The Court of Oyer and Terminer sits once in a year. It assembles on Tuesday at ten o'clock; finishes all its business; and adjourns almost always on the succeeding day, also. In twenty years it has never sat later than till Thursday evening.

No lawyer, if I am not misinformed, has hitherto been able to get a living in the County of Suffolk. I entertain a very respectful opinion of the gentlemen of the bar; but both you and they will cheerfully agree with me in saying, that this exemption from litigation, while it is a peculiar, is also a very honourable, characteristic of this County. Not far from this hamlet is a spot of ground about three miles in diameter, which, as I was informed by good authority, is covered with shrub oaks, and pines, not more than five or six feet in height. In the whole tract there is not a single tree of the usual size; although it is surrounded by a forest of such trees. The cause of this phenomenon in a place, where the soil is substantially the same with that of the neighbouring country, it is not easy to assign.

Six or eight miles before we arrived at Mattatuck, the country on both sides of the road was chiefly settled in scattered plantations; and the inhabitants appeared generally to be in comfortable circumstances.

Riverhead contained in the year 1800, 1,501 inhabitants; and, in 1810, 1,711.

Mattatuck is a hamlet in the township of Southhold.

Friday May 18th, we rode through Southhold to the ferry. Thence we crossed to Shelter-Island; and, passing over it, crossed a second ferry to Hog's neck: a peninsula, united to Southhampton by a long narrow isthmus of sand; bare, only at low waThis isthmus we travelled over, when it was covered by the tide one fourth of a mile in length; and in different places to the depth of two feet. Then by a very circuitous course we proceeded to Sagharbour.

ter.

The country from Mattatuck to Southhold, is almost a perfect level; and the road very good.

Southhold is a more considerable settlement than any other, through which we had passed. The houses are generally better,

more numerous, and more compactly built. The inhabitants, who are chiefly Presbyterians, have erected a church, which is the principal ornament of their town.

Southhold contains two parishes; the Town, and Oysterponds. From the town to Oysterponds point is ten miles; five, to the beach, which connects the point with Long-Island; and five, thence to the extremity of the point.

The parish of Oysterponds, which occupies this ground, is only one mile in breadth, but is populous. The land is good; and the people are industrious and thrifty. A considerable number of the inhabitants are fishermen. The agriculture has lately been much improved: but the people suffer not a little from ecclesiastical contentions. It contains a Presbyterian church, and has a settled minister; but there are many sectaries. The houses are about as numerous as in Southhold, and of as good an appearance.

The township of Southhold includes also several islands. Of these the largest is Fisher's Island; lying eight miles South-East of New-London. It is nine miles in length; and contains about four thousand acres. The surface is uneven; and the soil moderately good. It feeds a great number of sheep, with a few neat cattle; and yields a considerable quantity of wool, butter, cheese, and corn. It was originally purchased by his Excellency John Winthrop, Esq. formerly Governour of Connecticut; and is now the property of Francis B. Winthrop, Esq. of New-York. SouthWestward of Fisher's Island are two islets, named the Gull Islands on the least of which is built a light-house. These stand in a rapid tide, called the Horserace; by which, had they not a base of solid rock, they would long since have been washed away. Immediately South-West of these islands, or rather WestSouth-West, lies Plumb Island; separated from Oysterponds point by a channel, three-fourths of a mile wide, called Plumb Gut; through which, also, runs a strong and rapid tide. This island was first purchased by Samuel Wyllys, Esq. of Hartford, about the year 1667, for a barrel of biscuit, and a hundred awls and fishhooks. The original proprietor was Wyandonse, called by

Dr. Trumbull Wyantanse; one of the principal Sachems of Long-Island. Afterward it fell into the hands of a Mr. Beebee, of Plymouth; some of whose descendants are said lately to have had in their possession a manuscript history of the settlement of that Colony, now supposed to be lost. This island contains about eight hundred acres of excellent land; and is inhabited by six families. Its waters abound in fine fish. Anciently it was called the Isle of Patmos : I suppose, from its solitary situation.

There are, also, two or three islands in Peconic Bay, included in this; of which the largest is Robin's Island.

All these islands, except the last, lie in a line; and in the general direction of the North shore of Long-Island in this region; and were very possibly a part of it in distant ages.

In the year 1790, Southhold, then including Riverhead, contained 3,219 inhabitants; in the year 1800, without Riverhead, 2,210; in the year 1810, 2,613.

I am, dear Sir, yours, &c.

LETTER II.

General observations on the Northern parts of Long-Island, and on the stones and sand of which it is composed-Influence of the Gulf stream in depositing sand on the Eastern coast of the United States-Cultivation of wheat-Account of the Hessian Fly-Forest Trees-Fruit Trees-Improvement in Agriculture-Scarcity of Brooks and Mill-streams-Fisheries.

Dear Sir,

In the summary account, which I have given of this part of our journey, you have undoubtedly concluded, that many particulars were omitted which might have been mentioned with advantage. The truth is, this country is not distinguished, like others through which I have travelled, by a succession of varieties, continually inviting the eye, and furnishing a fund of materials for observation. A general sameness spreads over its face : and in an excursion of twenty or thirty miles a traveller may be said, in a sense, to have seen it all. I have, therefore, chosen to throw together the remarks, which occurred to me during this part of my progress.

Long-Island, from Huntington to Southhold, and probably from a considerable distance further Westward to Montauk Point, is, like the peninsula of Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and a considerable tract in the Southern part of Massachusetts, a vast body of fine yellow sand; rising in many instances from one to two, and in some to near three, hundred feet above the level of the ocean.

Of the same sand is formed Shelter Island also; and, I presume, most others in this neighbourhood, both within and without Peconic Bay. Of the same material is formed the immense beach, extending every where as a barrier against the ocean, in front of the great bay, which reaches on the South side of the island from Hempstead to Southhampton, about eighty miles, and communicates with the Atlantic by a few narrow inlets. Like the beach, formerly described, on the Eastern shore of Cape Cod, this also is tossed into innumerable wild and fantastical

forms. On a multitude of grounds, in different places, the yellow sand, as on Cape Cod, is covered by a thin stratum of white sand; sometimes naked, but generally overspread with a layer of soil; and, as on that peninsula, so here, in Riverhead, Southhold, Easthampton, and South-Hampton, the sand in several places has been blown away to a considerable depth; leaving a number of small tracts absolutely desolate and useless.

When we commenced our journey on this Island; I proposed to my companions to examine with a continual, and minute attention, the stones, of every size, which should be visible to us throughout all the parts of our progress. This examination was made by us all with great care; and was extended to the stones on the general surface; to those, washed out in hollow roads; to those uncovered on the summits, and sides, and at the bottom, of hills; to those, found in the deepest vallies; and to those, which were dug out of a considerable number of very deep wells. The result of this examination was, that all the stones, which we saw, were, without an exception, destitute of angles; limited by an arched exteriour; appearing as if worn by the long-continued attrition of water; and in all respects exactly like those, which in a multitude of places we found on the beach of the ocean. In ten or twelve instances, possibly a few more, we observed small rocks of granite on our road. Every one of these exhibited what I thought plain proofs of having been washed for a considerable length of time; and strongly resembled rocks of the same kind, which have been long beaten by waves. I will not say, that no other traveller would have considered these rocks as exceptions: but to my eye they exhibited manifest appearances of having been long worn by water. If this opinion be admitted; we did not find, in a progress of more than two hundred miles, a single stone, which did not exhibit proofs of having been washed for a considerable period.

On Montauk Point, the stones have a different aspect; being angular; and wearing the common appearance of the granite rocks, so generally found in New-England. After we had passed Jamaica in our way to New-York, we found a similar change in VOL. III.

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