Smyrna times., 1874-08-12
Editorial Correspondence.
Visit to ChincOteague.
CHINCorEAaUE, AccOMAc Co., VA,

Va SATURDAY, IN company Win hOSoiS'
Dennev j, D. WiIds, E. NJ. Cloak, n +.
Wids and r. S. Wids (now of Philadelphia
we took the train south en- route for this
Island, famous for its peculiar breed OF horses,
known as ''beach ponies" or "Jinketig ponies
as thew are frequently called, alter the cor
rupted name of the Island.
We took the Peninsula route to Salisbury and
there changed to the WicOmco y Pocom0ke
road eastward toward the Atlantic ocean. Alter
monotonous ride Of % miles in tedious pas,
senger- freight train, through arid sands and
pine forests, with here and there low
thatched cottage set in the clcarlngs, as
brown and sombre as the lack OF paint or
whitewash could make it, and surrounded
by poor corn fields and focks of geese, we
reach Berlin, Worcester county, Md. Here
we met and delighted Master Lee Cummns,
! unfortunately we missed Col. Raymond) who
joined our party.
AT this point we took stage for Cofin's
Beach, on the Atlantic coast. six miles ride,
after dark, brought US to
OoFFINs HOTEL,
our coachman being the veritable Coffin him
self, the owner of Que of the finest resorts on
the Atlantic and two farms adjoining. more
unassuming, clever, farmer. landlord could not
be found than Mr.. Coffin. Our party at once
held an inquest over the finest fish, clam
fritters, &c., that ever made up supper, and
the verdict was that Coffin was trump.
After supper, ten minutes on the back porch
suficed to let the Delawareans into fellowship
with the fifteen or twenty bOarders, mostly
ladies', and from 10 o'clock to nearly midnight
"song and dance moved endlessly." So much
! for Maryland socabiity.
Cofin's is on Sinepuxent Bay, which lies
between the hotel and the mighty Atlantic,
whose ceaseess roar could be heard from our
bed chamber. The bay is separated from the
ocean by only narrow strip of sand beach,
not more than hundred yards wide in many
places The sea and it's dashing surf is reach
ed by sail of two miles across the bay, which
is one of the most enjoyable things known to
Cofiu's II is grander even than the surf
= bathing, which is equal to any on the coast, II
we may except our own RehobOth. This mar
row strip of sand thus sandwitched by the
ocean and the bay extends for distance OF
/, sixty miles down the coast, and terminates IN
I Chincoteague Island, our objective point.
u That so narrow barrier should defy the surg
u ing ocean and keep it from taking the Sine
puxent into its rapacious NAV is a wonder, yet
we were told that the barrier is actually widen
; ing.
e THE SAIL.
;, Tie next morning, after a parting song, our
! ! company bale adleu to the genial guests al
! COtfin's and made sail for Chincoteague, witt
= "Neaey' (son Of the landlOrd) at the helm
:. and "Ab.," the little negro boy, at the jib
:, This sail of over forty miles, down one OF th'
= largest and shallowest pays on the Atlsnli
! coast, was grand beyond description Will
~ one Of the finest yachts on the shore; with jus
70 enough swell to make it crade-lke, and will
~ enough salt spray dashing over US to damper
- US, we sped through the waves at the rate o
" ten miles per hour and reached ChincOteagu
~ at 81 O'clock This sail was calculated to ii
% " the most timid Iandlubber with admiration
no for sailing.
- CHINCOTEAGUE.
a Full of curiosity and absurd ideas of thi
On isolated sand heap, the party peered closel
at into every object as they walked to the Atlanti
al Hotel, a well.kept, comfortable house, with
no shrewd Delawarean as landlord and owner
ed Mr.. Jos. English, of LIureL. With super
ii, supper of trout and crOcuS, oysters and claI
nd irittcrS, the finest in the world, together wit
nd sprng chicken, &c., We were soon on duty
np the table.
,r With the ideas of the party warped by tn
off absurd stories of "Jinketg they expected
see peculiar people quite as much as the
,as expected to see peculiar breed of horses, bu
he such was not the case. 1t was camp meetll
by time, and Sunday, aud u walk in the circle.
the camp, revealed all the latest puffs, ruff
,ry and polOuaise hedeckng the stylish ladies, ju
of as they do at home, while the men use all Il
us. latest slang phrases to be ard IN Il
best regulated drawing rooms. 1t was bea
ex. tful sight, that evening, to see the scores
aid little sail boats as they fitted by the hott
md with their cargOes of ladies, gents and childre
ost filling the broad bay OF seven miles with viii
specks. Il fast boat is to and Islander VIII
the fast horse is to our fast young men.
My THE PONIES.
es' Early on Monday morning, with bright
Iue tie Island boy, Dan. Wheaton, to guide us,
got cforfo1 off throu0h tho canA anH nina fo .
ght the ponies in their native element on t
cry marshes. AS the party trudged along vi
70 Dan, each one of the seven of us putti
ana questions to him in rapid succession. he poi
~ ed out the tracks Of his own flock, showi
us the dif,renc between the foot prints OF t
Irge &" old milk and cider mare" and Fans" a
ing the score OF others. Shortly, by thus traili
han them, Dan brought us upon several foe
We found them not wilder than the catt
the sheep, hogs, &C., all of which were feed
lcre upon the meadows, without cent of cost
sses their owners. All fed together, each owl
lity. designating his respective stock by his brs
Few or ear mark. Even the geese have ear mar
h as fguratively, if not literally speaking. II
ably are marked on their wings with paint of diff
slen ent colors. This is as necessary as for our
first mers to mark their peach baskets And all
his horses, cows, hogs, sheep and geese Ct
ubt colleague oySterman (there are no farmt
mas owns does not cost him as much as one
who costs its owner here.
hes AS we looked upon the sun-burnt little SD
zen. mems of horse flesh we found them to be,
ried, the most part, shaggy, crane.necked, pot
ping lied creatures {" creeters'' as the Islanders
nga- them) not very pretty to look upon.
ood, THEIR onIoIN
r;mO G,' Their origin, as given to US by Mr.. Jes
.,or6 a large owner, is as follows: A pair OF po
s~a imported from England by Virginian of
! 80 4. L. V. sort, some two hundred years
hard was wrecked and washed ashore off Assatea
.aans Beach, small island adjoining Chincotea
!. q From these two ponies have descendedthe
;. a. horses now careering over the sand hills
ertv that locality. Until within the present cen
onSh these ponies we're not considered worth eli
now ing or catching, and they were allowed to q
,cbes and race at their own sweet will.
: ITO At present the island is said te contain q
,ra five hundred of these diminutive horse,
}ro.s' travel in herds and bear the brands of var
,rson, ~ o. o1 !u .ut'y pIieous ou lne is