113 



the "Carribbee islands, whither we send lumber and fish, and receive 

 in return rum, sugar, molasses, and cotton ; and as to trade to Europe, 

 it is to Spain or Portugal, from whence our vessels bring home salt." 

 This is a meagre account, after the lapse of more than a century. 



There is nothing to add. The sea and the forest continued to sup- 

 ply the staple exports. A single distillery for the manufacture of New 

 England rum was erected, and two or three vessels w^re sent, annually, 

 to the Dutch and French West Indies to procure molasses for distilla- 

 tion, from the time, probably, that intercourse with these islands was 

 interdicted, down to the Revolution; and this illicit traffic M^as the only 

 material change in the commerce of New Hampshire between 1730 

 and 1775. Certain it is, that until the fisheries and other maritime 

 pursuits were interrupted by the overthrow ot the royal government, 

 and the war that followed, agriculture was neglected. 



The colony founded by Gorges and Mason depended upon axes 

 and saws, shallops and fishing-lines, until necessity compelled a resort 

 to the plough. Its first exports of corn were mid the desolations of 

 the struggle that resulted in giving it the rank and blessings of an inde- 

 pendent iState. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 

 From 1614 to the Revolutionary Controversy, 



The cluster of eight islands that bear this name, may contain pos- 

 sibly six hundred acres. Strangely enough, they belong to two 

 States. Those named Haley's or Smutty-nose, Hog, Duck, Cedar, 

 and Malaga, were embraced in the charter obtained by Gorges of King 

 Charles, in 1639, and are under the jurisdiction of Maine at the pres- 

 ent time ; while Star, White, and Londoner's islands are united lo 

 New Hampshire. These islands were discovered in 1614, by the cel- 

 ebrated John Smith, and were named by him " Smith's Isles." This 

 name was changed previous to 1629, since, in the deed of the Indian 

 Sagamores to Wheelwright and others, of that year, they are called 

 the "Isles of Shoals." Dreary and inhospitable in their appearance, 

 they would have remained without inhabitants to our own day, proba- 

 bly, but for their advantageous situation for carrying on the fisheries. 

 Upon them all there are chasms in the rocks several yards wide, 

 and from one to ten deep, occasioned, as some suppose, by a violent 

 earthquake. 



In places, acres of rock are partially or entirely severed, and through 

 the fissures thus formed, the sea at high tides, and in some storms, 

 rushes in torrents. There is but one secure harbor, which is of great 

 importance, sheltering not only to the vessels of the resident fishermen 

 of the islands, but the merchant vessels coming upon the coast in dis- 

 tress. 



The Isles of Shoals were occupied at a very early date, and soon 

 became places of note and of great resort. In 1661, they were inhab- 

 ited by upwards of forty families. The fisheries were prosecuted with 

 vigor and success at that period, and subsequently, for quite a century. 

 Three or four ships were loaded there annually, as soon as the year 

 8 



