352 WHALING AND FISHING. 



wrong, for many of the strangers who temporarily 

 sojourn in the fishing villages, and find employ- 

 ment as mackerel and co'd fishermen, are not too 

 trustworthy ; while most of them come only on 

 the rather selfish errand of making a little money 

 for themselves, to carry to some more congenial 

 place than the Cape, to spend. 



I remained a few days on shore, while the ves- 

 sel in which I had secured a berth was being made 

 ready for her first cruise. In these days, I saw 

 sufficient of the Cape to convince me that it is 

 not the most pleasant spot on the surface of our 

 globe. The face of the country affords a not over 

 agreeable diversity of views, consisting of sand, 

 hills and salt water marshes, scrub oaks and 

 stunted pines ; the ground work and filling up of 

 the picture being sand, the abundance of which 

 amply entitles the country to the euphonious name 

 of " the Great Desert of Cape Cod." 



The shores of the harbors are masses of sand. 

 Flats extend some distance into the water, making 

 necessary the building of long, dreary-looking 

 wharves. Even to these wharves the little fishing 

 vessels can get only at high tide. Here they dis- 

 charge ^heir fish ; and here, in the fish houses, they 

 are sorted, inspected and branded, when they are 

 ready for shipment, North, South, East and West. 



The outlook seaward is scarcely more dreary 

 than that from the sea landward. The stunted 

 vegetation, the snug but lonely looking IHtle 

 houses, the great, barn-like structures called fish 



