97 



George D. PhippeNj of Salem, had heard the question 

 asked during the day, whether this region possessed any 

 special interest in its history ; and he had heard a negative 

 reply given. But the fact was otherwise. No one should 

 forget that the first settlement on the proper soil of Massa- 

 chusetts was near this spot, a little toward Cape Ann. The 

 region, irom that little colony toward Naumkeag or North 

 River, was thought very beautiful by the early voyagers. 

 Grosnold thus spoke of it in 1602 ; and the redoubtable Capt. 

 John Smith, a dozen years afterwards, declared that " Cape 

 Ann Side," as it was long called, was " the paradise of all 

 these parts." When Higginson came here with his few 

 followers, and also when the Arabella arrived with the 

 honored lady whose name she bore, the passengers described 

 the perfume that came from this shore " like the smell of a 

 garden." They said, also, that here they landed and picked 

 " plenty ol strawberries, gooseberries, and sweet single- 

 roses." We have been regaled with some such to-day. 



The natural as well as the civil history of this district, has 

 its points of interest. They have attracted the attention of 

 the curious and scientific for years, even from the time of 

 Jocelyn's mythical lions and monstrous frogs, to the pi esent 

 day, notorious with the fame of the Sea Serpent. And if to 

 pass hence to the subject of plants be not too abrupt, we all 

 know that no other spot in New England shares with this 

 the glory of producing the Magnolia Glauca. And here, as 

 the lovers of the beautiful have seen to day, is a special 

 haunt of the Kalmia or Mountain Laurel, a truly American 

 plant, and worthy to be adopted as a national emblem by 

 us, as the " Fleur de lis " has been by France. Or, looking 

 to somewhat humbler forms, the same great order of Heaths 

 to which the Kalmia belongs, furnishes many other species 

 to represent it in this vicinity ; and all are plants of . special 

 beauty. Thus, although there is no true heath in the west- 

 ern world, we have abundantly before us the remarkable 



ESSEX INST. PROCEED. VOL. iii. 13. 



