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port over Cove Hill, meandering across the high and, but for the orchards, the bare region of farms, to a flat ledge, overlaid with green turf, close to the sea.

Here the horses remain, while the excursionists ramble over the beaches. Several yards to the left from this spot is Emerson's Point. From this point south-westward to Brier Neck is the good mile length of Pebble Stone Beach and Long Beach. They are separated midway by a brook, and by a jagged pile of granite called Cape Hedge. From the turf-clad ledge, where the horses wait, to Cape Hedge, the beach is a marvel. The pebbles, smooth and oval, from the size of canister-balls to the size of hundred-pounder shells, above the hard sand exposed at low tide, have been thrown up by the waves into three high and wide terraces, one upon another. At high tide, when the waves driven by the storm roll in upon them, the pebbles are set in motion from end to end of the beach. When the waves charge up the terraces, the pebbles are pushed upward, and some of them are thrown over the crest of the highest terrace. When the waves retreat, the pebbles turn and follow them till again met by another charge, making a noise on the whole line like the rattle of musketry when the firing of an army, after the discharge of the one volley beginning an engagement, is continued briskly but irregularly. While the thumps of the breakers on Cape Hedge strike

the ear like the thunder of a battery, the continuous clatter of the thousands of pebbles all astir complete the imitation of the din of battle.

Between Cape Hedge and Brier Neck, the half mile of Long Beach is of sand, and wide and smooth; but behind the sand, hardened by the tramping waves, are sand-knolls thrown up by the winds. Long Beach is backed by a marsh. On rising ground behind the marsh, and spreading over hundreds of acres receding to Cape Pond and Beaver Dam, is a grand wood but slightly damaged by the ruthless axe.

Cape Hedge and Emerson's Point command a view of Milk Island and Thatcher's Island. Following the shore from Emerson's point northward, the ramblers next gain Loblolly Point and Loblolly Cove. Here Straitsmouth Island and the Salvages strike the vision. The next advance is to Flat Point and Whale Cove. Often excursionists resort to the former for its magnificent prospect. One event connected with the latter took place in March, 1798. A great whale, seventy-six feet long, was driven upon the beach in this cove. While the oil of this monster was being secured, many persons, attracted by the novelty, visited the cove; several from Gloucester, there being snow then, by means of sleighs. Since then the place

has been Whale Cove.

Onward again, and Gap Cove and Gap Head are reached. This is the southern extreme point of

the Cape. Across the channel called the Gut is Straitsmouth Island. It is said by elderly persons hereabout that in 1772, in a gully near this point, a pot of gold nuggets was found. As the value of the nuggets was some thousands of dollars, the place where the pot was found may be marked by some writer of imaginary stories as one scene in the history of some bold buccaneer who ended his career on the gallows, or by going to the bottom of the sea with his ship under the broadside of a man-of-war.

From Gap Head is the finest view of Pigeon Hill to be attained anywhere on shore. The hill, rising from the bay, is a beautiful background for the houses on the road curving around its eastern base; and, together with these abodes and their foreground of ledges, crags, and boulder-strewn beaches, and with the village north of it, from the little artificial harbor beginning to overrun the broad area of Andrews' Point, presents a view to the eye across the bay so truly splendid that one might consider himself as not in a frivolous pursuit for seeking with pains the point commanding it.

The way back to Pebble Stone Beach is so long, the ramblers prefer a shorter path to the high-road, where the carriage will meet them, according to an arrangement with the driver.

Homeward returning, they see a steamer from Boston passing the Salvages; and another, off Straitsmouth, following in her wake; also a fleet

of yachts with all sails set, bound for the Isles of Shoals. A dark cloud rises in the west. The ear catches the rumbling of distant thunder. The horses trot more briskly. The yachts this afternoon will make Pigeon Cove, and there lie in

safety through the night. The ramblers, enriched and invigorated from what they have seen and done, are presently at home recounting the scenes and adventures of the afternoon's jaunt.

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These diversions are as often enjoyed on our waters as they are wished for. The kinds of fish

near the shore, and off in deep water, are sufficiently numerous to satisfy the amateur in the art of fishing, however fond he may be of variety. One almost anywhere on the shore, with a rod of the usual length, easily draws from the sea such fry as perch or cunners, and not unfrequently the golden rock-cod. At several points, also, tautog are caught in like manner. Near Dick's Dream and Ocean Bluff, even deep-water cod, weighing ten and fifteen pounds, have been taken with a strong line thrown out from the shore. Here the descent from the shore is abrupt and deep, so that this chief of the fish sought for the table approaches much nearer the unsubmerged rocks than it is accustomed to do. Sometimes schools of mackerel come so near to the shore that, by rowing upon them in a dory, the exciting sport of catching a large number of these most beautiful of the finny inhabitants of the sea is enjoyed. Going in a sailboat or yacht a little way from shore, and dropping anchor where cod and haddock abound, are the simple necessary preliminaries before pulling from the depths of the bay a good fare of these favorite species. Occasionally blue-fish appear in the bay. The yacht makes swift headway before the stiff breeze, and the spoon at the end of a long line follows over the surface of waves, imitating the silver-sided herring darting from wave to wave from its pursuer. The artifice is successful: the voracious fish is hooked, and soon, by hand over

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