moon kindly lengthened a day which had past, like other agreeable
ones, with singular rapidity.

In order to view the island in its longest direction from the town,
I took a ride to the easternmost parts of it, remarkable only for
the Pochick Rip, where their best fish are caught. I past by the
Tetoukemah lots, which are the fields of the community; the fences
were made of cedar posts and rails, and looked perfectly straight
and neat; the various crops they enclosed were flourishing: thence I
descended into Barrey's Valley, where the blue and the spear grass
looked more abundant than I had seen on any other part of the
island; thence to Gib's Pond; and arrived at last at Siasconcet.
Several dwellings had been erected on this wild shore, for the
purpose of sheltering the fishermen in the season of fishing; I
found them all empty, except that particular one to which I had been
directed. It was like the others, built on the highest part of the
shore, in the face of the great ocean; the soil appeared to be
composed of no other stratum but sand, covered with a thinly
scattered herbage. What rendered this house still more worthy of
notice in my eyes, was, that it had been built on the ruins of one
of the ancient huts, erected by the first settlers, for observing
the appearance of the whales. Here lived a single family without a
neighbour; I had never before seen a spot better calculated to
cherish contemplative ideas; perfectly unconnected with the great
world, and far removed from its perturbations. The ever raging ocean
was all that presented itself to the view of this family; it
irresistibly attracted my whole attention: my eyes were
involuntarily directed to the horizontal line of that watery
surface, which is ever in motion, and ever threatening destruction
to these shores. My ears were stunned with the roar of its waves