PKOVINCETOWN. 
239 
fclie fishermen did in the winter, answered that they did 
nothing but go a-visiting, sit about and tell stories, — 
though they worked hard in summer. Yet it is not a long 
vacation they get. I am sorry that I have not been 
there in the winter to hear their yarns. Almost every 
Cape man is Captain of some craft or other, — every 
man at least who is at the head of his own affairs, though 
it is not every one that is, for some heads have the force 
of Alpha privative, negativing all the efforts which Nature 
would fain make through them. The greater number of 
men are merely corporals. It is worth the while to talk 
with one whom his neighbors address as Captain, though 
his craft may have long been sunk, and he may be hold¬ 
ing by his teeth to the shattered mast of a pipe alone, 
and only gets half-seas-over in a figurative sense, now. 
He is pretty sure to vindicate his right to the title at 
last, — can tell one or two good stories at least. 
For the most part we saw only the back side of the 
towns, but our story is true as far as it goes. We might 
have made more of the Bay side, but we were inclined 
to open our eyes widest at the Atlantic. We did not 
care to see those features of the Cape in which it is in¬ 
ferior or merely equal to the mainland, but only those 
in which it is peculiar or superior. We cannot say how 
its towns look in front to one who goes to meet them; 
we went to see the ocean behind them. They were 
merely the raft on which we stood, and we took notice 
of the barnacles which adhered to it, and some carvings 
upon it. 
Before we left the wharf we made the acquaintance of 
a passenger whom we had seen at the hotel. When we 
asked him which way he came to Provincetown, he 
answered that he was cast ashore at Wood End, Saturday 
