88 HISTORY OF COHASSET. 



a fallen tree here and there next to the trail, and the birds 

 or squirrels catch glimpses of the strange procession as it 

 moves through the woods to the shore. However tired 

 the women are, they must broil the fish for their husbands 

 or cook the lobsters the men have speared. 



The lobsters were best captured upon very calm days at 

 low tide as Josselyn tells us, " going out in their canows with 

 a staff two or three yards long, made small and sharpened 

 at one end, and nicked with deep nicks to take hold. 

 When they spye the lobster crawling upon the sand in two 

 fathom of water, more or less they stick him toward the 

 head and bring him up." " I have known thirty lobsters," 

 says Josselyn, "taken by an Indian lad in an hour and a 

 half." * 



Cohasset lobstering began many years ago ; but perhaps 

 this is the biggest catch on record. 



But while the men are fishing for lobsters or cod or 

 mackerel or bass, the women are engaged in the laborious 

 vocation of farming. 



There are places inland and along the coast where 

 the soil is favorable for raising corn. These places have 

 been cleared by burning since time immemorial, and every 

 year the women with sharp sticks loosen up the soil in 

 places two or three feet apart among the roots and stones 

 and stumps. 



Into the little holes which they dig a fish or two is 

 placed for manure, and a little soil is sprinkled on top ; 

 then four or five kernels of ripe corn are dropped into the 

 hole and covered. The women plant as much as they 

 choose each day, leaving their babies at a convenient spot 

 near their work, where children are playing or squabbling 

 as the moods of nature prompt. They plant in April and 

 May, reaping in September, when it is stored in pits in the 

 ground. 



*John Josselyn's Account of Two Voyages to New England, 1674. 



