1 20 We Go A-Fishing 



not more than a few hundred rods wide. The 

 Shinnecock Indians at one time occupied this 

 part of the island, and their descendants are 

 still to be found. Along the coast, starting 

 from a point forty miles from New York, there 

 are hills to be seen even far more imposing 

 than the famous Shinnecock range, which is 

 in reality merely a collection of sand dunes, 

 scantily covered with grass upon which sheep 

 are pastured. The central range of hills, or 

 the backbone of the island, is quite an impos- 

 ing line when seen from the ocean, and even as 

 viewed from the Great South Bay upon a misty 

 morning it gives, as I have already said, quite 

 an air of mountainous wilderness to the back- 

 ground. In former days, when the Great 

 South Bay and Shinnecock Bay were deep 

 enough to afford navigation for good-sized 

 schooners, it is probable that all this region 

 stretching between Islip on the west and East 

 Hampton on the east, was the scene of much 

 more animation the year round than at present. 

 We who resort here for quiet are rather glad 

 of the change. Old ocean has helped us. It 

 has played such tricks with this coast that it 



