Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1857-12-19
MUS 90lEllMNW.
The Fawn Of Pascagonla.

The Fawn of Pascagoula.
We take the following story from vol
ume of admirable sketches and essays, enti-
tied "Romantic Passages in Southwestern
History" by the Hon. A. b. Neck, pub
lished by Gootzcl and Company,
/" Shall tell you story of real life as
romantic aud affecting as any you will Gud
an fiction ~ Wcll--listen! Every citizen
OF Mobile is familiar with the sight of the
Indian girls who are in our streets in the
winter. With their little bundles of light
wood upon their backs, they mark the adj
vent of cold weathoras regularly as the
mocking-b bird and the cardinal chronicle
the approach of spring. They peddlc their
small parcels of pine from door to door,
and all arc familiar with the soft, quick,
petitionary voice, in which they cxclaim
Z" Chumpa," as they offer their cheap bur
dcns for sale. @
These Indian grls,. it is we'll known, be-
long to certain Choctaw families, who re-
fused to cmigrate with their tribe beyond
the Mississippi, and yet linger upon their
aboriginal hunting-grounl's on the waters
of the Pearl and Pascagoula. Though they
thus exhibit an ,incouquerable attachment
to their native soil, they have yet refused
to adopt the habits, language, or pursuits
of the whites by whom they are surround
cd, and are pervcrscly Indifferent to all the
Inducements of civilization. They persist
in leading species Of savage gypsy life
the men sustaining themselves by hunting,
and the women, by vending whortleberrics,
and other wild fruits in the summer, and
bundles Of pine in the winter. With these
simple productions, they visit Mobile semi
annually, and for the time reside in the
vicinity, in small huts or camps, construct,
ed of bark, boards, or the limbs of trees.
This has been their custom from tirle i'm
memorial, and it yet continues.
These Indians arc generally miserable
and ignu.ant race, but with all their degrt-
dation, tney possess some of the yirtucsi in
singular degree The women are pro-
verbally cilaste and modest, and of all the
young girls that annually visit our city,
none have been known to depart from the
paths of reetitude. A Astrong interest there
fore surrounds these simple daughters of
the woods, who resist all the Establishments
of their station, and pass unharmcd through
the streets of our city. Many of them are
quite handsome, and possess, beneath their
rustic garbs--thc calico gown and the rcd
blaiket--considera graces of manner
and appearance. AS they inyariablyrcfuse
to,talk English, very little conversation can
be had with them, and that only in refer
encc to the small bargains which they de-
sire to make. ChUmpa," and "pica-
yWme," are almost the only words which
they employ in their intercourse with our
inhabitants Still, they are not reserved
in theig movements, where they wish to
make bargain, and enter the different
houses of the city, stores, dwellings,, and
offices, without ceremony, hesitation or an
nounccment. Who has not been startled
many a morninG. by voice at the cham
bcr.door, exclaiming g Chumpa 2",
2 The stoieal demeanor of taese Chccslw
tmaidens has often led,to the impressicn that
they are destit0te of the natural ssensibh;-
ties and sentificnts of their SEX They
have bright, flashing eyes, well developed,
symmetrical and flexible forms, beautiful
small hands and feet, and show, intheir
love for brilliant articles of dress, rings,
beads, and other personal decorations, the
taste and vanity of their civilized sisters I;
is it possible chat they are destitutt of those
delicate synipathies1 and tender affections
which, have marked woman in all other
classes and conditionsof life2 This ques
ton has doubtless suggested itself to maDy,
as an interesting problem Of character In
one instance, aticast, an attempt perhaps
a heaftless one was made to solve IL,
and it's that, the story which / have to
tell refcfs, It came to my Knowledge in
itS details, but / win attempt to nafrate
il in such a manner as moi to detain the
rcadorwith particulars which he can imag-
Inc for himself, gT8
Among the Choctaw gfpsics, who visited
Mobile in the winter OF 1916, was ono of
unusual beauty and atbactiveness al.
though scarcely developed into Asonianhood
than seventeen Dsuns9 having
kissed the rich bronze of her eheek4--slle
was yet tall, roundlimbst straight and
graceful very mode! Of feminine form,
Her features moro prominent and regular
than Is usual with theirstfibe, were deli
oateiy 8culpturcd, and the erect attitude Of
her bcaa, With her large Gfg1siise eyes,