SKETCHES OF TRAVEL.

LETTER I.

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, 18—.

To the Editor of the Christian Register:HAVING recently passed some little time on the Vineyard, perhaps a general description of the island of the state of society and religion in its principal town, its metropolis as it were, may not be unacceptable to your readers. I hope not to trespass upon more interesting and useful matter that should find place in your paper.

The Island of Martha's Vineyard was discovered as early as 1602, by Gosnold. Thomas Mayhew of Watertown obtained a grant of it in 1642. Soon after he removed to the island he was appointed its Governor. Previous, however, to his arrival several English families resided here, for a church was gathered as early as 1641, of which his son was pastor. The original name of the Island is supposed by Dr. Belknap to be Martin's Vineyard, from Martin Pring, who visited it about a year after it was discovered, and spent some weeks gathering

sassafras. A fanciful and amusing origin of the names of the various islands in this region is handed down from father to son,viz: - that three sisters who came over from England-Eizabeth, Martha, and Ann had the choice of them, and Elizabeth preferred that cluster which is known by her name Martha, the Vineyard-and Ann took it, (Nantucket) the only one left.

The Vineyard is nineteen miles long and upon an average five miles broad. It is generally level, though in the northern and western parts the land rises into hills of two hundred and fifty feet above the adjacent country. This range of hills is denominated the back-bone of the island. There is a plain in the southern part, upon which Edgartown is situated, eight miles in length and five or six in breadth. Various roads intersect it, running in all directions; but the beauty of the plain consists in this, that on horseback, or with any vehicle, you may strike from the beaten track and make a course for yourself wherever you please upon a firm foundation of smooth, closely-matted grass-ground. On this plain it is a delightful ride of three miles from Edgartown to the South Shore where the full swell of the sea comes in with its mountain-waves. Indeed, when the wind has subsided after a storm, and the sun pours his glory upon the outspread ocean and peaceful land, if there is sublimity anywhere, it is here, where the white-crested billows, curling in tripple lines on either side of you as far as the eye can

SOUTH SHORE.

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reach, and bounding on with inexpressible majesty and loveliness fling themselves with furious energy and deafening roar at your feet, and chase you from your thoughtless and irreverent intrusion upon their sacred domain. Often have I visited it on foot and horse, (here the high-mettled speechless animal, the better for being such, is the best company, seems to comprehend and participate your emotions, and relieves that feeling of extreme solitariness which comes over the soul) sometimes with friends -generally alone and never without an awful sense of the grandeur of God's works, felt nowhere else. The soul cannot but inwardly breathe that highly expressive and noble passage of Scripture, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty. There is that in the spectacle which oppresses one with a sense of utter powerlessness and insignificance. When witnessed for the first time by a person of sensibility, to speak or move is out of the question. It was told to me at Nantucket some two or three years since, where the sea breaks in a similar manner, that the Falls of Niagara generally disappoint those who have seen the surf under the most favorable circumstances. For myself, expecting much in the former case and little in the latter I must confess that sublimer emotions were awakened in my bosom upon the desolate, storm-beaten shores of Nantucket and the Vineyard, than upon the Terrapin or Table-rocks. The falls, however, notwithstanding the disappointment to which we are liable

in consequence of high-wrought expectation, must ever remain the unsurpassed wonder of the world. The beach is continually changing. One day you will see it a smooth and gentle slope to the water's edge; the next thrown up into a perpendicular bank several feet in height. Within a century one half a mile of the shore has been carried away. The noise of the surf is heard for miles, and in Edgartown it so fills, literally fills the air at times that you may easily imagine the waters of the great deep have burst their barriers, and are approaching the town to overwhelm it in their terrible wrath. Along the shore is a great variety of sea-fowl. The inhabitants of the town not infrequently resort thither to kill a mess for their families. One afternoon I ventured to the the beach with my travelling companion to whom I became quite attached, when the wind blew enough to take one's whiskers off and the ocean was lashed into more than ordinary rage. I perceived at a distance a somewhat tall personage, equipped with arms. Not doubting his vocation I advanced toward him. He stood upon the margin of an elevated bank, against which every wave beat with fearful violence. Suddenly he disappeared. Whether the earth or sea had swallowed him was to me a matter of uncertainty. As I drew near he rose. I found him standing in a circular hole he had dug in the sand, his implement of death deposited by his side, and encircled with sea-birds, the trophies of his skill. Though it was piercing cold, his shoes were off his

A SIGHT WORTH SEEING.

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feet, and carefully placed aside. When not intruded upon, as at present, he crouched in his hole watching his prey, (very much as the ant-lion is said to do,) which he brought down as they passed him on the wing. I exchanged a few words with him as well as I could amid the blinding spray and the noise of the elements. Not wishing to interrupt him longer, and fearing a gust of rain which was likely to overtake me from the West, I turned my horse and rode hastily home. In the neighborhood of E.there is an elevation of land of no more than 50 feet, from which is a fine view of the town; the harbor with its shipping; the sweeping course of Chappequiddick island; the plain spotted with sheep; several cottage-houses in the distance; the oak-forests in the interior; the blue waters stretching along the horizon till lost from the eye by the high land on the North and West.

A

The harbor of E. is almost entirely protected from winds and is one of the best in the world. Nothwester drove in something like an hundred sail a few weeks since. Though the wind blew a hurricane, and every thing on land shook as with the palsy, the surface of the bay was but little agitated and the vessels lay as tranquil as sea-birds in a calm. Next day the weather changed, and the scene I can never forget. The wind coming from the opposite quarter, the clouds passed off and the sun came down upon the waters bright and beautiful. The craft, small and great, uplifted their silver sails, and