ried beauties.

Right before them appears the rocky point on which Roger Conant's colony
of 1623, the first of the cape and the oldest after Plymouth and Boston,
held its brief sway; farther on, Ten-Pound Island with its light-house;
then the village of Gloucester, the old fort, the still older wind-mill,
both prominent objects; and in the distance the twin lighthouses of
Thatcher's Island, with Railcut Hill to the north-east, and, stretching
to the north, the low, marshy level through which Squam River meanders
to the sea by the sands of Coffin's Beach.

Under any circumstances this panorama would have challenged the
admiration of our friends; but seen, as they saw it, on a clear summer
day, with the wide expanse of blue water breaking under the influence of
a gentle breeze into curling waves, which with gathering force dashed
playfully upon the yellow ledges and shining beaches, with flocks of
sea-gulls sweeping in graceful circles or brooding upon the surface, no
ordinary description could do it justice.

The fair peninsula of Cape Ann, a large part of which now lay before
them, called by the Indians "Wingershaek," has since been thrice named.
By Samuel de Champlain, who visited in it in 1605, it was called Cap aux
Isles, the islands being those now known as Straitsmouth Island,
Thatcher's Island, and Milk Island. By Captain John Smith, who landed
upon its rocky shores in 1614, it was named Tragabigzanda, and the same
islands were called The Three Turks' Heads; and by Prince Charles, who,
after Smith's return to England, gave it the name of Cape Ann, in honor
of his mother, Queen Ann, consort of James the First.

The colony of Roger Conant was afterward transferred to Salem; but
within the next ten years a permanent settlement was made, which in 1642
was incorporated under the name of Gloucester, in honor of the ancient
city of that name in England.

From the first, Cape Ann has been the home of fishermen, though a
considerable foreign commerce was at one time carried on by its thrifty
mariners. Eminently patriotic, the town bore its share in the country's
struggle for independence, two companies of Gloucester men having fought
at Bunker's Hill, and its bold privateers did good service upon the
ocean, not only in the Revolution, but in the later struggle with the
mother country.

Our travellers, having satisfied their curiosity as to the general
appearance of the town, are getting under way again for a nearer