[107] 1691. A considerable body of Eastern Indians came down from the interior, with the intention of sacking the Isles of Shoals, but on August 4th came upon some English forces at Maquoit, under Captain March, and had a fight with them. This prevented their proceeding, and saved the Shoals.--"Magnalia," vol. xi., p. 611. 1692. Governor Fletcher examined three deserters, or renegadoes, as he calls them, from Quebec, who came before him September 23d. They said two men-of-war had arrived at Quebec, and were fitting out for an expedition along the coast, "with a design to fall on Wells, Isle of Shoals, Piscataqua, etc."--"New York Colonial Documents," vol. iii., p. 855. 1724. After the Indians had cut off Captain Winslow and thirteen of his men in the River St. George, encouraged by this success, the enemy made a still greater attempt by water, and seized two shallops at the Isles of Shoals.--HUTCHINSON's "Massachusetts," vol. ii., p. 307. [108] _Mountains seen off the coast_: Agamenticus, twelve miles north of the entrance of the Piscataqua; three inferior summits, known as Frost's Hills, at a less distance on the north-west. In New Hampshire the first ridge is twenty or thirty miles from sea, in the towns of Barrington, Nottingham, and Rochester--the summits known as Teneriffe, Saddleback, Tuckaway, etc. Their general name is the Blue Hills. Beyond these are several detached summits--Mount Major, Moose Mountain, etc.; also a third range farther inland, with Chocorua, Ossipee, and Kearsarge. In the lofty ridge, separating the waters of the Merrimac and the Connecticut is Grand Monadnock, twenty-two miles east of the Connecticut River; thirty miles north of this is Sunapee, and forty-eight farther, Moosehillock. The ranges then trend away north-east, and are massed in the White Hills. [109] John Ward Dean, of Boston, the accomplished antiquary, has elicited this and other facts relative to his namesake. [110] On Boone Island it is said there is no soil except what has been carried there. [Illustration: CLIFFS, WHITE ISLAND.] CHAPTER XII. THE ISLES OF SHOALS--_continued._ "--There be land-rats and water-rats, water thieves and land thieves; I mean pirates."--_Merchant of Venice._