PROVmCETOWN. 
209 
is no other harbor on a windward shore within two hun¬ 
dred miles.” J. D. Graham, who has made a very- 
minute and thorough survey of this harbor and the 
adjacent waters, states that “its capacity, depth of water, 
excellent anchorage, and the complete shelter it affords 
from all winds, combine to render it one of the most val¬ 
uable ship harbors on our coast.” It is the harbor of the 
Cape and of the fishermen of Massachusetts generally. 
It was known to navigators several years at least before 
the settlement of Plymouth. In Captain John Smith’s 
map of New England, dated 1614, it bears the name of 
Milford Haven, and Massachusetts Bay that of Stuard’s 
Bay. His Highness, Prince Charles, changed the name 
of Cape Cod to Cape James; but even princes have not 
always power to change a name for the worse, and as 
Cotton Mather said. Cape Cod is “ a name which I sup¬ 
pose it will never lose till shoals of codfish be seen swim¬ 
ming on its highest hills.” 
Many an early voyager was unexpectedly caught by 
this hook, and found himself embayed. On successive 
maps. Cape Cod appears sprinkled over with French, 
Dutch, and English names, as it made part of New 
France, New Holland, and New England. On one 
map Provincetown Harbor is called “ Fuic (bownet ?) 
Bay,” Barnstable Bay “ Staten Bay,” and the sea north 
of it “ Mare del Noort,” or the North Sea. On another, 
the extremity of the Cape is called “ Staten Hoeck,” or 
the States Hook. On another, by Young, this has 
Noord Zee, Staten hoeck or Hit hoeck, but the copy 
at Cambridge has no date; the whole Cape is called 
“ Niew Hollant ” (after Hudson) ; and on another still, 
the shore between Race Point and Wood End ap¬ 
pears to be called “ Bevechier.” In Champlain’s admi- 
N 
