200 
CAPE COD. 
marks, that the Basques of his day were in the habit of 
fencing their gardens with the ribs of the whale, which 
sometimes exceeded twenty feet in length; and Cuvier 
says, that at the present time the jaw-bone of the whale 
is used in Norway for the purpose of making beams or 
posts for buildings.” (Bohn’s ed. trans. of Pliny, Vol. IL 
p. 361.) Herodotus says the inhabitants on Lake Pra- 
sias in Thrace (living on piles), “ give fish for fodder to 
their horses and beasts of burden.” 
Provincetown was apparently what is called a flourish¬ 
ing town. Some of the inhabitants asked me if I did 
not think that they appeared to be well off generally. I 
said that I did, and asked how many there were in the 
almshouse. “ O, only one or two, infirm or idiotic,” 
answered they. The outward aspect of the houses and 
shops frequently suggested a poverty which their interior 
comfort and even richness disproved. You might meet 
a lady daintily dressed in the Sabbath morning, wading 
in among the sand-hills, from church, where there ap¬ 
peared no house fit to receive her, yet no doubt the 
interior of the house answered to the exterior of the 
lady. As for the interior of the inhabitants I am still in 
the dark about it. I had a little intercourse with some 
whom I met in the street, and was often agreeably dis¬ 
appointed by discovering the intelligence of rough, and 
what would be considered unpromising specimens. Nay, 
I ventured to call on one citizen the next summer, 
by special invitation. I found him sitting in his front 
doorway, that Sabbath evening, prepared for me to come 
in unto him ; but unfortunately for his reputation for 
keeping open house, there was stretched across his gate¬ 
way a circular cobweb of the largest kind and quite en¬ 
tire. This looked so ominous that J actually turned 
aside and went in the back way. 
