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FOOTPRINTS 
 
 Jiles ^taitjtrisl. 
 
 BY THE REV. B. F. DeCOSTA. 
 
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 Re-printed from the Church Monthly 
 for private distribution. 
 
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 FOR nearly two centuries and a half the coast 
 of Cape Cod has been celebrated in the an- 
 nals of shipwreck and disaster . This point of land , 
 according to the imaginative geographer, con- 
 stitutes the right arm of Massachusetts; and 
 thus our ancient Commonwealth comes to be re- 
 sponsible for every barbarous salutation extend- 
 ed to the Atlantic voyager approaching these 
 shores. The Cape pushes its treacherous sands 
 out into the very heart of ocean navigation. It 
 spreads the dangerous flats across the path of 
 the tall and stately ship, idling on her way from 
 India, and weaves its toils for the shallop of the 
 laborious fisherman. Whoever has once nar- 
 rowly escaped hydriotaphia on the shoals of 
 Georges, where wind and tide in their furious 
 collision plough up the very floor of the 
 sea, is perhaps prepared to appreciate the dan- 
 
4 Footprints of 
 
 gers that lurk here. 'T is a vast syrtis, lavish 
 in all grim hospitalities ; yet in the hand of this 
 rude fellowship is grasped a goodly harbor, 
 open to all the world, — a broad blue sheet of 
 water, belted by the sinuous sands, and large 
 enough for a thousand sail. Into this harbor 
 came the storm-tossed Mayflower, on the eleventh 
 day of November, sixteen hundred and twenty. 
 Here the weary Pilgrims first set foot on the shore 
 of New England, — here was born the first child 
 of English parentage, ^ — and here was signed the 
 memorable compact which led to the final suc- 
 cess of Plymouth Colony. 
 
 The emigrants, however, as is well known, 
 were by no means the first visitors to the shores 
 of Massachusetts. All intelligent antiquarians 
 are now ready to admit that the Icelandic navi- 
 gators touched here at different times during the 
 tenth and eleventh centuries, and that here is to 
 be found the " Vinland " of the Sagas. ^ Six 
 centuries later, in the year 1602^the cliffs of 
 the Cape first rose to the view of Gosnold. The 
 following year Martin Pring sailed along the 
 coast in search of sassafras ; and in 1619 the ro- 
 mantic Founder of Virginia came out from Eng- 
 land with two ships to secure a cargo of fish and 
 furs. But at the time when the Brownists ar- 
 rived in Provincetown harbor the ground was 
 still ^unoccupied by actual settlers, and the vast 
 (1) See Appendix. 
 
Miles Standish. 5 
 
 resources of the country remained unimproved, 
 the wood-crowned shores exhibiting the same 
 wild luxuriance displayed in the earlier times of 
 Leif and Eric the Red. 
 
 Immediately on their arrival, being admon- 
 ished by the many indications of a rapidly ap- 
 proaching winter, the emigrants lost no time in 
 fitting out a shallop in which to coast the shore 
 in search of a suitable spot for a permanent set- 
 tlement. In the meanwhile, the colonists 
 being impatient to learn something at once 
 of the character of this new country, a band of 
 sixteen men was fitted out, with directions to 
 proceed southward on a two days' tour of obser- 
 vation, under the leadership of the renowned 
 Captain Miles Standish, a man, who though the 
 bravest soldier and the best linguist in the colo- 
 ny, could not find his tongue in the presence of 
 a fair lady. Here let us part with the May- 
 flower and the wayworn company who still re- 
 main on board, without staying to pass a need- 
 less judgment upon the principles and policy of 
 the Puritan, but leaving the panegyrist to laud 
 bis virtues, and the historic vulture to batten on 
 his vice. In the meantime let us trace the 
 course of this rough soldier in his expedition 
 among the sand-hills. The stern old sectarian 
 will be companionable enough to-day, and we 
 shall hear no jaundiced complaints of his Mother 
 
6 Footprints of 
 
 the Church. New scenes, fresh and unlooked- 
 for experience, together with the exhilarating 
 tang of the pure autumnal air, will banish the 
 recollections of the past and open the way to a 
 fresh chapter of life. 
 
 The account of this expedition is to be found 
 in what is popularly known as " Mourt's Kela- 
 tion," written, at least that portion which de- 
 C- scribes this Episode, by Bradford, who was one 
 of the party. The account is so minute and cir- 
 cumstantial, that even at this late day we may 
 go, book in hand, as Freeman has done, and 
 identify every locality. The tract of country 
 which they traversed is embraced within the 
 present limits of the towns of Provincetown and 
 Truro. 
 
 But before we commence the account of the 
 expedition let us glance at the general condition 
 of the country. The accounts given at the dif- 
 ferent times by various writers possess a very es- 
 sential agreement. The old Icelandic Saga is 
 as correct as the Chronicles of Plymouth Colo- 
 ny. The Saga of Thorwald Ericsson ^ says of 
 the coast of Yinland, that it is a country "beauti- 
 ful and well-wooded, the distance small between 
 the forest and sea, and the strand full of white 
 sand." Bradford, whose account is to be our 
 guide, writes, " The appearance of it much com- 
 forted us, especially seeing so goodly a land, 
 
Miles Standish. 7 
 
 and wooded to the brink of the sea." The har- 
 bor was " compassed about to the very sea with 
 oaks, pines, juniper,^ sassafras, and other sweet 
 wood." Specimens of those may still be found, 
 though generally in a dwarfed and decayed con- 
 dition. The tongue of land forming the south- 
 ern breakwater of the harbor was at that time 
 covered with a dense growth of timber, as is ap- 
 parent, not only from its name, — Woodend,-^ 
 but from the fact that a few years ago the stumps 
 of large trees were to be seen on the beach, 
 which is naw studded with the ribs of stranded 
 ships. The soil they found " much like the 
 downs of Holland." Here also the Pilgrims 
 found an abundance of game of all descriptions, 
 and every day "we saw whales playing near 
 us." Their eager search was rewarded by 
 ** great mussels, and very fat and full of sea- 
 pearls."* 
 
 Such, in brief, were the resources and ap- 
 pearance of this new country into which these 
 colonists had come. The productions of the sea 
 still remain unchanged, except so far as relates 
 to abundance ; but the land has undergone a 
 complete transformation. The woodman's axe 
 early made great havoc among the forest-trees, 
 and in 1790 it was found necessary to prohibit 
 further ravages by an express statute. The 
 remedy, however, came too late, and the greater 
 
8 Footprints of 
 
 portion of the remaining woods were soon over- 
 whelmed by the drifting sand, leaving the ex- 
 posed hills in turn to suffer severe atrophy. 
 The waves now roll where formerly the deer 
 browsed and the Indian stealthily pursued the 
 chase. The band of explorers selected were 
 sixteen in number, every man having "his 
 musket, sword, and corselet." To these were 
 " adjoined for counsel and advice," William 
 Bradford, Stephen Hopkins, and Edward Tilley. 
 It was on Wednesday, the fifteenth of Novem- 
 ber that they were set ashore (probably near the 
 western extremity of the harbor), where they 
 formed in single file, with their doughty little 
 Captain at the head. A strange-looking band, 
 no doubt, cased as they were in their antique 
 armor and shouldering their cumbersome match- 
 locks. The expedition was at once put in mo- 
 tion, when they marched along the shore for a 
 mile, which brought them to a point near the 
 centre of the present town of Provincetown. 
 Here " they espied five or six people with a dog 
 coming towards them, who were savages ; who, 
 when they saw them, ran into the wood and 
 whistled the dog after them." Standish at once 
 followed, but could not overtake them, though 
 according to the journal, they travelled ten 
 miles. "^ The day it appears was soon spent, and 
 they were " constrained to take up their lodg- 
 
Miles Standish. 9 
 
 ings. So they set forth three sentinels ; and of 
 the rest, some kindled a fire and others fetched 
 wood, and there held our rendezvous that night." 
 Their camp was probably formed near the base 
 of Mount Ararat./ But at the mention of this 
 name the reader must indulge in no unseason- 
 able ideas of towerinor height. This is not the 
 eminence so celebrated in history, but a small 
 conical hill enjoying an elevation of a hundred 
 feet. It is not one of the everlasting hills, nor 
 was it formed when the mountains were brought 
 forth. It was built by the ocean breeze from 
 the shifting sands, together with Gilboa, its 
 brother. Under their sheltering shade. Miles 
 Standish passed the night in the open air 
 around the camp-fire fed by the cedar and the 
 pine. 
 
 At that time the Indians were reduced in 
 strength and widely scattered. Previous to the 
 arrival of the colonists, as is well known, some 
 terrible disease had swept away vast numbers 
 of the aborigines, leaving the soil in some 
 instances with no occupants save the unburied 
 dead. Thomas Morton, of " Mare-Mount," 
 author of the "New English Canaan," writes 
 that " the bones and skulls upon the several 
 places of their habitation made such a spectacle 
 after my coming into those partes, that as I 
 travailed in that forest, nere the Massachusets, 
 
10 Footprints of 
 
 it seemed to mee a newfound Golgotha." The 
 weakness of the natives may therefore account 
 for the fact that the slumbers of the explorers 
 were undisturbed by the savage war-whoop. 
 When morning dawned, the party once more 
 took up the march, and followed the trail of the 
 retreating Indians across the neck of land which 
 connects the two townships. This neck is from 
 three to four miles in length and of great eleva- 
 tion, being composed of pure white sand. Sev- 
 enty years ago it was studded with stumps of 
 trees which had been choked by the upward 
 march of the drift, but every vestige of these 
 long since disappeared. This elongated hill 
 forms one of the most impressive objects in 
 nature. Viewed at early dawn, when the fog 
 from the Atlantic, purpling in the rising sun, 
 bathes the vast sand-drift in a soft amethystine 
 light, the sight is one capable of exciting the 
 deepest admiration. It impressed even the 
 wandering Northman, accustomed as he was to 
 all the wild and imposing magnificence of his 
 native isle ; and in the old Saga of Vinland he 
 calls the shore the " Wonder-strand." Such 
 must this display ever appear to all impressible 
 minds, whether viewed in the purpling light of 
 morning, in the bright effulgence of the sun's 
 meridian splendor, or at evening when the naked 
 waste gloams fitfully in the weird, super- 
 
Miles Standish. II 
 
 natural twilight. Then the solitary and belated 
 tourist, as the solemn voice of the surf salutes 
 his ear, will often start involuntarily ; and as 
 the dim forms darkle around him, the air seems 
 to grow thick and tangible, and he becomes half 
 conscious of the presence of some great all- 
 pervading spirit. 
 
 It is, however, the fortune of few to witness 
 these peculiar moods of nature among the sand- 
 hills. Still those who wait and watch will al- 
 ways be rewarded. The prospect here, of course, 
 must affect individuals variously. A quaint old 
 writer says : "Many pilgrims, going barefoot, 
 for devotion' sake, from Joppa to Jerusalem 
 upon the hot sands, often run mad, oi else are 
 quite overwhelmed with sand, profundis arenis, 
 as in many parts of Africk." Such a burial is 
 doubtless very possible ; but must not those 
 pedestrians have gone mad long before they 
 reached Joppa ? But our Pilgrims are not 
 mad; at least not now. They have forgotten 
 the old grievance, and for the nonce leave the 
 husks of religion to theologic swine ; and now 
 Elder Bradford marches side by side with Miles 
 Standish, conversing pleasantly of wood-craft, 
 eyeing at times the sea-fowl that darken the air 
 in their flight, and anon pausing to train his 
 snaphance upon the retreating form of some 
 noble buck. The route selected probably lay 
 
12 Footprints of 
 
 on the south side of this neck of land and par- 
 allel with the salt marsh which penetrates the 
 Cape for a distance of three miles, where are 
 still to be seen the remains of those dense, 
 tangled, and almost impassable coppices which 
 Bradford says " tore our very armor in pieces." 
 But the prospect nevertheless appeared promis- 
 ing ; and as they trampled down the underwood, 
 the bruised sassafras, quoted then at three shil- 
 lings a pound, perfumed the air with its deli- 
 cious aroma. Sweet incense indeed in the 
 trained nostrils of the thrifty Puritan Elder. 
 But though well-pleased with the constantly 
 widening view, they soon began to feel the need 
 of refreshment ; for Bradford says, " we brought 
 neither beer nor water with us, and our victuals 
 was only biscuit and Holland cheese, and a 
 little bottle of aqua vitce, so we were sore 
 athirst." They pressed on, however, and reach- 
 ed the head of the creek where the life-boat "^ is 
 now housed but ready tor be launched at a 
 moment's warning, and turning southward, still 
 among the woo^is, they came about ten o'clock 
 to a valley full of brush and long grass, with 
 deer. This valley is somewhat memorable from 
 the fact that here the Pilgrims found the first 
 spring of water, " of which," in the language 
 of the journal, " we were heartily glad, and sat 
 us down and drunk our first New England 
 
Miles Standish. 13 
 
 water, with as much delight as we ever drunk 
 in our lives." This place is now known as 
 East Harbor, a deserted village which the black- 
 birds hold in fee simple, and where in a swamp 
 they sing among the alders. From this point 
 they could discern the Mayflower, modeled^ke LkJ^^ 
 a Chinese junk, lying at anchor in the distant 
 harbor, and here they built a fire to signal their 
 position to the company on board. 
 
 Passing on from thence due south, they soon 
 came to another valley, where was found "a 
 fine pond of fresh water, where grew also many 
 small vines, and fowl and deer haunted there." 
 This is the second time the vine is alluded to. 
 Mr. Laing, the translator of the *' Heimskrin- 
 gla," thinks the Northmen did not come so far 
 south as the Cape, because the productions of 
 this part of the country, particularly the vine, 
 do not agree with those of Vinland.^ 
 
 Speaking of Eastern Massachusetts, he asks : 
 " Do vines, or wheat, or corn of any kind grow 
 spontaneously in any part of these countries? "^ 
 adding, ' * this is a question by no means satis- 
 factorily ascertained." A very trifling amount 
 of knowledge would have prevented this mis- 
 take. As for the vines, the boys hereabouts 
 who 
 
 " Know each wildwood smell, 
 The bayberry and the fern/' 
 
 ;^ /L. Jur. Jiy>^aL f^U-C-^ 
 
 / 
 
14 Footprints of 
 
 could tell him where they grow ; while the 
 Sagas by no means furnish the sole testimony 
 in regard to self-sown grain. Sabine Baring- 
 Grould speaks in his book of Icelandic travel of 
 wild corn growing in that island on the sand- 
 flats, which is used by the inhabitants for food. 
 The valley where Standish found the vines and 
 the deer is now called Pond Village, one of the 
 most pleasant villages in Truro. Turning 
 thence down the north side of the pond, which 
 in the summer is filled with a luxuriant growth 
 of green flag, they travelled along the beach 
 on the inner side of the bay ; but as some of 
 the men *' were tired and lagged behind," they 
 soon struck into the land again through an 
 opening in the bank which is still pointed out, 
 one mile south of Pond Village. Continuing 
 the march over a somewhat rolling tract of 
 country, they came to a heap of sand, and, dig- 
 ging into it, they discovered " a fine new basket 
 full of very fair corn, with some six-and-thirty 
 goodly years of corn, some yellow and some 
 red, and others mixed with blue, which was a 
 very goodly sight." The basket was of curious 
 workmanship ; and near by they discovered a 
 palisade which had been constructed by some 
 Englishmen visiting the coast. Here the ad- 
 vance terminated, as the time allotted to the 
 expedition was brief. They had now reached a 
 
Miles Standish. 15 
 
 spot known to the present inhabitants as ** Hop- 
 kins' Cliff," near the mouth of the "Little 
 Pamet " river, at Truro Centre. Of this there 
 can be no doubt whatever, as whoever stands 
 upon that cliff with the journal before him will 
 see that Bradford has given an exact photograph 
 of the locality. From this point may be seen 
 Pamet Harbor, into which the Great Pamet 
 empties, along whose sandy banks and sedge- 
 grown shores may be found a scattered popula- 
 tion, consisting chiefly of fishermen, whose 
 quaint and picturesque dwellings seem an inte- 
 gral part of the sombre but impressive land- 
 scape. This spot formed quite an extensive 
 Indian village ; and the thievish south-wind 
 that lugs away the fragrant odors of the bay- 
 berry and eglantine frequently reveals the re- 
 mains of Indian graves, in which the crumbled 
 skeletons appear ranged side by side. And 
 dost thou deem it kind, old ^olus, thus to lay 
 bare the bones of a chief? Ah, thou wilt blow 
 and crack thy cheeks to give them decent sep- 
 ulture again, presently? y- 
 
 From this point Standish and his men com- 
 menced their return, loaded with the spoils, as 
 the twelve spies of Israel returned from Canaan 
 bearing the rich fruits of Eschol. A forced 
 march brought them back by evening to the 
 ** fresb-water pond," where they formed a camp, 
 
 ^^^K,^r<^ ^itx^rryi^ ' ^^ ^ 
 
16 Footprints of 
 
 established a guard, and passed a rainy night. 
 The returning light found them once more on 
 their way through the woods, but soon they un- 
 fortunately lost the trail. The conclusion may 
 be given in their own words : — 
 
 " As we wandered, we came to a tree where a young 
 sprit was bowed down over a bow, and some acorns 
 strewed underneath. Stephen Hopkins said it had 
 been to catch some deer. So as we were loolving at 
 it, William Bradford being in the rear, when he came 
 also upon it, and as he went about it gave a sudden 
 jerk up, and he was immediately caught by the leg. 
 It was a very pretty device^ made with a rope of their 
 own making. In the end we got out of the wood, 
 and were fallen about a mile too high above the 
 creek ;9 where we saw three buck, but we would rath- 
 er have had one of them. So we marched some while 
 on the sands, and other while in the water up to the 
 knees; till at length we came near the ship, and then 
 we shot off our pieces and the long-boat came to fetch 
 us. Master Jones and Master Carver being on the 
 shore, with many of our people, came to meet us. 
 And so we came both weary and welcome home." 
 
 Thus the expedition ended with success, and 
 a good report was brought concerning the land, 
 encouraging the Pilgrims to make larger efforts 
 to discover a suitable spot for the establishment 
 of their colony. It was therefore not without 
 an important bearing upon all that followed, and 
 formed a link in the chain of providences which 
 led to the permanent occupation of the country. 
 Few persons ever consider how largely Plymouth 
 
Miles Standish. IT 
 
 Rock is indebted to the sands of Cape Cod. It 
 was here that the Pilgrims received their first 
 favorable impressions of the Western world. It 
 was here, in the harbor of Provincetown, that 
 they found such seasonable relief from the storm 
 which threatened their destruction. Says one 
 of New England's noblest sons : ""When I con- 
 sider the condition of the Mayflower, utterly 
 incapable as she was of living through another 
 gale, I dare not call it a mere piece of good for- 
 tune, that the general north and south wall of 
 the shore of New England should be broken 
 by this extraordinary projection of the Cape, 
 running out into the ocean a hundred miles, 
 as if on purpose to receive and encircle this 
 precious vessel." 
 
 And whoever is interested in these episodes 
 of colonial history, whoever is fond of walking 
 as it were by the side of historic personages and 
 sharing their very thoughts and actions, and is 
 very desirous at the same time of studying na- 
 ture in all her various moods, can hardly spend 
 a short vacation better than by a ramble, book in 
 hand, over the unique region traversed by Cap- 
 tain Miles Standish and his party of observation. 
 But if one feels that this is indulging in candle- 
 light at noon-day, he may close the little dingy 
 volume, born of the London press, in Pater- 
 Noster Row, more than two hundred years ago, 
 
18 Footprints of 
 
 and read only the great outspread volume of 
 Nature, which is new every morning and fresh 
 every evening. When you step upon these 
 shores, you leave behind all the artificial customs 
 and sickening conventionalities of society, and 
 become conscious that you are moving in a new 
 and healthier atmosphere. Here you find noth- 
 ing hackneyed or common. The land and sea 
 are equally at command, while all seasons unite 
 in giving alms of their respective pleasures. 
 Every view here is beautiful. Indeed, there 
 are no asymptotes in nature : the wildest ex- 
 tremes of mountain and moorland, rugged 
 rock and sandy holm, — all these, so opposite to 
 the common sight, trend away in their course 
 until they meet and mingle in the Line of 
 Beauty. There is something that is wonder- 
 fully pleasing even in common objects here by 
 the sea-side. The low bank waving with pale 
 green beach-grass ; the overhanging cliff ; the 
 drift wood-pile garnered in a cove ; the whale's 
 rib planted for a landmark, and the hulk of last 
 winter's wreck half buried in the sand, finding 
 as they do their appropriate adjuncts, form so 
 many simple yet effective pictures, admirably 
 adapted to please the artist's eye. 
 
 Nevertheless certain seasons and localities are 
 calculated above others to afford pleasure. In 
 the spring-time the brown and sombre earth 
 
Miles Standish. 19 
 
 breaks out here and there in bright green 
 spots, and the beach-grass and the oaks revive 
 and emulate the verdure of the evergreen pine. 
 Then comes the season to walk in the woods. 
 But go there always on a sunny day, after the 
 land-tortoise has commenced his summer rambles, 
 and revel in the sweet spicery and listen to the 
 songs of the birds. Here you will find the 
 Mayflower (^EjngcEa repens) growing in the 
 shade, and half-buried in last autumn's leaves ; 
 a flower which many suppose to be peculiar to 
 Plymouth woods, as if it first sprang up when 
 the foot of the colonist touched the strand. 
 Autumn, however, is perhaps best suited to the 
 genius of these shores. Then the natural char- 
 acter of the scenery becomes intensified, and the 
 general brownness of the landscape kindles to a 
 golden flame, in which every object is immersed 
 in a warm, rich light. The autumnal day we 
 must give to the moorlands, which occupy no 
 inconsiderable tract of country here, beginning 
 near the head of land which juts out into East 
 Harbor, and sweeping southward several miles 
 in the form of a somewhat regular plain, until 
 the level ground gradually breaks up and loses 
 itself among the rolling hills known to geolo- 
 gists as moraines}^ 
 
 Loiter here on a hazy afternoon, and observe 
 the magic of light as it plays on the russet 
 
20 Footprints of 
 
 heath. How delicious the crisp of the moss to 
 our metropolitau feet ! The haycocks, the sa- 
 line spoils of the meadow, gleam like hives of 
 gold. How the whortleberry flames ! See that 
 blazing bramble-bush, all on fire from the slant- 
 ing rays of the declining sun, which now looks 
 
 "With the eye of love through golden vapors around 
 him," 
 
 and transfigures every object. Here the true 
 recluse may wunder and meditate, and learn why 
 Jesus went out into a " desert-place." The ef- 
 fect is soothing in an eminent degree, and sug- 
 gestive of the calm experienced by Frithiof 
 when he came repentant, to Balder's sacred 
 fane : — 
 
 "Yes, 't was as if he felt the heart of nature beat 
 Responsive to his own; as if, deep-mov'd he'd press 
 In brotherly embrace Heimskringla's Orb, and Peace 
 Straight make with all the world." 
 
 On such days occurs the mirage, than which 
 nothing is more frequent or beautiful. The 
 Cape here is extremely narrow, and hemmed in 
 by two atmospheres, varying greatly in clear- 
 ness and density. Hence the variable tempera- 
 ture will often play the most extravagant pranks 
 with laws of light, and sometimes leads the 
 stranger almost to doubt his own identity. 
 Hitchcock says that during his geological tour 
 along the Cape he witnessed a must remarkable 
 illusion near Orleans. He tells us that as he 
 
Miles Standish. 21 
 
 travelled over the level road he seemed to be 
 ascending a hill, and could not persuade himself 
 of the contrary without turning and walking in 
 the opposite direction, wben even then the illu- 
 sion was not dissipated. Often, on such a day 
 as I have described, when earth and sky are 
 bathed in a hazy, dreamy, undulating ligbt, the 
 glowing heath will rise all around you, and 
 every object assume the strangest phase. Sea- 
 ward and landward the eflfect is the same. On 
 the ocean phantom ships are seen crowding on 
 sail for phantom ports ; while in the distant bay 
 are distorted spectral shapes that appear suf- 
 ficiently grotesque for the wraith of the May- 
 flower, and we almost expect to see Miles Stand- 
 ish and his mail-clad retinue issue from out the 
 neighboring woods. Frequently at such times 
 the earth seems to be nothing but an island, 
 floating in a vast sea of shining haze, — an illu- 
 sion which only a change of the wind can effec- 
 tually dispel.^^ 
 
 Near this heath are the Cliffs of Highland 
 Light, a delightful situation from whence to 
 view both land and sea. Standing upon the 
 precipitous cliffs, which rose to Grosnold's view 
 a " mighty headland," and possibly the identi- 
 cal " Wonder-strand " of the old Saga, we 
 peer far out over the blue Atlantic. This is the 
 Land's End of Massachusetts ; and the waves 
 
22 Footprints, S^c, 
 
 roll, unbroken by reef or skerry, between the 
 beach down at our feet and the Land's End of 
 Cornwall. It is calm to-day, and the waves, 
 forgetful of their wonted mood, rise and fall 
 with a musical cadence, and, breaking, sink 
 softly down upon the sandy shore. And I 
 would. Old England, that the words which reach 
 us from thy distant strand, in this our day of 
 trial, fell soothingly iiiem our hearts like the 
 '*^^'«'"*^ gentle lapse of the summer sea. 
 
 This abrupt cliflf overhanging the shore is 
 deeply suggestive, and here we leave the little 
 band 'of Pilgrims to join in imagination that 
 great company yet to assemble at the Land's 
 End of Time. In the language of the Dean 
 Alvord — 
 
 "And so one day, 
 Will the Lord's flock, close on time's limit stand 
 On the last headland of the travelled world, 
 And watch, like sun's streak on the ocean waste, 
 His advent drawing nigh. 
 
 "Thus shall the Church 
 Her Land's End reach : and thus must you and me 
 Look out upon the glorious realms of hope, 
 And find the last of Earth,— the first of God." 
 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 1 The first child born hefff-of foreign parentage was 
 Snorre, son of Gudrid, the wife of Thorfin, one of 
 the Icelandic navigators. This child attained to man- 
 hood; and his grandson, Thorlak, was advanced to 
 the Episcopate, and compiled a code of ecclesiastical 
 laws for the Church in Iceland. The learned Icelander, 
 Prof. Finn Magnusson and Thorwaldsonthe sculptor, 
 were among the descendants of Snorre. No person 
 who is aware of the amount of attention paid to gen- 
 ealogy by the Icelanders will entertain a doubt on the 
 subject. This child was born, it is thought, near 
 Mount Hope. 
 
 2 Gurnet Point, near Plymouth, is probably the 
 "Krossaness" of the Icelandic history. Thorwald 
 Ericsson, dying, said: There shall ye bury me, and 
 plant a cross at my head, and also at my feet, and 
 call the place Krossaness in all coming time." It is 
 equally certain that "Kialarness,"— Keel-Cape, — where 
 they fitted a new keel to their vessel and setup the old 
 one as a landmark, is identical with Cape Cod. 
 
 3 This Saga was committed to manuscript prior to 
 the year 1395, and is unquestionably a genuine histori- 
 cal document. Columbus visited Iceland in the year 
 1477, and possibly found there the confirmation of his 
 theory of a Western World. 
 
 4 Young, m his notes to Chronicles of the Pilgrims, 
 says that what was taken for juniper was "the red ce- 
 dar," and states there is "no juniper.^' Is he not in 
 error ?TMIe probably never spent a day picking juni- 
 per berries among the sand hills. If he had, he would 
 never had forgotten the circumstance. Evelyn, in 
 his Sylva Sylvarum, says, "I wonder Virgil should 
 condemn its shade— ^'j^/nperi gravis umbra — I suspect 
 him misreported." So do I. J^ 
 
 -f 1>i^i4:^Uj ^^ . 
 
24 APPENDIX. 
 
 5 All the early colonists in America were dazzled by 
 the prospect of finding gold, pearls, and precious 
 stones. Linnaius professed to understand the art of 
 producing natural pearls, — probably by perforating 
 the shell of the mussel and introducing a grain of 
 sand. 
 
 6 This estimate is too large, as by the next morning 
 at ten o'clock they had not travelled more than that 
 distance. 
 
 7 Placed here to rescue shipwrecked sailors. The 
 Humane Society many years ago built huts at inter- 
 vals on the beach, where such unfortunates may find 
 shelter. 
 
 8 It has also been objected that the Sagas state that 
 "there is no winter in Vinland, and no cold and no 
 frost, as in Iceland and Greenland," This was un- 
 doubtly said to encourage emigration. Thomas Mor- 
 ton [N. E. Canaan] does not hesitate to say, with the 
 same end in view, that in New England the people 
 have "no coughs and colds." What account might 
 not Gosnold have honestly given of the climate if he 
 had found ice here in July, as did one writing 
 to the Boston Post-Boy, of July 16, 1741 : 
 
 "Province-town, July 14th. On the 4th, of this 
 month one of this town discovered a considerable 
 quantity of ice on the north side of a Swamp in this 
 place, who bi'oke off a piece and carried it several 
 miles undissolved to the tavern-keeper, who for his 
 pains treated him to a bowl of punch for his pains." 
 
 9 East Harbor creek, called "Head of the Meadow," 
 where the life-boat is housed on the beach. 
 
 10 These moraines, which so impress the beholder, 
 and which are so suggestive of a former deluge, are 
 considered by Hitchcock and Robinson as identical 
 with the isolated moraines around Jericho. 
 
 11 A well known Episcopal clergvman of Boston, 
 formerly minister of the old Congrcg tional Society 
 in Plymouth, informs the writer that he has seen the 
 houses situated on the Cape, twenty miles distant from 
 that place, during the mirage, the houses in question 
 appearing to be only a short distance from the shore. 
 In the ordinary state of the atmosphere this would 
 be impossible. 
 
 
FOOTPRINTS 
 
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 piles ^taitHslj. 
 
 BY THE REV. B. F. DeCOSTA. 
 
 € ^arlesto fa it : 
 Re-pkinted from the C'HrKCH Monthly 
 
 POR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION. 
 
 1864, . 
 
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