There were no human beings there, only a few imaginary lines on a map.

July 7. 

July 7, 2017 9:04PM

Some of the inhabitants of the Cape think that the Cape is theirs and all occupied by them, but in my eyes it is no more theirs than it is the blackbirds', and in visiting the Cape there is hardly more need of my regarding or going through the villages than of going through the blackbirds' nests. 

I am inclined to leave them both on one side, or perchance I just glance into them to see how they are built and what they contain. 

I know that they have spoken for the whole Cape, and lines are drawn on their maps accordingly, but I know that these are imaginary, having perambulated many such, and they would have to get me or one of my craft to find them for them. 

For the most part, indeed with very trifling exceptions, there were no human beings there, only a few imaginary lines on a map.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, July 7, 1857

The inhabitants of the Cape. See June 20, 1857 ("I have now visited the Cape four times in as many different years, once in October, twice in June, and once in July, having spent in all about one month there."); June 16, 1857 ("I have found the compass and chart safer guides than the inhabitants"); July 6, 1855 ("Cape measures two miles in width here on the great chart.")