CHy\PTEH XII 



On Certain Humanities 



^'The most of our kind are not naturalists hut humanists'' 



— Shaler 



"The proper study of mankind is man' 



—Pope 



A REGION of seashore, marsh and dune 

 attracts certain forms of human activi- 

 ties, all, owing to the setting, more or 

 less picturesque. The cutting of the salt hay 

 and the life of the clammer which I have de- 

 scribed in "Sand Dunes and Salt Marshes" are of 

 this nature. The profession of eeler, of herring- 

 torcher, of sander and of light-keeper belong 

 peculiarly to this region, and of these and of 

 their predecessors I would say a few words here. 

 Before the white man came, these dunes and 

 marshes and the adjoining fertile land were fre- 

 quented by the Indian. His was an interesting 

 humanity. In the old histories of this region 



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