The St. Johns herald., 1895-12-28
PEOPLED BY EX-SLAyES.
The Sea Islands of the South Now in Possession of NegroeA
sFhlts FlA1ters of Former Days Have Al-
 Dsst Hntfrely Dlsappeared-shaft- | Senszsss and Squalor of che kk Present Inhabitaats.

There is no more 0ellghtful spoS along the whole Atlantic coast than the little fringe of islands that thiclzly em- broider the line from Charleston to Savannah. Hore the stately, pictur- esque palmetto hourishcs in all it's glory. Ferns of wondrous varieties and countless species thrive immensely in the allurium of hollow and ravine. These sea islands cover a large terri tory. They lie very near together, separated only by narrow lagoons. Those lying between Savannah and Port Royal are not so large nor seem ingly so fertile as those between Port Royal and Charleston The land here recuperates itself wonderfully from year to year, and produces the finest cotton and the highest priced in the world. The plant is rich and silken, being used only for the finest kind of cotton goods, and when carefully gath cred brings fifty to sixty cents per pound, and when carelessly gathered never less than twenty-five cents These are very high prices for cotton, and the thrifty planter who owns from ten to fifty acres of land is sometimes very well to do. but thrift is not one of the shining characteristics of the island CTS, and many of them are very poor in- deed.
 h by-gonc times, says the Philadel- phia Times, stately mansions, the homes of planters, who were in their small way feudal lords, dotted these islands. But the families have almost disap- peared, and most of the lordly man. sions stand dismantled and ruined, wrecked and torn by the frequent storms that sweep with such pitiless fury at times over this charming spot And in consequence negroes form the bulk of the population, and they are negroes of very peculiar kind-of the true slave type of African, the unadul- terated descendants of ancestors brought from the dark continent years ago, but still retaining their many forms of speech or lingo used by the half-civilized ancestors
 They are also superstitious to an ab- surd degree. The devilish art of witchcraft is believed to be possessed by old crones who have fingered out their days to an incredible length of time. The holy dance, too, is practiced in all its widest and most grotesque abandon. They are gentle, unobtrusive and friendly, patient and uncomplain- ing when storms come with little warn ing and turn the smiling paradisical field and gardens into windswept, wave-washed opens of desolations.
 With the exception of here and there a dismantled mansion the houses have small pretentions to architectural dis similarity. They are the one-room, primitive log affairs common through out the south, overshadowed by luxuri- ous growths of trailing vines and masses of palmettos. Pigs, children and chickens swarm over the puncheon floors alike unrcbuked, the children as innocent of conventional clothing as the young of the lower animals, with, whom they squabble for possession of stray bits of corn cake or other edibles-
 It is common sight to see small pickaninny wallowing in the soft white sand beneath the scorching rays of . tropical sun, totally devoid of clothing of any sort except a necklace of mole's feet, lizards claws and cats teeth, for the newborn babe may not have cotton cloth enough to be swsddled in, but it will have in readi- ness this most necessary necklace as a preventive against spells of all sorts, Including witchcraft, the evil eye or Q hoodoo of any sort Then, too, the mole claws are supposed to impart some benefcent influence, which causes the teeth of the infant to grow with out pain or danger to the babe. Ere quently the ebony little cupids are adorned with necklace, bracelets and anklets of these repulsive articles, and were it not for such articles of civiliza- tion as are always seen about a negro cabin one might well fancy one's self in the very heart of the- wilds of the dark continent. One meets very few white faces among the sea islanders, and, what is rarer still, yellow or mulatto negro is not 8 very common sight, as in other places where the black race abounds.