SOUTH BEACH. 



THERE is but one short stretch of sandy beach on 

 Staten Island, from which the shore rambler may- 

 see the line where sky and ocean meet ; in all other 

 directions the view is bounded by New Jersey or Long 

 Island, and the waves come more gently to the shore. 



It was along this South Beach that in 1676 Jasper 

 Dankers and Peter Sluyter wandered, the place being 

 quite a wilderness then, and their description of the herds 

 of deer, the wild turkeys and geese, cause one to-day to 

 read the account several times over, so interesting is the 

 narrative. They visited the Oude Dorp and the Nieuwe 

 Dorp ; made leg -wearying journeys around the creeks that 

 reach far inland, and found great difficulty in climbing the 

 steep tree-covered bank where Fort Wadsworth now 

 stands. No longer, indeed, do the moss-bunkers lie dying 

 by the thousands, as they describe, " food for the eagles 

 and other birds of prey," for though it might seem improb- 

 able to those not interested in the matter, yet it is true 

 that not only do the land animals fall year by year before 

 advancing civilization, but the life that ocean would seem 

 to hold so securely, is also being gradually stolen away. 



