112 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



I find a good deal in favor of this sheet of water 

 which constitutes our happy hunting-ground. 



The common idea that the Long Island coast 

 is simply one long stretch of sand, varied by 

 occasional patches of green in the shape of salt 

 meadows, called marshes by city visitors, may 

 be true so far as concerns the country within 

 forty miles of New York. But beyond that 

 there is a decided change. There are actually 

 hills to be seen here and there ; not very high 

 ones, but high enough to be called hills. Most 

 persons who have noticed on the maps the 

 words " Shinnecock Hills," wonder what kind 

 of country this may be, for at the point where 

 the Shinnecock reservation is situated, Long 

 Island is but a mere neck of land, at one point 

 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, scant- 

 ily covered with grass upon which sheep are 

 pastured. The central range of hills, or the 



