115 



■guinea the quintal, and the nmmber who contributed to the good man^s 

 support was from eighty to one hundred. 



A detailed account, of the sufferings of these people must be omitted. 

 It wiU suffice to say that, in the Indian wars, plundering excursions 

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

 island was entirely deserted by the settlers, in consequence 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 the products of the sea, they were still plundered by 

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

 disturbed in their industry by visits from the French, who captured 

 their boats and shallops. \ 



Brief, too, must be the record of disasters f?om 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 caiTied entire to Cape God, where it was secured, and a discovery 

 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 

 .1633, and the drowning of three fishermen, whose boat was cast upon 

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

 who, embai-king at the isles a day or two before Christmas, 1671, 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-hoase, indicate, with some 

 degree of accuracy, the perils and losses of life and property not un- 

 common to those who earn their bread in the waters that surround 

 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 anecdotes pre- 

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

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

 as well as accomit for some of the expressions and habits which 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 hve 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 government, set forth the facts in the case, and 

 prayed for relief by the removal thence of the several nuisances of Mrs. 

 Renolds, her goats and her swine. The court gravely considered the 

 matter, and ordered Renolds to take his four-footed property to the 

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

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

 may as. yet enjoy the company of her husband." 



Again: During the ministry of Mr. Brock the fishermen were in- 

 duced by him to enter into an agreement to spe._d one week day in 

 every month in religious worship. Once, hovever when a, day thus 



