth to explore, leaving us to 
 peruse the newspapers and gather the news of the 
 last few weeks. In about half an hour he re- 
 turned tolerably successful. He had found, at an 
 apothecary's, several bottles of Wolfe's Aromatic 
 Schiedam Schnapps, which, in spite of its preten- 
 sions to be medicine, he said was really a pretty 
 good article of gin, though abominably diluted 
 with water. Still, it was fit for drink, and, in the 
 absence of better liquor, might be endured. 
 
 We set out at once on our return, each alter- 
 nately bearing the precious package, which was 
 confoundedly heavy, and reached Owl's Head 
 just at midnight, scarcely able to stand, we were 
 so fatigued, from want of practice in walking for 
 the last month. The weather had changed greatly 
 in the course of the evening. It had grown quite 
 cold, and the clouds indicated speedy rain. With
 
 230 4 SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 some difficulty, standing on the shore, we detected 
 the Helen amid a crowd of vessels of all sizes. 
 The Assyrian hailed her: 
 
 " Hallo ! the Helen, the Helen ahoy ! " 
 There was no response. In fact, all on board 
 were sound asleep, having turned in, under the 
 idea, gathered from some idle remark of one of us 
 as we left them, that we should stay at Rockland 
 all night. The Assyrian hailed again repeatedly, 
 and with the utmost force of his lungs, and we 
 joined him in the outcry. There was still no an- 
 swer from the sloop ; but men on board other ves- 
 sels halloed at us in wrath for making such a dis- 
 turbance, and dogs on the shore set up a furious 
 barking. There was evidently no use in attempting 
 to rouse our sleeping friends, and so we walked 
 about the village for a while, seeking for a tavern. 
 None was to be seen. At length, growing desperate 
 with fatigue and cold, we tried to raise the in- 
 mates of several dwellings in succession, but with- 
 out effect; we could not waken a soul. There 
 must be something peculiarly sleep-provoking in 
 the atmosphere of Owl's Head, for we made din 
 enough to rouse the Seven Sleepers. 
 
 Our next effort was in search of a boat, and we 
 prowled in the dark and the rain, which now began 
 to fall, for some distance along the shore. We 
 found only two skiffs, one of which was full of wa- 
 ter, and the other was moored beyond our reach 
 except by swimming. We turned again to the vil-
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 231 
 
 lage, and found at length a ruinous cooper-shop, 
 in which we took refuge from the rain, and made 
 an attempt to sleep. With a stick of wood for a 
 pillow, we lay down on a pile of shavings, and 
 for a few minutes slumbered ; but the cold wind 
 blew so keenly through the chasms in the walls of 
 the hut, that we soon woke, and were forced to 
 rise and move about to keep warm*. At length it 
 occurred to me that the school-house of the vil- 
 lage would probably afford us a comfortable shel- 
 ter, if we could find it. We remembered enough 
 of the feats of our school-boy days to be confident 
 that we could get into any village edifice of the 
 sort in New England. 
 
 As the rain had somewhat abated, we sallied 
 forth and happily in a few minutes found the 
 building which we sought, a house of one story 
 with a single chimney, windows high above the 
 ground, and no fence around it. After reconnoi- 
 tring it carefully, till satisfied that it was indeed 
 the school-house, we assisted the Assyrian to 
 clamber up to a window which had fortunately 
 been left a little open. That gentleman, after 
 much effort, at last got his knee upon the win- 
 dow-sill, and, pushing up the sash, thrust in his 
 head. 
 
 At this moment two or three quick screams 
 and outcries. " Thieves ! murder ! help ! " evi- 
 dently from a female voice, broke upon our hor- 
 rified ears. They were followed by a rough
 
 232 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 voice demanding with an oath what we wanted. 
 It was no time for explanations. And in fact 
 none were needed by us. We had mistaken a 
 dwelling for a school-house, and were breaking 
 into a bedroom, that was all. The Assyrian, 
 expecting each instant a pistol-shot or a blow on 
 his head from out of the darkness, let go the sash, 
 which, in its desf ent, struck off his new hat, which 
 fell, of course, within the room. He then dropped 
 himself to the ground, and we all ran away as fast 
 as we could, not caring to make our appearance in 
 Rockland again next morning in the character of 
 burglars caught in the act of breaking into a dwell- 
 ing-house at Owl's Head. 
 
 We again took refuge in the cooper's shop, 
 congratulating ourselves that it was not the fash- 
 ion on the coast of Maine to sleep with pistols 
 under the pillow, and wondering at the taste 
 which led people to build their dwellings in the 
 same fashion that they did their school-houses. 
 We made another attempt to sleep in the- shav- 
 ings, but the cold still kept us awake. We, there- 
 fore, again descended to the shore, and, after long 
 walking on the beach, found a boat with oars, 
 which some fisherman had left ready to go out in to 
 his daily task at dawn. We took the liberty of 
 borrowing it, and were soon on board the sloop. 
 Stopping merely to wake the Skipper and send 
 him back with the borrowed boat, we turned into 
 our berths, and, wrapped in warm blankets, were 
 soon oblivious of all our troubles.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 233 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 FIRE AND WATER. PULPIT HARBOR. THE CUSK. 
 A STRANGE FISH. 
 
 THE Professor and the two seamen, who had 
 all had their natural share of sleep while the rest 
 of us were wandering dismally in the midnight 
 cold and darkness of Owl's Head, rose at four 
 in the morning, and got the sloop under way 
 wliile we yet slept. The wind at starting was 
 moderate, but in the course of an hour it had 
 risen to a gale, accompanied by squalls of rain and 
 mist, which made the air so thick that the land 
 was totally hidden from sight, and the pilot could 
 not tell where to steer. The pitching of the ves- 
 sel in the heavy sea aroused me a little after five, 
 and leaving the Artist and the Assyrian asleep in 
 their berths, I went on deck. The only object 
 in sight, beside the white waves and the driving 
 clouds that enveloped us, was a schooner ahead, 
 pursuing the same course with ourselves. We 
 were at the entrance to Penobscot Bay, six or 
 seven miles from the mainland, and the seamen 
 thought not far from the west side of the North 
 Fox Island. 
 
 We followed the schooner for a mile or two, 
 and at length caught sight of land at no great 

 
 234 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 distance, which proved to be the Fox Island. 
 The schooner kept close to the shore, and pres- 
 ently disappeared from our view within a narrow 
 opening in the rocky coast, which we now dimly 
 perceived. It was a harbor not down on the 
 charts, and unknown to our seamen, but they said 
 that as the schooner had got in, we could of course 
 follow, and it was not advisable to keep the sea in 
 such a storm, with our unsound mast. The Pilot, 
 who by this time had got his great iron furnace 
 ablaze with coals, ready for cooking breakfast, now 
 steered for the entrance of the harbor, which was 
 very narrow, with a huge black rock rising right 
 in the middle. 
 
 This narrow channel was so strikingly pictu- 
 resque, that I went below to wake the Artist and 
 the Assyrian, leaving the Skipper and the Pro- 
 fessor standing at the bows vigilantly scanning the 
 water as we approached, and looking out sharply 
 for reefs and rocks, of which they occasionally 
 gave notice to the Pilot. I had succeeded, by 
 considerable shaking and punching, in restoring 
 the sleepers to a glimmering of consciousness, 
 when a tremendous uproar on deck called me 
 to the companion-way to see what the matter 
 was. 
 
 A terrible and yet laughable sight met my eyes. 
 As the sloop was surging on into the entrance 
 of the harbor, the Skipper discovered a sunken 
 reef right ahead of the vessel. He shouted to the
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 235 
 
 Pilot to put his helm hard up, and the Professor 
 ran aft to assist in shifting the boom. Before he 
 could reach the stern a squall struck the sloop, 
 and the boom, as it swung over, hit the Professor, 
 who, to save himself, clung to the spar, and was 
 carried half over the side of the vessel, while, at 
 the same time, the boom knocked off the Pilot's 
 hat. To this particular article of apparel the old 
 man had a special attachment, generated probably 
 by the long series of years during which it had 
 crowned his venerable head. He therefore with 
 one hand made a desperate grab at the beaver, 
 which he caught ere it reached the water, while 
 with the other he pushed out the boom, to which 
 the Professor was still hanging, with his heels 
 clinging to the rail of the vessel. The Pilot, at 
 the same time, gave a prodigious kick at the tiller 
 to put it hard up, but missed it, and hit his fur- 
 nace, which toppled incontinently over. The 
 glowing coals fell, some into a basket of shav- 
 ings and kindlings under the bench, which runs 
 around the cockpit, and these highly combustible 
 materials immediately blazed up ; other coals set 
 fire to the dry space beneath the bench, to which 
 the rain never penetrated ; others yet, falling upon 
 the wet deck, caused a great gushing up of steam 
 and smoke. 
 
 This was precisely the aspect of affairs when 
 I stuck my head out of the cabin, followed by the 
 half-asleep Artist and Assyrian. The volumes
 
 236 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 of flame and smoke and steam that whirled in our 
 faces, together with the howling of the storm and 
 the frowning look of the black rock that guards 
 the mouth of the harbor, to which we were so 
 close that it seemed right over our heads, were 
 well calculated to give a slight shock to our nerves. 
 So sudden and unexpected a combination of the 
 dangers of shipwreck and of fire at sea was really 
 exciting, though we could not help laughing at 
 the droll attitudes into which the wayward boom 
 had knocked our friends. 
 
 There being several buckets at hand, and our 
 vessel so low in the water that we could fill them 
 by merely leaning over the side, the fire was 
 easily got under, and the sloop, having glided past 
 the reef, whose presence in the way had caused the 
 commotion, and which she cleared with a slight 
 touch without damage, we sailed into the harbor, 
 and presently were in still water. 
 
 This harbor, as we learned afterward, is called 
 Pulpit Harbor, from the great, high, isolated rock 
 at the entrance, which the church-going New- 
 Englanders have likened to a pulpit, as in the 
 case of so many other " pulpit-rocks " on their 
 coast. It is one of the finest havens I ever saw, 
 if not the very finest. Except the narrow en- 
 trance it was land-locked, and as calm and shel- 
 tered as an inland pond. Its diameter seemed to 
 be about half a mile, and it was surrounded by 
 low hills, sloping gently to the water's edge. The
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 237 
 
 summits of the hills were covered with woods, but 
 on their cleared and grassy slopes cattle and sheep 
 were pasturing. A few fishermen's houses were 
 in sight, and beside the schooner we had followed 
 in, there were half a dozen small fishing-vessels 
 at anchor in front of the hamlet. 
 
 We anchored in the middle of the harbor, just 
 opposite the entrance, through which we had a 
 view of the turbulent sea without. The storm, 
 however, was abating, the rain had ceased, and by 
 the time we had finished breakfast the sun broke 
 from the clouds. Nowhere, I am sure, did he 
 smile on a lovelier or more peaceful scene of rural 
 beauty. Nothing could exceed the exquisite fresh- 
 ness of the green hillsides, and the groves that 
 bounded the landward view were a tasteful and 
 natural frame to the picture. Seaward, we looked 
 as through some mighty portal, half in ruins, over 
 the black and jagged rocks of the entrance, and 
 thence across ten miles of ocean to the mainland, 
 where the picturesque Camden Mountains reared 
 their bold summits in full view. These mountains 
 are not far from the shore, and form a remark- 
 ably beautiful, though short and isolated range, 
 rising to the height of fifteen hundred feet above 
 the surrounding plain. They lie directly opposite 
 the entrance to Pulpit Harbor. 
 
 To complete the charm of the landscape, a num- 
 ber of large fish-hawks, whose huge fagot-like 
 nests we could see through the telescope on the
 
 238 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 branches of a grove of tall pines, were wheeling 
 high in the air with their wings wide extended 
 and apparently motionless, watching a school of 
 mackerel near Pulpit Rock, and occasionally de- 
 scending and seizing fishes, which they carried to 
 their nests, uttering as they went fierce screams 
 of triumph and delight. 
 
 About the middle of the forenoon the Assyrian 
 remembered the schnapps he had purchased at 
 Rockland. He looked around the cabin for it, 
 but the package was nowhere visible. He exam- 
 ined the lockers and poked about the fore-peak. 
 It was not to be found. Proceeding to the dock, 
 he hailed the Skipper, who was just going ashore 
 for water, and had already got a few strokes of his 
 oars from the sloop, and asked him what he had 
 done with the schnapps ? 
 
 " Schnapps," repeated the Skipper, slowly back- 
 ing water, and evidently wondering what scrape 
 he had got into now. " I don't know anything 
 about schnapps. There has n't been any schnapps 
 on board." And he came alongside. The As- 
 syrian signed to him to remain, and for a few mo- 
 ments hung down his head as if lost in thought. 
 At last he spoke : " I remember now, I left the 
 package in that infernal cooper's shop at Owl's 
 Head. The fates are against me. I shall drink 
 water for the rest of the cruise." And stepping 
 into the dory to avoid our gibes, he told the Skip- 
 per he would go with him to the nearest spring, 
 and make trial of his new beverage.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 239 
 
 While they were absent, we got out our lines 
 and fished. The water was very deep and fish 
 abundant. We caught cod, haddock, whiting, 
 skate, and a large Greenland sculpin, a handsome 
 monster with a dark-brown back, and sides and 
 belly adorned with circular spots of yellow and 
 white. We caught also a smaller specimen of the 
 sculpin family, or of some species akin to it, which 
 the Professor thought was a bullhead. It was 
 about six inches in length, and was of a light- 
 brown color, with half a dozen dark bands passing 
 around it. 
 
 A fish resembling a hake, of which we caught 
 several, the largest thirty inches in length, and 
 five pounds in weight, the Pilot called a cusk. 
 The liver, he said, was full of oil of a kind good 
 for burns. Its color throughout was that of dark 
 slate. Its head was covered with rough scales. 
 The mouth was large, and the jaws filled with 
 sharp teeth. The back fin and the tail fin were 
 edged with blue and white. This fish is not com- 
 mon on our coast, and in winter sells in Boston 
 market for twice as much as the cod. In Great 
 Britain it is called the torsk, or tusk, and seems to 
 frequent only the northern shores of the island. 
 It is caught among the Orkney Islands, and plen- 
 tifully near Shetland. Still farther north it is 
 very abundant, especially on the coasts of Iceland, 
 Norway, and the Faroe Islands. As its stomach 
 is usually found empty, there is a notion among
 
 240 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 the European fishermen that it lives on the juice 
 of sea-weeds. We had the cusk cooked for din- 
 ner, and found its flesh firm to toughness, but sa- 
 vory enough. When salted, the Pilot said some 
 people preferred it to cod, as the flesh swells 
 much in boiling, and divides into thick flakes. 
 
 The Skipper and the Assyrian not having re- 
 turned when dinner was nearly ready, we sounded 
 the horn to recall them. They obeyed the sum- 
 mons, and during dinner the Assyrian descanted 
 on the beauties of North Fox Island, which he 
 declared to be the finest island ,he had yet seen. 
 A winding strait about a mile broad separates it 
 from the South Fox Island. This strait is called 
 the Thoroughfare, and coasters and fishing-vessels 
 often pass through it. The island was well stocked 
 with sheep, and the flowers were peculiarly bril- 
 liant in hue from the effect of sea air. The Assy- 
 rian had parleyed with sundry of the people, who 
 lived, he said, in very good houses ; and he had 
 learned that the island formed the town of North 
 Haven, that it contained eight hundred inhab- 
 itants, four small villages, as many stores, one 
 church, and eleven school-houses, and, lastly, 
 that its staple product was hay. The only natural 
 curiosity was a huge rocking-bowlder, on the top 
 of a hill adjoining Pulpit Harbor. 
 
 After dinner, the Artist and I went with the 
 Professor in the dory to dredge near the mouth 
 of the harbor. Before we began, the beauty of
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 241 
 
 the sea-weeds on a ledge near by us attracted our 
 attention, and we landed on the rocks, and gath- 
 ered a great quantity of 
 
 " These many-colored, variegated forms, 
 Broideries strange, 
 
 Wrought by the sea-nymphs from their golden hair, 
 And wove by moonlight. 
 
 From narrow cells scooped in the rocks, we take 
 These fairy textures, lightly moored at morn. 
 Down sunny slopes, outstretching to the deep, 
 We roam at noon, and gather shapes like these. 
 Note now the painted webs from verdurous isles, 
 Festooned and spangled in sea-caves, and say 
 What hues of land can rival tints like these, 
 Torn from the scarfs and gonfalons of kings 
 Who dwell beneath the waters 1 " 
 
 The result of our dredging was a few fine speci- 
 mens of sea-cucumbers, the largest we had yet 
 seen. 
 
 About the middle of the afternoon a great 
 school of mackerel came into the harbor, and we 
 all got into the dory, except the seamen, and 
 anchored alongside of Pulpit Rock, to intercept 
 them as they came out. Our bait, which we 
 threw out by handfuls, soon attracted them, and 
 a lively scene ensued. For about half an hour 
 we pulled in mackerel as fast as we could throw 
 out and haul in our lines. After catching upward 
 of a hundred, we desisted, as we really did not 
 know what to do with the fish, and did not care 
 to capture them merely to throw back into the 
 sea. 
 
 11 p
 
 242 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 A thunder-storm confined us to the sloop for 
 the rest of the day. Before sundown it cleared 
 up, and as the setting sun descended directly be- 
 hind the opposite mountains, we were favored 
 with a strange and magnificent spectacle. After 
 the storm, the sky had become perfectly clear 
 of clouds, except a dense mass that rested on the 
 mountain peaks. As the sun went down, these 
 clouds gathered around the summit of Magunti- 
 cook, the loftiest peak of the mountains, and as- 
 sumed the form of a crown, which was presently 
 suffused and glorified with a rich rosy hue. For 
 nearly half an hour this superb circlet remained 
 motionless on the brow of the mountain, till it 
 gradually melted away as the shades of evening 
 advanced. 
 
 Before the twilight vanished we began to fish, 
 as the Professor thought we might find the place 
 abundant in hake. In a few minutes I hauled up 
 a lobster, in whose tail my hook had somehow got 
 fast. It was in fine condition, and weighed twelve 
 pounds. As we had been for some days without 
 lobster, the unlucky crustacean went at once into 
 the Pilot's pot. 
 
 We were catching whiting pretty freely, when, 
 just as it was growing dark, an exclamation of 
 surprise from the Assyrian called us to his side. 
 He had caught what we at first glance supposed 
 to be a conger-eel. But, on looking closely, it 
 proved to be a fish of the sculpin family, and of an
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 243 
 
 entirely new and strange species. It was so queer 
 and savage-looking that none of us ventured to 
 touch it or take it from the hook. We inspected 
 and measured it while the Assyrian held it at 
 arm's length, and, after we had satisfied our curi- 
 osity, the Professor brought out a keg of alcohol, 
 over which he held it, and cutting the fish-line, let 
 it drop into the preserving fluid. Its body was 
 shaped like that of an eel, but its head was square 
 and blunt, with an almost human face. It had 
 a steady, stony expression in its deep-set eyes. 
 Its length was thirty inches, and its circumference 
 eight inches. But its most remarkable peculiarity 
 was its color, which was a ghastly white, except at 
 the tail, where it shaded into a rosy hue. 
 
 There is no fish like this described by any 
 writer on ichthyology, and none of us had ever 
 seen anything of the sort before. The Pilot, who 
 had fished in our waters for more than half a cen- 
 tury, declared that he had never seen or heard 
 of such a creature in all his experience. Subse- 
 quently, during the cruise, we showed it to a great 
 number of fishermen, none of whom, however, 
 had ever seen any fish like it. On turning in that 
 night, we left our baited lines hanging over the 
 vessel's side, and in the morning found we had 
 caught a fish resembling the other in everything, 
 except that it was of a lead color instead of a pale 
 white.
 
 244 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 FLAPJACKS. DEER ISLAND. A DRUNKEN PILOT 
 
 TO MOUNT DESERT. 
 
 I WENT on deck before sunrise next morning, 
 to see how Pulpit Harbor looked at that hour. 
 The weather was clear and mild, and the Megun- 
 ticook peaks were tipped with the rosy hues of 
 dawn, while we lay still in deep shadow. I found 
 the Pilot sitting on the taffrail, pipe in mouth, and 
 absorbed in the study of the bewildering inscrip- 
 tions on a package of yeast-powder which he had 
 bought in Portland. He was evidently meditating 
 some great stroke of culinary art. By much se- 
 vere scrutiny and some muttered spelling, he at 
 last mastered the directions on the package, and 
 proceeded to open it with the air of a man who 
 knew what he was about. I ventured to inquire 
 what was in the wind. He answered, with his 
 wonted brevity and directness, " Flapjacks." 
 
 By the time the flapjacks were concocted and 
 the frying-pan ready for their reception, we were 
 all on deck and intently observing the process of 
 preparing them. The old man poured a quantity 
 of the batter into his pan, which was already siz- 
 zling with fat, and when the huge cake was suffi- 
 ciently done, proceeded to turn it with a knife.
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND, 245 
 
 He did not succeed very well in this difficult oper- 
 ation, and the Assyrian remonstrated : 
 
 " That 's a lubberly way of doing it, Uncle 
 Widger. You should loosen the flapjack with 
 your knife, and then, taking the frying-pan in 
 your hand, throw the flapjack into the air in such 
 a way that it will turn a summersault and come 
 down soft side into the pan. That 's the way to 
 turn flapjacks." 
 
 " I should like to see you do it," said the old 
 man. 
 
 " Do it ! " rejoined the confident Assyrian ; " I 
 can do it as easy as I can eat the flapjack after it 
 is done. Here, let me take your knife and I '11 
 show you the trick." 
 
 He carefully loosened the flapjack from the bot- 
 tom of the pan, and then, seizing the handle with 
 both hands, while we stood aside to give him 
 room, he tossed up the frying-pan with consider- 
 able force, giving at the same time a scientific 
 twist to his wrists for the purpose of making the 
 flapjack turn over in the air, while he stood ready 
 to catch it. Unluckily, this last flourish was not 
 successful, for the flapjack, instead of falling per- 
 pendicularly, went with a slant over the stern into 
 the sea. 
 
 The discomfited Assyrian made no attempt to 
 retrieve this disaster by trying again, but silently 
 handed back the frying-pan to the Pilot, and took 
 refuge in the cabin. The mirth of the old man
 
 246 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 at his instructor's failure was pleasant to behold. 
 He laughed and chuckled with infinite glee, and 
 though he made great efforts to suppress his mer- 
 riment and preserve a sober aspect, his delight ran 
 over perpetually at his eyes and would break out 
 every few minutes into a sudden roar. It was 
 not till breakfast was over, and we had made sail 
 and got out of the harbor and on the open sea, 
 that he resumed his wonted gravity. 
 
 Our course was northeast, toward Deer Island, 
 on the eastern side of Penobscot Bay. This island 
 is ten miles long by five miles broad, and has two 
 or three thousand inhabitants. We sailed for sev- 
 eral hours through a group of smaller islands, 
 steering for a channel, which, on the chart, ran 
 between Deer Island and Little Deer Island, and 
 communicated with Edgemoggin Reach. On 
 reaching the spot indicated on the chart as a nav- 
 igable strait, we found it, to our astonishment, dry 
 land, and were forced to come to anchor near a 
 number of fishing-vessels which, like ourselves, 
 had apparently been caught in this trap. 
 
 On inquiry we learned that the strait was pass- 
 able only at high water, and, while waiting for 
 the tide to rise, the Professor and the Assyrian 
 went out in the dory to dredge, while the Artist 
 and I rambled over the rocky bottom of the chan- 
 nel through which, when it should be filled by 
 the tide, our vessel was to sail into Edgemoggin 
 Reach. It was a broad, irregular, ragged chasm,
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 247 
 
 worn apparently by the action of the water, and 
 its high, rocky shores were honey-combed with 
 caves and gullies. Behind a huge promontory, at 
 which our stroll terminated, we found about a 
 dozen young ladies arrayed in pantaloons and long 
 leather boots, hard at work digging clams, which 
 they put into baskets and carried on their should- 
 ers to a large scow lying in the mud not far off. 
 
 They were a lively set of damsels, and had a 
 pleasant propensity for playing practical jokes 
 upon each other of rather a rough sort. We 
 amused ourselves by watching their gambols and 
 their labors, and by retorting the occasional gibes 
 with which they favored us, until the rising tide 
 obliged them to desist from work. After a s.mart 
 skirmish among themselves, in which their baskets 
 and handfuls of mud were freely used as missiles, 
 they embarked in their scow and rowed away, 
 with a parting injunction to us to go home to our 
 anxious mothers in time for tea. 
 
 At 2 P. M. it was high tide, and the Skipper, 
 who had been on shore seeking for a pilot, came 
 on board with one of the Deer-Islanders, a singu- 
 larly queer-looking fellow, who had offered for 
 half a dollar to navigate the sloop through the 
 channel. We hoisted sail immediately, and, with 
 a boisterous wind, were soon scudding over the 
 places on which I had walked dry-shod but a few 
 hours before. It was a sufficiently perilous pas- 
 sage. There was little enough water anywhere,
 
 248 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 and the channel was diversified by huge patches 
 of rock, some sunken and others rising to the 
 surface. Our new pilot, instead of attending to 
 his duty, gave himself wholly up to the contem- 
 plation of a heap of sea-cucumbers, the fruit of 
 the Professor's dredging, which lay on deck. He 
 was very voluble when he first came on board, but 
 the moment his eyes lighted on these strange ani- 
 mals he was struck dumb with astonishment. He 
 fell on his hands and knees before the heap, which 
 he scrutinized in every possible way, by handling, 
 smelling, and touching with his tongue. Mean- 
 time we were running at a furious rate amid rocks 
 and shoals, which the old Pilot at the helm was 
 avoiding as best he could, until the anxious Skip- 
 per, forgetting in alarm for our safety his habitual 
 politeness, touched the new-comer with his foot, 
 and told him to get up and mind his business. 
 
 He rose reluctantly to his feet, his eyes still 
 fixed on the sea-cucumbers, exclaiming, " Lor-a- 
 mighty, gosh ninety, what ar ye going to do with 
 them ? " 
 
 " Cook 'em," said the Assyrian, who had been 
 eying the fellow with intense disgust, " and if we 
 get on the rocks we '11 cook you. So you had bet- 
 ter look out sharp." 
 
 The hint was taken, and the islander, withdraw- 
 ing his gaze from the sea-cucumbers, glanced at 
 the surrounding waters, and presently gave to our 
 old Pilot some directions how to steer. Here a
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 249 
 
 new difficulty arose. The old man did not com- 
 prehend the terms used by the new-comer, and 
 for a while great confusion and uproar raged on 
 the sloop, which seemed likely to terminate only 
 in her going to pieces on the rocks. The two 
 pilots grew angry and excited, and bawled their 
 mutual wrath at each other from the adverse ends 
 of the vessel, till the Skipper interposed, and took 
 upon himself the part of interpreter. 
 
 For a little while everything went well enough, 
 till the irresistible sea-cucumbers again attracted 
 the islander's attention. Quitting his post at the 
 bow, he ran to the heap, and fell again on his 
 knees to examine them, asking, at the same time, 
 a volley of incoherent questions. The irritated 
 Skipper, seizing him by the arm, led him back to 
 the bow, where he talked to him earnestly for a 
 minute or two, and then came aft to the cockpit, 
 where we were all gathered. " The fellow 's as 
 drunk as a loon," he whispered to us through his 
 set teeth. " I did n't find it out till just now. 
 'T will be a wonder if we ever get safe into the 
 Reach with such a chap for pilot." 
 
 Here was a pleasant prospect, truly ! The wind 
 was blowing almost a gale, and, as we knew by 
 our own examination while the tide was out, the 
 channel through which we were passing abounded 
 with reefs and shoals. The soberest Palinurus 
 would have found it hard enough, apparently, to 
 guide a vessel through, and we were trusting to 
 11*
 
 250 . A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 the skill of a drunken loafer, whose wits, at the 
 best, were evidently none of the brightest or 
 steadiest. To do the fellow justice, however, he 
 did know the channel perfectly, and we got at last 
 safely into Edgemoggin Reach, a broad sound run- 
 ning for several miles between Deer Island and the 
 mainland. With this sound our seamen were well 
 acquainted, and beside, we had a good chart of it, 
 so that we needed no further pilotage. 
 
 There was something in the aspect of the Deer- 
 Islander which strongly excited the ire of the 
 Assyrian, who stepped up to him as he was about 
 to get into the dory to be rowed ashore by the 
 Skipper. Taking him gently by the throat, he 
 solemnly admonished him never again to under- 
 take, while drunk, to act as pilot, assuring him 
 that he had run a very close chance of being flung 
 overboard, and might not, on a second like occa- 
 sion, escape so easily. He gave him a few shakes 
 to settle this advice in his memory, and then 
 politely assisted him into the dory, which the Skip- 
 per was holding alongside. 
 
 The fellow appeared to be somewhat abashed by 
 the Assyrian's parting injunction, and for a mo- 
 ment hung his head in silence. But, before the 
 Skipper had rowed a dozen strokes, the islander 
 suddenly resumed his confident air, and, calling to 
 his companion to back water, as if he had forgotten 
 something, stood up in the stern of the boat, with 
 much difficulty keeping his balance, and addressed 
 us with drunken gravity :
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 251 
 
 " I say, can't you give me some of them cow- 
 cumbers to take hum to my old woman ? " 
 
 We lay-to till the Skipper returned, and then 
 made a splendid run down Edgemoggin Reach, 
 which, from one end to the other, was white with 
 foam. There cannot be a finer sheet of water in 
 the world than this Reach, which is bounded on 
 every side by superb views. Far before us, on 
 the right, rose the blue summit of Isle Haut, as 
 the early French navigators named it, a moun- 
 tain rising from the waves. Before us the peaks 
 of Mount Desert came gradually into view, at 
 first misty and blue, then green and wooded, 
 until, as we advanced, still loftier summits showed 
 themselves in grim and stony desolation.
 
 252 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 MOUNT DESERT. BASS HARBOR. AN UNBENDING 
 DEACON. BAR HARBOR. FAREWELL TO EDEN. 
 END OF THE CRUISE. 
 
 THE approach to Mount Desert by sea is mag- 
 nificent. The island is a mass of mountains 
 crowded together, and seemingly rising from the 
 water. As you draw near, they resolve them- 
 selves into thirteen distinct peaks, the highest 
 of which is about two thousand feet above the 
 neighboring ocean. It is difficult to conceive 
 of any finer combination of land and water than 
 this view, which has been admirably painted by 
 Charles Dix. Certainly only in the tropics can 
 it be excelled, only in the gorgeous islands 
 of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. On the coast 
 of America it has no rival, except, perhaps, at the 
 Bay of Rio Janeiro. 
 
 None of us knew anything of the localities of 
 Mount Desert, and we therefore put into the first 
 harbor that we saw on the coast, which proved to 
 be Bass Harbor. We landed about sunset, and, 
 not finding the village very attractive, the Assy- 
 rian, the Artist, and I started for Southwest 
 Harbor, which was described to us as the place 
 of most resort on the island. The Professor,
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 253 
 
 wishing to dredge in these waters, which were 
 new to him, preferred to remain on board with 
 the seamen, promising to bring the sloop around 
 to Southwest Harbor next day. 
 
 We could not obtain at Bass Harbor any con- 
 veyance, all the horses of the place being absent 
 on some rustic excursion. So we walked through 
 the forest for several miles, after dark, and for the 
 last hour of the way had a fine night- view of the 
 mountains, serene and solemn in the mystical star- 
 light. About 11 P. M. we reached our destina- 
 tion, a public house, kept by a deacon, which 
 had been recommended to us at Bass Harbor. 
 We were cold, hungry, and exceedingly tired, 
 and our hearts sank as we saw, on approaching 
 the house, which we recognized by the descrip- 
 tion that had been given us, that no light was 
 visible, and that apparently everybody had gone 
 to bed. 
 
 " If they sleep here as soundly as they do at 
 Owl's Head," said the Assyrian, as he pounded 
 the front door with his fist, " our prospects of 
 going to bed supperless may be pronounced first- 
 rate. At all events, I give you fair notice I shall 
 attempt no more school-houses." 
 
 Our apprehensions were groundless. The land- 
 lord speedily appeared, having fortunately just got 
 into bed as we began to knock. He took us into 
 the kitchen, which was tolerably warm, and pro- 
 duced some cold meat and apple-pie. The As-
 
 254 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 Syrian, considering the cruise at an end as soon as 
 we landed on Mount Desert, had already taken 
 back his verbal pledge of abstinence made at Pul- 
 pit Harbor, and was desirous of warming himself 
 with something more heating than water. He 
 therefore meekly asked the landlord if he could n't 
 give us something to drink. 
 
 The deacon smiled, and suggested milk. 
 
 "I have a weak stomach," said the Assyrian, 
 " and never drink anything so strong as milk." 
 
 The deacon smiled still more blandly, and his 
 smile expanded into a slight laugh as he proposed 
 cold tea. 
 
 " Bah ! " said the disgusted Assyrian ; " why 
 don't you offer us dishwater at once. Can't you 
 give us some whiskey ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Brandy ? " 
 
 No." 
 
 "Ale? cider?" 
 
 " No, nothing of the kind." 
 
 The deacon was inflexible, and we went to bed 
 in a state of the most perfect sobriety. 
 
 Next morning, after breakfast, we hired of the 
 deacon a one-horse wagon, and a quiet-looking 
 beast of a mare, to convey us to Bar Harbor on 
 the northeast side of the island, which we had satis- 
 fied ourselves by inquiry of the deacon's guests was 
 the best place to stop at, if we desired to be near 
 the finest scenery. A drive of several miles over
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 255 
 
 a rough mountain-road brought us to Somesville, 
 a village at the head of a broad sound which runs 
 up from the ocean several miles. Here we dined 
 at the house of a publican, who was also a sinner, 
 for, being a Democrat, he held the Maine Law at 
 defiance, and openly gloried in the impunity with 
 which he daily violated it, though he had been re- 
 peatedly harassed with prosecutions. 
 
 After dinner, we drove for several miles through 
 a forest where nothing living was visible but squir- 
 rels, rabbits, partridges, and an occasional eagle 
 soaring overhead. We passed no house, nor sign 
 of human handiwork, except a ruined mill, near 
 which, as we descended a steep hill, the harness 
 of our conveyance broke. The deacon's mare, 
 which up to this moment had been the most ami- 
 able and exemplary of animals, now manifested a 
 frightful perversity of disposition. After a vigor- 
 ous attempt to run away, which was baffled by 
 turning her head into the bushes that lined the 
 road, she suddenly stood stock still, and com- 
 menced kicking with her hind legs, with a force, 
 precision, and rapidity that resembled more the 
 working of a powerful machine than anything of 
 the animal nature. It was admirable to witness, 
 but extremely inconvenient to submit to. In a 
 minute the front part of the wagon was dashed to 
 splinters, and the Artist and I, who occupied the 
 front seat, the Artist driving, were both badly 
 bruised. We jumped out, and succeeded in quiet-
 
 256 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 ing the mare, though not till the harness was 
 broken in half a dozen places. 
 
 As we were yet three or four miles from Bar 
 Harbor, and there was no house for several miles 
 behind us, and we had not a particle of cord or 
 string with which to mend the harness, we found 
 ourselves in something of a dilemma. Just at this 
 moment a wagon, the first we had seen during the 
 day's ride, approached from the direction of Bar 
 Harbor. There were two men in it, who stopped 
 as they came to the scene of our disaster. The 
 Assyrian uttered an exclamation, and sprang for- 
 ward with outstretched hands. They were class- 
 mates of his, whom he had not seen since he left 
 college, years before, and whom he least of all ex- 
 pected to meet on a lonely road in the heart of 
 the hills of Mount Desert. 
 
 The rencounter was exceedingly opportune. 
 They were guests at Bar Harbor, whither we 
 were bound, and they were now on their way to 
 a lake, high up among the mountains, to fish for 
 trout. With the aid of their lines we repaired the 
 harness, and parting from our friends, who prom- 
 ised to bring us a mess of trout for supper, made 
 our way without further impediment to Bar Har- 
 bor, where we found excellent quarters in the 
 house of Mr. Roberts, the Postmaster and princi- 
 pal trader of the village. At this place, which 
 adjoins the finest scenery of the island, we spent 
 two days exploring the recesses of Otter Creek,
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 257 
 
 whose wild mountain-passes equal in grandeur the 
 Notch of the White Hills, and rambling about the 
 gigantic cliffs of Great Head, Schooner Head, and 
 the other bold rocky promontories rising for hun- 
 dreds of feet directly from the sea, which make 
 the island so fascinating to the landscape and ma- 
 rine painter. 
 
 Mount Desert has an area of about a hundred 
 square miles, and is divided into three towns, 
 Tremont, Eden, and Mount Desert. The popula- 
 tion is not far from seven thousand, and a large 
 part of the island is under cultivation. The north- 
 ern part especially is remarkable for rural beauty ; 
 but the centre and southeast portions remain in 
 native wildness, and are yet the haunt of the deer 
 and the bear, though the latter animal is now 
 rarely met with. 
 
 The sublime and romantic appearance of the 
 island from the sea, on which its mountains are 
 visible to a great distance, naturally attracted the 
 attention of the earliest European navigators on 
 our coast, and it figures prominently in the narra- 
 tives of the first French and English explorers. 
 According to some accounts, a French colony and 
 mission was established there as early as 1608, on 
 the western side of the Sound, and flourished for 
 five years or more, till it was destroyed by the 
 English. There is a picture of the ruins of this 
 settlement, and of the grave of the Jesuit Du 
 Thet, in the Alnambay Uli Awikhigan, a Catholic
 
 258 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 prayer-book, published in New York in 1858, for 
 the benefit of the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, 
 Micmac, and other tribes of the Abnaki Indians, 
 in whose language it is written. The first perma- 
 nent settlement, however, of Mount Desert was 
 made by Abraham Somes, in 1761, from whom 
 the Sound, at the head of which he built his 
 house, is to this day locally known as Somes's 
 Sound. 
 
 Of late years, Mount Desert has become a fa- 
 vorite resort for artists and for sea- side summer 
 loungers. But it needs the hand of cultivated 
 taste .for the full development of its matchless 
 natural beauties, which, at present, are to a great 
 degree hidden by the monotonous covering of an 
 American forest of the secondary growth. The 
 "forest primeval" has been cut down, and the 
 woods that have succeeded it have neither grand- 
 eur nor variety. Half a century of judicious 
 clearing, and still more judicious sparing of the 
 trees where they ought to be spared, surround- 
 ing these savage mountains with lovely glades 
 and charming, yet stately groves, converting the 
 swamps into rich meadows, and creating a pictu- 
 resque and proper contrast of light and shade, of 
 rural grace and of wild and stern grandeur, would 
 make this island, with its mighty cliffs and sombre 
 ravines and multitudinous ocean beaches, a place 
 of pilgrimage from the ends of the earth, to all 
 lovers of the beautiful and sublime in nature. It
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 259 
 
 is impossible to conceive of any finer field for the 
 exercise of the highest genius of the landscape 
 gardener. 
 
 On the third day we rode back to the head 
 of the Sound, where we found the Helen at an- 
 chor. We left the mare and the wagon in charge 
 of the Postmaster, and embarking, floated with 
 the tide through scenery strikingly resembling the 
 Hudson as it passes through the Highlands, to 
 Southwest Harbor. Here the Assyrian and I 
 went ashore to settle with the Deacon for the use 
 of his mare, not without some misgivings that we 
 might be embarrassed in effecting a settlement, 
 from the fact that we had not brought the animal 
 back. The Deacon, however, readily received 
 our statement of the case, and said he could send 
 for the animal when he wanted her. We all sat 
 down upon a log in a sort of shipyard, near his 
 premises, and, Yankee-like, whittled diligently 
 while we discussed the terms of payment, which, 
 after a protracted session, were arranged liberally 
 and satisfactorily. 
 
 Re-embarking, we made sail for Bar Harbor. 
 The wind proving light and the currents adverse, 
 we made little progress, and were twelve or four- 
 teen hours in going as many miles. About sun- 
 set, as we slowly rounded Schooner Head, I picked 
 up a baited cod-line which lay on the deck, and 
 dropped it overboard, merely to occupy myself with 
 pulling it in again. It had run out to the extent
 
 260 A SUMMER CRUISE ON 
 
 of about two hundred feet, when, feeling a smart 
 bite, I drew it up with a fine, lively haddock, 
 weighing four pounds. This was the last of our 
 sea-fishing. We reached the harbor at midnight, 
 and our Summer Cruise was ended. 
 
 The next day I embarked on the steamer for 
 Rockland and Boston, while the Artist and the 
 Assyrian left the island by way of a bridge, which, 
 at its northern end, connects Mount Desert with 
 the mainland. The Professor and the seamen, 
 after we bade them farewell, hoisted sail with a 
 fair wind for Edgemoggin Reach, and thence back 
 to Portland and Swampscott, where they arrived 
 in due time. 
 
 It is related of the Caliph Abdalrahman, the 
 mightiest and most magnificent of the Moorish 
 monarchs of Spain, that he wrote toward the close 
 of his life the following declaration : " I have 
 now reigned above fifty years in victory or peace ; 
 beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, 
 and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, 
 power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor 
 does any earthly blessing appear to have been 
 wanting to my felicity. In this situation, I have 
 diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine 
 happiness which have fallen to my lot ; they amount 
 to fourteen. O man ! place not thy confidence in 
 this present world ! " 
 
 The Caliph Abdalrahman must have been hard 
 to please. For my part, I can confidently say
 
 THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 261 
 
 that during our cruise I enjoyed at least twice as 
 many happy days as fell to the lot of his Majesty 
 during his whole reign ; and such, I am sure, 
 would be the avowal, on their part, of my friends 
 the Professor, the Artist, and the Assyrian. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Cambridge : Stereotyped and Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co.