_Cape Ann_, the northern limit of Massachusetts Bay, is a rocky
promontory, fifteen miles in length, containing several good harbors.
The peninsula of _Cape Cod_, in the south-east part of Massachusetts,
is about sixty-five miles long, and from one to twenty miles broad;
its shape is nearly that of a man’s arm bent inward at the elbow and
wrist. The greater part of the peninsula is a barren desert; in the
south-western portion the land, though sterile, is under some little
cultivation; but the northern part consists almost wholly of hills of
white sand. The houses are built upon stakes driven into the ground,
with open spaces between for the sand to drift through. The cape
is well inhabited, notwithstanding its sterility, and supports a
population of twenty-eight thousand, who derive their subsistence
chiefly from the fisheries. The coast is beset with numerous shoals,
and has long been the dread of mariners. At the first settlement of the
country, there was an island east of the cape, about nine miles out at
sea, which was twenty acres in extent, and covered with savin and cedar
trees; for a century this island has been entirely submerged, and the
water is above six fathoms deep.
The peninsula of _Nahant_, a few miles north of the harbor of Boston,
is connected with the main land by Lynn beach, a smooth and level floor
of sand two miles in length. It is divided into Great Nahant, Little
Nahant, and Bass Neck: the two former being connected by a delightful
beach ninety rods long. These beaches are hard and smooth, and of
sufficient width at low water to accommodate thousands with a pleasant
walk or ride. Great Nahant contains three hundred and five acres
of land. The shores of this peninsula are bold and rocky. On its
southern side is a large and curious cavern called the Swallows’ House,
inhabited by a great number of swallows, which here make their nests.
On the northern shore is a chasm thirty feet deep, called the Spouting
Horn, into which, at about half-tide, the water rushes with great
violence and a tremendous sound.
Nahant presents some of the most striking sea views in the world. After
an easterly storm, the violent dashing of the huge waves against the
rocks presents a spectacle possessing all the elements of the sublime.
During the heat of summer, Nahant is a favorite place of resort for
invalids, and people of fashion, on account of its cool and refreshing
breezes.
_Cape May_, on the coast of New Jersey, and the northern point of
the mouth of Delaware Bay, is the termination of a range of low,
sandy, barren coast, commencing at Shrewsbury. It is eighteen miles
north-east of _Cape Henlopen_, a point on the southern coast of the
entrance to the same bay. On this cape is a lighthouse of an octagon
form, handsomely built of stone, one hundred and fifteen feet high, and
on a foundation nearly as much above the level of the sea. _Cape Henry_
is the southern salient point at the mouth of Chesapeak Bay; and its
northern salient point, twelve miles distant to the north, is the
promontory of _Cape Charles_.
_Cape Hatteras_, the most remarkable and dangerous cape on the coast
of North American, is situated in latitude thirty-five degrees and
twelve minutes, and has occasioned the destruction of many a fine
vessel, and the loss of hundreds of valuable lives. The water is very
shoal at a great distance from the cape, which is remarkable for sudden
and violent squalls of wind, and for the most severe storms of thunder,
lightning, and rain, which happen almost every day for one half the
year. The shoals lie about fourteen miles south-west of the cape, and
are nearly five or six acres in extent, with about ten feet water. Here,
at times, the ocean breaks in a tremendous manner, spouting as it were
to the clouds, from the violent agitation of the Gulf Stream, which
touches the edge of the banks.
_Cape Fear_ and _Cape Lookout_ are dangerous capes on the coast of
North Carolina. The former is the southern extremity of Smith’s Island,
at the mouth of the river of the same name. About sixty years ago,
Cape Lookout afforded an excellent harbor, capacious enough for a large
fleet in good deep water; but the basin is now filled up. _Roman_ is
the name of a cape on the coast of South Carolina, and of one on the
western coast of East Florida. _Cape Cannaveral_ is on the Atlantic
coast of Florida, being the projecting point of a long, narrow and
low sandy island between Indian river and the ocean. _Cape Florida_
is a promontory of the south-eastern coast of Florida, projecting to
the south, and inclosing on the north-east the Bay of Biscino. _Cape
Sable_ is the extreme point of Florida. Every part of the coast of the
Southern States is low and flat, without a single lofty headland to
warn the navigator of his approach to the land. The peninsula of East
Florida may be considered an immense cape, and much the largest in
the United States. The Mississippi has formed at its mouth, by the mud
brought down in its waters, a cape forty miles in extent, the extreme
point of which is called the _Balize_, through the whole length of
which the river passes into the Gulf of Mexico.
GENERAL REMARKS ON CAPES AND PENINSULAS.
Parts of continents which shoot into the sea, and are connected
with the main land by only a small portion of their circumference,
are named peninsulas, and their figures often correspond with
those of gulfs and inland seas. When such masses of land are
attached to the continent by a greater extent of line than
one fourth of their circumference, they are not considered as
peninsulas. If the projection of land reach but a short distance,
they are called capes, promontories, or simply points. The most
remarkable capes in the world are, Cape Horn, St. Roque, Blanco,
Cod, Verd, Good Hope, Gardafui, North, Comorin, and Taymour.