Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-06-14

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The name of these rocks are quaint,
characteristic, and very dissimilar. One,
from its surface being covered more or less
with glistening sand, is called CRYSTAL
ISLAND. Another, because it is haunted by
birds, we suppose, is called Duck Island.
But the really most picturesque of the
group is known as "Smutty Nose" One
island has slightly oval shape, and is call
ed ''Hog Island" This valuable property
belongs to the State of Maine Star Island,
the largest of the group is evidently SO
named because it is the gem of this minia-
ture representation of the Southern Antil-
les. On its surface is to be found a little
earth, the result of mould and accumulat-
ing decay of five thousand years of storm
and sunshine. Here the sturdy New Eng
land fishermen, more than century and
a half ago, made their homes, built them
selves houses of the WRECKS of vessels,
created a village, made it attractive bv the
spire of a miniature church, named this little
marine prodigy after the ancient English
town of Gosport, where for centuries has
been a ferry that crosses to Plymouth, in
Hampshire. Thus tbs Old World lives in
names repeated in tie New for you can
go from our American Gosport to the beau
tiful American town of Portsmouth, in the
truly American State of (New) Hamp-
SHIRE te.a az
The inhabitants of the Isles of Shoal de-
pend upon the ever-abundant treasures
of the sea for subsistence; they are ex-
pert fishermen, and are alike at home
when pursuing the herring and the whale.
For vegetables and fresh meats they rely
upon the mainland, exchanging their fish
for such named necessaries of life. Some
times the Isles of Shoals will be for days
enveloped in deep fogs, and the inhabi-
tants seem to be as uncomfortable under the
infiiction as do the fish in the surrounding
sea. But it is not always desolate and
stormy in these bleak regions. In the mid
summer, the restless Atlantic even will
have days of repose Then il is that the
bright sun pours down its uninterrupted
rays upon the islands, making them in the
distance look like amethysts and garnets
set as mosaics in glistening emerald. At
these seasons Portsmouth becomes a gay
watering place, and its local attractions
are enhanced by pleasant trip by steamer
to Star Island, Gosport, and the neighbor-
ing isles. as
As you skirt along the entrance Of the
bay of Portsmouth, off in the distance,
and just visible above the undulating
waves, these isles may be seen. There IS
a mystery to the novice in the little obtru-
sive spots and they are enquired after and
talked about. Not long ago, if you graft
fled your curiosity, you depended upon
some chance opportunity; now a little
steamer plies regularly between Ports
mouth and Gosport, and this outlay upon
the ocean has been taken up for q tour
lists watering place. A crowd of visitors
is gratifying event to the isolated people
of Gosport and the peaceful residents on
Hog Island 1t brings a bit of the gay
world to them, from which they are SO
strangely shut out.
The day, of course, is fine; the waves
are glistening under the bright sunshine
and, your heart palpitating with pleasure
mouth harbor on your journey As you
near the Isles of Shoals, you discern that
the white thready line that separated their
surfaces from the sea, is a lashing, roaring
surf, which, in fair weather and foul, seems
to pelt and fight these everlasting rocks,
as if they were intruders in the pathway
of the great deep. With some difficulty,
and amid the screams and taunts of the
crazy sea-birds, you make the desired
landing and find yourselves on terra frmaa.
The clear, bracing atmosphere has made
your blood dance with invigoration, your
appetite becomes sharp-set, your spirits
are exhilarated, and everything is joyous.
The edible treasures of the sea, with the
addition of choice luxruies from the land,
are at your service, in the order Of an ex-
temporized picnic, and you eat and are
merry as you never were before and the
Isles of Shoals, with their quaint people,
their lone position, their queer old houses,
their numerous craft, are impressed upon
your mind so indelibly that in all future
time, You contrast each similar recreation
but to more pleasantly recall the happy
hours spent upon the resting-place Of the
deep sea. ,t..os.s - LII, +..-.
Among the wild and broken coast, the
mainland of New England, the natural
vegetation of our forests struggles for its
appointed supremacy. The almost univer-
sal want of any actual soil gives to the
plants and trees hardy nature that comes
from efforts to live under adverse circum-
stances; and especially is this true of that
strongly-individualized family of the cy-
press-lordly monarchs, towering to the
height of one hundred and fifty feet in the
rich alluvium of the Mississippi, while on
the Atlantic slope, though less in altitude,
one of the grandest of our forest growths.
They are the same noble trees which in
the East are celebrated as the ''cedars of
Lebanon and everywhere admired for
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monuments. Scared by the ravages of age
and their delicate foliage, as it gently
waves in the wind, almost rivals the plumes
of the ostrich. sG
Grand specimens of these trees are here
and there to be met with all along the
New England coast. Occasionally the
seed Of one will iall upon some ocean
washed rock. The feeble plant will for
long years scarcely lift its head above the
surrounding level. and then only to find
itself shadowed by precipices that rise in
! to the very clouds. Throwing outits deli
cate suckers, it clings to its native barren
. ness, even more closely for its poverty.
| The searching winds Of a thousand storms
straighten its tendrils, the impacted SHOWS
of each returning winter scarcely disap-
pear before the summers heat ere our ce-
} dar is again bound in an icy tomb. But
} silently, steadily, perseveringly, it grows.
} In time it reaches its head into the noon
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