TRAVELS IN 
are imatiable cannibals, and very troublefome to the 
fifhermen. The bays and lagoons are ftored with 
oyfters, and varieties of other fliell-fiih, crabs, 
fhrimp, &c. The clams, in particular, are large, 
their meat white, tender, and delicate. 
There is a large fpace betwixt this chain of fea- 
coaft-iflands and the main land, perhaps generally 
near three leagues in breadth ; but all this fpace is- 
not covered with water : I eftimate nearly two-thirds 
of it to confifl of low fait plains, which produce 
Barilla, Sedge, Rufhes, &c. and which border on 
the main land, and the weftern coafts of the iflands.. 
The earl fides of thefe iflands are, for the moil part, 
clean, hard, fandy beaches, expofed to the warn of 
the ocean. Between thefe iflands are the mouths or 
entrances of fome rivers, which run down from the 
continent, winding about through thefe low fait 
marines, and delivering their waters into the founds, 
which are very extenfive capacious harbours, from 
three to five and fix ro eight miles over, and com- 
municate with each other by parallel fait rivers, or 
pafTes, that flow into the found ; they afford an ex- 
tenfive and fecure inland navigation for mofl: craft, 
fuch as large fchooners, floops, pettiaugers, boats, 
and canoes ; and this inland communication of wa- 
ters extend along the fea coafl: with but few and 
ihort interruptions, from the bay of Chefapeak, in 
Virginia to the Mifliflippi, and how much farther I 
know not, perhaps as far as Vera Cruz. Whether 
this chain of fea-coafl-iilands is a (lep, or advance, 
which this part of our continent is now making on 
the Atlantic ocean, we rauft leave to future ages to 
determine. But it feems evident, even to demon- 
itration, that thofe fait marflies adjoining the coaft 
of the main, and the reedy and grafiy iflands and 
marines 
