ry convenient for
laying a vessel on shore, where the tide rises and falls seven feet at
the full and change of the moon. We could not determine whether any
considerable stream of fresh water came into this river out of the
country; but we saw a number of small rivulets issue from the adjacent
hills. Near the mouth of this river, on the east side, we found a little
Indian village, consisting of small temporary sheds, where we landed,
and were received by the people with the utmost kindness and
hospitality: They treated us with a flat shell-fish of a most delicious
taste, somewhat like a cockle, which we eat hot from the coals. Near
this place is a high point or peninsula, projecting into the river, and
upon it are the remains of a fort, which they call _eppah_, or _heppah_.
The best engineer in Europe could not have chosen a situation better
adapted to enable a small number to defend themselves against a greater.
The steepness of the cliffs renders it wholly inaccessible from the
water which incloses it on three sides; and, to the land, it is
fortified by a ditch, and a bank raised on the inside: From the top of
the bank to the bottom of the ditch, is two-and-twenty feet; the ditch
on the outside is fourteen feet deep, and its breadth is in proportion.
The whole seemed to have been executed with great judgment; and there
had been a row of pickets or pallisadoes, both on the top of the bank
and along the brink of the ditch on the outside; those on the outside
had been driven very deep into the ground, and were inclined towards the
ditch, so as to project over it; but of these the thickest posts only
were left, and upon them there were evident marks of fire, so that the
place had probably been taken and destroyed by an enemy. If any occasion
should make it necessary for a ship to winter here, or stay any time,
tents might be built in this place, which is sufficiently spacious, with
great convenience, and might easily be made impregnable to the whole
country.

On the 11th, there was so much wind and rain that no canoe came off; but
the long-boat was sent to fetch oysters from one of the beds which had
been discovered the day before: The boat soon returned, deeply laden,
and the oysters, which were as good as ever came from Colchester, and
about the same size, were laid down under the booms, and the ship's
company did nothing but eat them from the time they came on board till
night, when, as may reasonably be supposed, grea