ABUNDANCE OF WHALES.

119

for a habitation. There was the greatest store of fowl' CHAP. that ever we saw.

And every day we saw whales 2 playing hard by us; of which in that place, if we had instruments and means to take them, we might have made a very rich return; which, to our great grief, we wanted. Our master and his mate, and others experienced in fishing, professed we might have made three or four thousand pounds' worth of oil. They preferred it before Greenland whale-fishing, and purpose the next winter to fish for whale here. For cod we assayed, but found none; there is good store, no doubt, in their season." Neither got we any fish all the time we lay there, but some few little ones on the shore. We found great muscles, and very fat and full of sea-pearl; but we could not eat them, for they made us all sick that did eat, as well sailors as passengers. They caused to cast and scour; but they were soon well again.

1 Sea fowls come in late in the autumn and remain during the winter. They were formerly plenty on the shores; but they have been so frequently molested, that their numbers are much reduced.

'Whales are frequently seen in Barnstable Bay and on the outside of the Cape, and are killed by boats from Provincetown. Occasionally, though more rarely of late, they come into the harbour; at the beginning of the present century, two or three whales, producing about a hundred barrels of oil, were annually caught; the last that was killed in the harbour was in Dec. 1840, a hump-back, that made fifty barrels of oil. The appearance of a whale in the harbour is the signal for a general stir among the hundred graceful five-hand boats that line the circling shore of this beautiful bay. The American whale fishery commenced at Cape

IX.

1620.

Nov.

120

CHAP.
IX.

CAPE COD HARBOUR.

The bay is so round and circling, that before we could come to anchor, we went round all the points of 1620. the compass.' We could not come near the shore by three quarters of an English mile, because of shallow water; 2 which was a great prejudice to us; for our people, going on shore, were forced to wade a bowshot or two in going a land, which caused many to get colds and coughs; for it was many times freezing cold weather.

Nov.

11.

This day, before we came to harbour, observing some not well affected to unity and concord, but gave some appearance of faction, it was thought good there should be an association and agreement, that we should combine together in one body, and to submit to such government and governors as we should by common consent agree to make and choose, and set our hands to this that follows, word for word.3

here described. F. The notes to
which this letter is annexed were
written by the Rev. James Free-
man, D.D., of Boston. His father
being a native of Truro, Dr. Free-
man frequently visited the Cape,
and became strongly attached to
it. He wrote a very minute and
accurate topographical account of
it, which may be found in the Mass.
Hist. Coll. vol. viii. His papers
are signed r. s. denoting his office
of Recording Secretary of the Mass.
Hist. Society; a Society which, in
its 27 volumes, has accomplished
more than any other literary or
scientific association in America.

The Mayflower anchored with-
in half a furlong of the end of
Long Point, two miles from the
present village of Provincetown.
The shore is here very bold, and
the water deep.

At the head of the harbour, towards Wood End, and at East Harbour, the flats extend three quarters of a mile from the shore.

They also lie all along the shore in front of the town, but do not extend so far from the land. At low water it is very shallow, and it is still necessary to wade a considerable distance, to get into a boat, as the writer knows by experience.

3 Here, for the first time in the world's history, the philosophical fiction of a social compact was realized in practice. And yet it seems to me that a great deal more has been discerned in this document than the signers contemplated. It is evident, from page 95, that when they left Holland, they expected "to become a body polí tic, using amongst themselves civil government, and to choose their own rulers from among themselves." Their purpose in drawing up and signing this compact was simply, as they state, to restrain certain of their number, who had manifested an unruly and factious disposition. This was the whole philosophy of the instrument,

IX.

Nov.

In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are CHAP. underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Bri- 1620. tain, France, and Ireland king, defender of the faith, &c., 11. having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names, at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, anno Domini 1620.