Cape Cod. 97 



extremity of the Cape, the sand and the'^barrenness increase ; and in 

 not a few places, it would need only a party of Bedouin Arabs to 

 cross the traveler's path, to make him feel that he was in the depths 

 of an Arabian or Lybian desert. Very different from Bedouins, how- 

 ever, will he find the population of Cape Cod. In the midst of the 

 sands he will find many an oasis, where comfortable and not unfre- 

 quently pleasant villages have sprung 1 up, inhabited by a people of 

 mild and obliging disposition, and not deficient in intelligence. A 

 large proportion of the houses on the Cape are, indeed, but one story 

 high. Yet they are for the most part convenient and comfortable ; 

 exhibiting the marks of a thrift and independence which one would not 

 expect, when he considers the general barrenness of the landscape. I 

 could name several parts of Massachusetts, where the marks of pov- 

 erty are far more striking than on Cape Cod. 



The sand is so yielding that the traveler will find it more conve- 

 nient to leave his carriage 20 or 30 miles short of the extremity of 

 the Cape, and proceed on horseback : though it is practicable to pro- 

 ceed with wheels. But for seven or eight miles before reaching 

 Provincetown, he must find his way almost without a track along the 

 margin of a salt marsh during ebb tide. During flood tide, he will 

 be forced to wade through the loose and deep sand higher up the 

 beach. The view of Provincetown along this course, however, is so 

 peculiar, that the traveler feels himself amply repaid for his labor. 

 A semicircular bay is enclosed on the north and east by a sandy beach 

 and low sand hills almost destitute of vegetation, which seem to threat- 

 en, and do in fact threaten, to bury the village, and to fill the harbor. 

 The houses, for a population not much short of 2000, are erected on 

 the margin of this bay, just above the reach of the tide, and at the 

 foot of the sand hills. These dwellings are almost as destitute of or- 

 der in their position, as it is possible they should be: such a thing as 

 a regular street, wide enough for carriages to pass, being scarcely to 

 be found here ; and why indeed, should they be, where traveling in 

 a carriage, would be slower than on foot, and where but very little 

 fodder can be obtained, except by transportation, for horses. But the 

 most singular object in this place, is the numerous windmills erected 

 between the dwellings and the harbor, for pumping up the water into 

 reservoirs for evaporation. When set in brisk motion by the wind, 

 standing as they do between the traveler and the dwellings, as he 

 comes from the south, they give to the village a most singular aspect. 

 In short a visit, to Provincetown by land, would probably in most ca- 

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