146 
CAPE COD. 
ful derivation. There are small ponds here, upheld by 
the clay, which were formerly called the Clay Pits. 
Perhaps this, or Clay Ponds, is the origin of the name. 
Water is found in the clay quite near the surface; but 
we heard of one man who had sunk a well in the sand 
close by, ‘Hill he could see stars at noonday,” without 
finding any. Over this bare Highland the wind has full 
sweep. Even in July it blows the wings over the heads 
of the young turkeys, which do not know enough to 
head against it; and in gales the doors and windows are 
blown in, and you must hold on to the light-house to pre¬ 
vent being blown into the Atlantic. They who merely 
keep out on the beach in a storm in the winter are some¬ 
times rewarded by the Humane Society. If you would 
feel the full force of a tempest, take up your residence 
on the top of Mount Washington, or at the Highland 
Light, in Truro. 
It was said in 1794 that more vessels were cast away 
on the east shore of Truro than anywhere in Barnstable 
County. Notwithstanding that this light-house has since 
been erected, after almost every storm we read of one or 
more vessels wrecked here, and sometimes more than a 
dozen wTecks are visible from this point at one time. 
The inhabitants hear the crash of vessels going to pieces 
as they sit round their hearths, and they commonly 
date from some memorable shipwreck. If the history 
of this beach could be written from beginning to end, 
it would be a thrilling page in the history of com¬ 
merce. 
Truro was settled in the year 1700 as Dangerjleld. 
This was a very appropriate name, for I afterward read 
on a monument in the graveyard, near Pamet River, the 
following inscription; — 
