This Island Furnishes The Naturalist With Few Or No Objects Worthy
Observation:
It appears to be the uneven summit of a sandy submarine
mountain, covered here and there with sorrel, grass,
A few cedar
bushes, and scrubby oaks; their swamps are much more valuable for
the peat they contain, than for the trifling pasture of their
surface; those declining grounds which lead to the seashores abound
with beach grass, a light fodder when cut and cured, but very good
when fed green. On the east side of the island they have several
tracts of salt grasses, which being carefully fenced, yield a
considerable quantity of that wholesome fodder. Among the many ponds
or lakes with which this island abounds, there are some which have
been made by the intrusion of the sea, such as Wiwidiah, the Long,
the Narrow, and several others; consequently those are salt and the
others fresh. The former answer two considerable purposes, first by
enabling them to fence the island with greater facility; at peculiar
high tides a great number of fish enter into them, where they feed
and grow large, and at some known seasons of the year the
inhabitants assemble and cut down the small bars which the waves
always throw up. By these easy means the waters of the pond are let
out, and as the fish follow their native element, the inhabitants
with proper nets catch as many as they want, in their way out,
without any other trouble. Those which are most common, are the
streaked bass, the blue fish, the tom-cod, the mackerel, the tew-
tag, the herring, the flounder, eel, etc. Fishing is one of the
greatest diversions the island affords. At the west end lies the
harbour of Mardiket, formed by Smith Point on the south-west, by Eel
Point on the north, and Tuckanut Island on the north-west; but it is
neither so safe nor has it so good anchoring ground, as that near
which the town stands. Three small creeks run into it, which yield
the bitterest eels I have ever tasted. Between the lots of Palpus on
the east, Barry's Valley and Miacomet pond on the south, and the
narrow pond on the west, not far from Shemah Point, they have a
considerable tract of even ground, being the least sandy, and the
best on the island. It is divided into seven fields, one of which is
planted by that part of the community which are entitled to it. This
is called the common plantation, a simple but useful expedient, for
was each holder of this track to fence his property, it would
require a prodigious quantity of posts and rails, which you must
remember are to be purchased and fetched from the main. Instead of
those private subdivisions each man's allotment of land is thrown
into the general field which is fenced at the expense of the
parties; within it every one does with his own portion of the ground
whatever he pleases.
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