68 
CAPE COD. 
model now. There are similar huts at the Isle of 
Sable and Anticosti, on the north, and how far south 
along the coast I know not. It is pathetic to read the 
minute and faithful directions which he gives to sea¬ 
men who may be wrecked on this coast, to guide them 
to the nearest Charity-house, or other shelter, for, as 
is said of Eastham, though there are a few houses with¬ 
in a mile of the shore, yet in a snow-storm, which 
rages here with excessive fury, it would be almost 
impossible to discover them either by night or by day.’^ 
You hear their imaginary guide thus marshalling, cheer¬ 
ing, directing the dripping, shivering, freezing troop 
along; “ at the entrance of this valley the sand has 
gathered, so that at present a little climbing is neces¬ 
sary. Passing over several fences and taking heed 
not to enter the wood on the right hand, at the distance 
of three quarters of a mile a house is to be found. 
This house stands on the south side of the road, and 
not far from it on the south is Pamet river, which runs 
from east to west through a body of salt marsh.” To 
him cast ashore in Eastham, he says, The meeting¬ 
house is without a steeple, but it may be distinguished 
from the dwelling-houses near it by its situation, which 
is between two small groves of locusts, one on the 
south and one on the north, — that on the south bein^ 
three times as long as the other. About a mile and 
a quarter from the hut, west by north, appear the 
top and arms of a windmill.” And so on for many 
pages. 
We did not learn whether these houses had been the 
means of saving any lives, though this writer says, of 
one erected at the head of Stout’s Creek, in Truro, that 
it was built in an improper manner, having a chimney 
