n strong
east and west; the flood to the west, and the ebb to the east. The
flood tide pulls to the shoals, and the ebb tide on the contrary sets
eastwardly to the sea. Cape Cod is a clean coast, where there are no
islands, rocks or banks, and therefore all such laid down on the
charts of the great reef of Malebarre and otherwise are false. Indeed,
within four, eight and twelve miles, there is sixty to sixty-five
fathoms of water. This cape or coast is about twenty-eight miles long
due north; and from thence to Cape Ann it is also due north, but to
Boston it is northwest. There are many small islands before Boston,
well on to fifty, I believe, between which you sail on to the city. A
high one, or the highest, is the first that you meet. It is twelve
miles from the city, and has a lighthouse[407] upon it which you can
see from a great distance, for it is in other respects naked and bare.
In sailing by this island, you keep it on the west side; on the other
side there is an island with many rocks upon and around it, and when
you pass by it you must be careful, as a shoal pushes out from it,
which you must sail round. You have then an island in front, in the
shape of a battery, which also you leave on the larboard, and then you
come in sight of the island upon which the fort stands, and where the
flag is flown when ships are entering.[408] That, too, lies to the
larboard, and you pass close enough to it for them to hail the ship,
what you are, from whence you came, and where you are bound, etc. When
you are there you see the city lying directly before you; and so you
sail into the bay before the town, and cast anchor. There is a high
hill in the city,[409] also with a lighthouse upon it, by which you
can hold your course in entering.

[Footnote 403: Governor's Island.]

[Footnote 404: "The crooked bay," _i.e._, Peconic Bay.]

[Footnote 405: Block Island, discovered by Adrian Block. The
journalist is wrong as to Rhode Island not lying within the coast.]

[Footnote 406: Vineyard Haven.]

[Footnote 407: It can hardly have been more than a beacon. The first
lighthouse was built in pursuance of an act of 1715, the preamble of
which begins, "Whereas we want of a lighthouse at the entrance of the
harbour of Boston hath been a great discouragement to navigation,"
etc. The new lighthouse was to be erected "on the southermost point of
Great Brewster, called Beacon Island."]

[Footnote 408: George's Island; next, Castle Island