succeeded in rounding the peninsula of Monomoy, and finally, in the gray of the evening, cast anchor in the offing near Chatham, now known as Old Stage Harbor. The next day they entered, passing between Harding's Beach Point and Morris Island, in two fathoms of water, and anchored in Stage Harbor. This harbor is about a mile long and half a mile wide, and at its western extremity is connected by tide-water with Oyster Pond, and with Mill Cove on the east by Mitchell's River. Mooring their barque between these two arms of the harbor, towards the westerly end, the explorers remained there about three weeks. It was the centre of an Indian settlement, containing five or six hundred persons. Although it was now well into October, the natives of both sexes were entirely naked, with the exception of a slight band about the loins. They subsisted upon fish and the products of the soil. Indian corn was their staple. It was secured in the autumn in bags made of braided grass, and buried in the sand-banks, and withdrawn as it was needed during the winter. The savages were of fine figure and of olive complexion. They adorned themselves with an embroidery skilfully interwoven with feathers and beads, and dressed their hair in a variety of braids, like those at Saco. Their dwellings were conical in shape, covered with thatch of rushes and corn-husks, and surrounded by cultivated fields. Each cabin contained one or two beds, a kind of matting, two or three inches in thickness, spread upon a platform on which was a layer of elastic staves, and the whole raised a foot from the ground. On these they secured refreshing repose. Their chiefs neither exercised nor claimed any superior authority, except in time of war. At all other times and in all other matters complete equality reigned throughout the tribe. The stay at Chatham was necessarily prolonged in baking bread to serve the remainder of the voyage, and in repairing their barque, whose rudder had been badly shattered in the rough passage round the cape. For these purposes, a bakery and a forge were set up on shore, and a tent pitched for the convenience and protection of the workmen. While these works were in progress, De Poutrincourt, Champlain, and others made frequent excursions into the interior, always with a guard of armed men, sometimes making a circuit of twelve or fifteen miles. The explorers were fascinated with all they saw. The aroma of the autumnal forest and the balmy air of October stimulated their senses. The nut-trees were loaded with ripe fruit, and the rich clusters of grapes were hanging temptingly upon the vines. Wild game was plentiful and delicious. The fish of the bay were sweet, delicate, and of many varieties. Nature, unaided by art, had thus supplied so many human wants that Champlain gravely put upon record his opinion that this would be a most excellent place in which to lay the foundations of a commonwealth, if the harbor were deeper and better protected at its mouth.