126 Rhodova [Jury 
the ocean, with a narrow, sharply sloping beach of coarse, loose sand 
at its base. ‘The sea is continually eating away the base of this cliff, 
carrying the material out to sea, and building shifting and dangerous 
bars off shore. ‘The western side of the town is flatter, apparently 
largely salt marsh covered with sand; near the shore it is still marsh, 
and the water is very shallow for a long distance, not reaching a depth 
of 18 feet until five miles from the shore. This shore of the Cape 
seems to be gradually moving to the west, the increase here probably 
compensating for the loss on the east shore. On this side of the town 
there are a few small brooks, apparently on the lines of the salt water 
creeks of the former marsh; but in the eastern part of the town there 
is absolutely no drainage system; the surface is dotted over with 
rounded depressions of all sizes and depths, with steep slopes, which 
quite cut them off from each other, so that there is no connection 
whatever between them. What vegetable matter there is collects at 
the bottom of these hollows, which vary in size and depth, from a 
shallow depression a few yards in diameter, with the grass greener at 
the bottom than on the surrounding surface, to large and deep ponds. 
In the richer ground at the bottom of the smaller hollows, and around 
the swamp or pond in the larger, are to be found species that could 
not exist on the barren sands above. There being no connection of 
one such hollow with another, each has a character of its own, inter- 
esting species being often found in one such hollow but not in others 
near by. Collecting in this region is wearisome, as one must contin- 
ually climb up from one hollow to go down into the next; and there 
is a curious loneliness in these hollows, nothing in sight beyond their 
edge, and few sounds to be heard other than the wind and the surf. 
The climate is, on the whole, milder than that of the vicinity of 
Boston, extremely low temperatures being unusual in winter, and the 
wind from either the ocean or the bay tempering the heat of 
summer. ‘lhe poverty of the flora is due to soil conditions, not to 
climate. 
The plants may be roughly classified into four groups; those of 
general distribution, which one sees everywhere on the sandy roads 
and fields; marine species, growing in places under the influence of 
salt water; domestic species, living in the neighborhood of houses and 
barns; and "specialties," species to be found only in particular, 
limited stations. The marine species, those of the beaches and marshes, 
are practically the same as in the vicinity of Boston, the conditions 
