The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1895-09-20
PEOPLED BY EX-SLANES.
The Sea Islands of the South Now
in Possession of Negroes.
White Planters of Former Days Have Al
most Entirely Disappeared-Shift-
lessness and Squalor OF the
Present Inhabitants.

There is no more delightful spot
along the whole Atlantic coast than the
little fringe of islands that thicl1ly EN-
broider the line from Charleston TO
Savannah. Here the stately, pictur-
esque palmetto flourishes III all its
glory. Ferns of wondrous varieties
and countless species thrive immensely
IN the alluvium 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 silllen,
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 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
ers, and many of them are very poor in
deed.
In by-gone 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
- 4
And in consequence negroes form the
bulk of the population, and they are
negroes of a 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 alb
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
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-
Gus growths of trailing vines and
masses of palmettos. Pigs, children
and chickens swarm over the puncheon
floors alike unrebuked. the children as
innocent of conventional clothing
the young of the lower animals, with
whom they squabble for possession of
stray bits of corn cake or other edibles
1t is a common sight to see a small
| piclSaninny wallowing in the soft
white sand beneath the scorching rays
| of a 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
swaddled in, but it will have in readi-
ness this most necessary necklace as
preventive against spells of all. sorts,
! including witchcraft, the evil eye or a
hoodoo of any sort. Then, too, the
| mole claws are supposed to impart
| some beneficent 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 a necklace, bracelets and
| anklets of these repulsive articles and
| were it not for such articles of civiliZa-
| tion as are always seen about negro
| cabin one might well fancy ones 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, a yellow or
mulatto negro is not a very common
sight, as in other places where the
| black race aboundS.