Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1893-01-01


as near amphibialb as they can well be
without having web feet Hog island
doubtless came honestly enough by its
ugly name, since the mainlanders have
for at least a century used the islands
along the coast as pastures and breed
ing places for horses, cattle and hogs.
The climate of Hog island is ordinarily
mild. Spring begins early, and autumn
usually runs late into December. In
ordinary winters the fig tree growing in
the open air is spared by the frost and
snow, which rarely falls and never lies
long enough to whiten the ground. Per-
haps once in a decade there comes a
hard black frost, and occasionally the
quiet water few miles farther north is
frozen over from the mainland to outly-
ing islands.
Hog island, like all its fellows along
the coast, is sandy and pipy. The soil
is little cultivated on any Of the islands,
because the inhabitants find it easy to
exchange some of the things in which
their waters are rich for vegetables
grown upon the mainland. Oysters,
diamond backed terrapin and water
fowl of many sorts swarm about Hog
island and its neighbors. The piles of the
clubhouse wharf at Wallop's island, built
three years ago, are already incrusted
with bushels of young oysters, the prop
erty Of any man who will go at low
tide and take them from their hold upon
the wood. There is some attempt on the
part Of Virginia to protect the diamond
backs, but restrictions upon the pursuit
Of game are not popular among the is
lands, and terrapin are caught and eaten
whenever they are fit to eat. They are
never cheap, even within few miles of
their feeding grounds, and they easily
fetch from fifteen dollars to twenty-five
dollars dozen at Chincoteague.
Water fowl are the favorite game in
the region about the island. Compare
lively few land animals are shot. There
are some squirrels in the pine woods, but
the islands have no large game. The
marsh hen builds her nest along the
inlets and shoals, but is a difficult crea-
ture to shoot. Aquatic birds of many
varieties swarm upon the outlying strips
Of marsh and upon small islands that
are half submerged at high tide. Wild
ducks of half dozen varieties-but sell
dom or never the canvasback and yellow
legs-and several varieties of wild geese
are abundant. Bird egging is a favor
lite amusement with the islanders in the
laying season, and bushels of eggs are
obtained upon the smaller uninhabited
islands.
All craft at Hog island, as along the
whole coast, are fiat bottoms because of
shoal water, and provided with center
boards. The double leg-o'-mutton rig
is general, and the boats are stanch
and manageable The tiniest venture
out to sea, and the passage from island
to island and to the mainland is made in
all kinds of weather. The mail is ordi-
narily brought over to hog island in an
open sailboat unless the owners of the
clubhouse happen to be down, when the
steam yacht performs the task.
The people Of the Atlantic coast is
lands of Virginia are as simple and
kindly as any on earth. For the most
part they live from generation to gener-
alton upon the islands, and the only
newcomers, save on populous Chinco-
league, are the government employees
and the sporting stranger. Even the
former are often appointed from local
residents, and many sailors and oyster
men along the coast have at one time or
another served in the life saving stations.
Nobody knows how long Hog island and
its neighbors have been settled, but the
mainlanders boiled salt ON the beaches,
as they call TIE islands, fully century
ago, and land titles run back much fur
Their. When the government sought to
obtain land on Wallop's island for life
saving station, one Snead turned up,
claiming damages under an early Sew
enteenth century grant to an ancestor Of
his own name.