532 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 9 



step in his favor was made by his finding out that 

 I was a member of the Temperance Society — as 

 that gave him what might otherwise have, been my 

 share of the contents of the bottle of rum which 

 my companion had brought. Charles seemed to 

 know by a sort of instinct, the state of the tide, 

 even when in his bed. When at last it nearly 

 served to float our boat, he was absent, having 

 gone to his home, half a mile from the water^ 

 probably for some "creature comforts" of his own: 

 but while W. was damning him very liberally for 

 disappointing us, he made his appearance — and al- 

 mostatthe very minute that it was first possible to 

 set off. 



We started with the rising tide, rowing through 

 narrow channels, bounded by naked mud banks 

 and marshes. The shallow sounds or channels 

 which separate the islands from the main land at 

 this place are far from being open water, as I had 

 supposed. Extensive mud shoals, which are na- 

 ked at low tide, and not enough covered to be 

 passed over, except at high tide, and numerous 

 marshes covered with tall sea-grasses, fill more 

 than three-fourths of the space, and make the na- 

 vigation circuitous, and also difficult, to those not 

 well accustomed to the routes. Thus ten miles, 

 which is the nearest distance across the water to 

 Hog Island from the the main, were made fifteen 

 in our morning's voyage, and much farther when 

 returning. The water too, through which the 

 boats pass, is generally shallow, though there are 

 open channels of sufficient depth for laro;e sea-ves- 

 sels passing between the line of islands and the 

 main. 



Our canoe was not so poor a sea-boat as its 

 name would imply on our fresh waters. Though 

 only of little more than twenty feet in length, °at 

 bottom, it was stiff and sale, of which we had 

 abundant proof; furnished by the rise of wind 

 before the trip ended. As usual here, the canoe 

 had been sawn open, and widened by letting in a 

 keel, and the sides were raised by laying°on a 

 plank to each. It had two masts, and sails"which 

 were brought into use after getting into the more 

 open water. 



Gulls are here in great numbers, and of several 

 kinds. This is their breeding time, and their eggs 

 are much in request for food, and are considered 

 a great delicacy. My companions landed to 

 search for them on a marsh island. One kind of 

 gull builds a nest of marsh- weeds on a high tus- 

 sock. The eggs are nearly as large as those of 

 hens, and quite as large as Guinea fowls'. The 

 wetness of the marsh and my unwillingness to in- 

 cur unnecessary risk of being make sick, prevent- 

 ed my leaving the boat at this place. The gulls 

 rose in numbers with screams and moans, and ac- 

 companied the course and kept over the heads of 

 the plunderers of their nests. It seemed to me at 

 first a shameful act — but it would be difficult to 

 show that it is less justifiable, or less merciful, than 

 taking other living articles of food, as much for 

 sport as for use. Afterwards when I accompanied 

 the egg hunters on a sand islet, I soon entered 

 very earnestly in the pursuit, and was in a fair 

 way of losing all my previously acquired intoler- 

 ance, for bird-nesting. 



The largest kind of gull seems to live on the in- 

 sects or other light substances which float in the 

 foam on the surface of the water. Its dexterity in 

 skimming off its food is admirable. I afterwards 



observed them flying at their usual great speed, 

 and for considerable distances, the tip of the beak 

 just grazing the surface of the water, and appa- 

 rently never varying from that precise gage, not- 

 withstand the high swell of the waves required a 

 continual and great alteration of the bird's course. 

 Nothing could be more graceful, or more exact in 

 movement. 



We passed near to a large island, called Prouts', 

 which is uninhabited, except by flocks of sheep. 

 We had not time to call. This bears almost no 

 trees; and wherever visible from the water, seemed 

 to be but little else than sand hills very scantly co- 

 vered with weeds or grass. It was said, however, 

 that in the interior there is much of good grazing 

 land. The north-western part of the island, 

 which we approached, is losing greatly by the en- 

 croachments of the sea. 



About half a mile from Prout's, and between 

 that and Hog Island, (in Matchapungo Inlet,) lies 

 a newly formed islet, which, with the peculiar fe- 

 licity which our countrymen exhibit in giving 

 names to places, has been dignified with the name 

 of Pig Island. Until within the last ten years, 

 this was only a shoal, which was usually bare at 

 low tide, and sometimes was washed quite away 

 by the fury of tempests. It seems now to be per- 

 manent, and will probably grow, by accessions of 

 sand brought by the breakers, until it is a large 

 island. I was particularly anxious to visit this 

 spot — to catch nature in the fact, as it were, of pro- 

 ducing land. This, doubtless, is the manner in 

 which all the larger islands were formed in the 

 open sea — and at an earlier epoch, the peninsula 

 (or "main") also. Unless destroyed by encroach- 

 ments of the sea, (of whichthere are many evi- 

 dences, both on the shores of the islands, and on 

 both sides of the peninsula,) it may be supposed 

 that the sand hills, which give elevation to both, 

 will gradually be driven by the violent power of 

 winds and waves, until they spread over the shoals 

 and marshes and make firm land of the space 

 over which we had been sailing. The sand hills, 

 which are formed altogether by the violence of 

 the ocean waves, and of materials brought from 

 the shallow bottom, are higher than any other 

 land, either on the islands or the main — often 30 

 feet high, and sometimes much more. 



It was at high water when we landed on this 

 newly formed island; and it then seemed to be in 

 size, from 25 to 30 acres. It had no where more 

 than two or three feet elevation above the then 

 height of tide. But a few growing weeds were 

 seen — perhaps not a dozen in walking across it to 

 the Atlantic side. And here we may trace na- 

 ture's operations, not only in forming dry land, 

 but in compounding soil of more or less fertility, 

 out of materials separately barren and worthless. 

 The island consists entirely of pure silicious sea 

 sand, except for the mixture of shells scattered 

 throughout. These, though recent, and of course 

 verydiard, were rarely entire, and gave evidence of 

 the power of the water in breaking and grinding 

 them down. Clay then is only wanting to give 

 consistency to the soil, and make it even well con- 

 stituted. Seeds of various plants will be brought 

 by the winds and by the water. The dung of 

 sea birds first, and next the growth and decay of 

 vegetable matter, will give the fertility wanting. 

 I am told that the shells are seen even at the tops 

 of the sand hills: and if so, there can be no doubt 



