I said that the islets of the Potomac were fertile, verdant, and luxurious in vegetation. This is because their sandy soil is mixed freely with clay and marl; because it is enriched with the deposits of the vast flocks of water-fowl that hover upon them for safe repose; and finally, because, unlike the worn-out lands of the peninsula, the soil is a virgin one, where for ages vegetation has budded, bloomed, and decayed, and returned to the earth to fertilize it. (And here let me be pardoned for saying that it is a matter of surprise to me that the attention of enterprising men has never been turned to these islands as a source of agricultural wealth; for, besides the rich fertility of the soil, the salubrity of the air, and the beauty and grandeur of the land and water scenery, these islands are rich in shoals of fish, crabs, and oysters, and in vast flocks of water-fowl. But we ever overlook and leave the near to seek the far-off goal.) Beyond the mouth of the river, however, and up the coast of the bay, the islands are sandy and poor—nearly unproductive, or entirely barren. Anyone who will turn to the map of Maryland will see that the Chesapeake Bay is interspersed with numerous islands of all sizes, from the largest—Kent Island—to the smallest, nameless sand bank; that the eastern and western shores of Maryland are beautifully diversified with every modification of land and water scenery; that the inlets and islands of the coast form the most charming features of the landscape. * * * * * Some distance above Point Lookout, at the mouth of the Potomac River, up the western shore of Maryland, there is a beautiful inlet, or small bay, making up about three miles into the land, called St. Clara’s Bay by one of the early Roman Catholic settlers. At the headwaters of this inlet is a small, very old hamlet, the site of one of the first settlements of the State, intended once, no doubt, for a great colonial seaport, and christened by the same sponsor St. Clarasville. With its fine harbor and great commercial facilities, whatever could have arrested its growth and withered it in its prime I do not know—possibly the very abundance of other good harbors on the coast—probably the frequent and violent dissensions between the pre-emption freebooters of the Bay Isles and the legal proprietors and settlers of the mainland. Lying two miles off the mouth of this inlet, and stretching across in front of it, is an oblong, sandy, and nearly barren island—rich, however, in fish, crabs, oysters, and water-fowl, and upon this account a great resort in early colonial times, and baptized by the same devout claimant of the bay and town St. Clara’s Isle, in honor of his patron saint.