that by his success in his next whale season, he may be able to
pitch on some predilected spot, and there build himself a home, to
which he may retire, and spend the latter end of his days in peace.
A council of proprietors always exists in this island, who decide
their territorial differences; their titles are recorded in the
books of the county, which this town represents, as well as every
conveyance of lands and other sales.

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