CAPE C O 1) 
I. 
THE SHIPWRECK. 
WiSHEsra to get a better view than I had yet had of 
the ocean, which, we are told, covers more than two 
thirds of the globe, but of which a man who lives a few 
miles inland may never see any trace, more than of an¬ 
other world, I made a visit to Cape Cod in October, 
1849, another the succeeding June, and another to Truro 
in July, 1855 ; the first and last time with a single com¬ 
panion, the second time alone. I have spent, in all, 
about three weeks on the Cape; walked from Eastham 
to Provincetown twice on the Atlantic side, and once 
on the Bay side also, excepting four or five miles, and 
crossed the Cape half a dozen times on my way; but 
having come so fresh to the sea, I have got but little 
salted. My readers must expect only so much saltness 
as the land breeze acquires from blowing over an arm 
of the sea, or is tasted on the windows and the bark of 
trees twenty miles inland, after September gales. I have 
been accustomed to make excursions to the ponds within 
ten miles of Concord, but latterly I have extended my 
excursions to the sea-shore. 
I did not see why I might not make a book on Cap© 
1 A 
