115 



guinea the quintal, and the number who contributed to the good man's 

 support vas from eighty to one hundred. 



A detiuled account of the suiferings of these people must be omitted. 

 It will sullice to say th;it, in the Indian wars, ])lundering excursions 

 were frequent; that many females were carried into captivity ; that one 

 island was entirely deserted by the settlers, in conseciuence of savage 

 inroads; and that strangers are now shown "Betty Moody's Hole," a 

 chasm in the rocks, where, according to tradition, one Betty !Moody 

 concealed herself during an Indian incursion. Poor as they were, in 

 everything but tlie products of the sea,, they were still plunder''Ml by 

 the infunous Low, and other pirates who infested our coast, and were 

 disturbed in their industry by visits from the Frencli, who caj)tured 

 their boats and shallops. 



Brief, too, must be the record of disasters from and on the sea. 

 Singular to relate, first, that soon after the settlement of these isles, a 

 house on Haley's island was washed from its foundation in a storm, 

 and carried entire to Cape Cod, where it was secured, and a disco^'ery 

 made of its place of departure by opening a box of linen, papers, &c., 

 which it contained. Winthrop notices the oversetting of a shallop, in 

 1632, and the drowning of three fishermen, whose boat was cast upon 

 the rocks eleven years later. Huljbard speaks of "several fishermen" 

 who, embarking at the isles a diiy or two before Christmas, 1G71, to 

 keep the holiday at Portsmouth, perished in going on shore from their 

 vessel. And we learn, from another source, that in 1695, "many 

 boats and men" were lost in a violent gale. These instances, to ex- 

 cept the extraordinary voyage of the dwelling-house, indicate, with some 

 degree of accuracy, the perils and losses of life and property n .'t un- 

 common to those who earn their bread in the waters that .-urround 

 these bleak and barren islands. 



That the fishermen of the Isles of Shoals are " a peculiar people" 

 is a well-known and generally accepted saying. The anecdc^tes pre- 

 served of those of bygone generations are pertinent to our purpose, and 

 will give a miniature picture of the course of lite among their fathers, 

 as well as account for some of the expressions and habits whiclj con- 

 tinue to amuse persons from the continent who now visit them. 



First, it would seem that prior to 1647 the court had ordained that 

 "no women should live upon the Isles of Shoals," and that one .John 

 Renolds, disobeying this ordinance, carried his wife there with the in- 

 tention of living with her. This was not to be endured by Richard 

 Cutt, and his associate, Cutting, especially as Renolds took with him, 

 also, a "great stock of goats and hogs." Thereupon these aggrieved 

 men, in a petition to the goverinnent, set forth the fact.*; in the case, and 

 prayed for relief b}^ the removal thence of the several nuisances of Mrs. 

 Renolds, her goats and her swine. Tlu; court gravely consider- J the 

 matter, and ordered Renolds to t:ike his Ibur-footed property to the 

 main land "within twenty days;" but wisely concluded that, "as for 

 the removal of his wife, if no further comjjlaint come against her, she 

 may as yet enjoy the com{)any of her husbau(L" 



Agiiin: During the ministry of Mr. lirock the fishermen Wi?re in- 

 duced by him to enter into an agreement to .>^pe..fl one week day in 

 every month in religious worship. Ohl-c, ho^'-ever when a day thus 



