The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1897-02-12

unexpectedly to your ear as you lie
half asleep. In moment like this ycu
would not consider any maltreatment
too severe. And, finally, no matter
how poor or destitute home may be,
1t is never without its complement of
dogs,-the most miserable species of
the canine family, and poor specimens
at that. Every Mexican owns dog,
and in some families there are five or
six. Mark Twain, in his travels
through Constantinople, never climbed
over more dogs of all natures and de-
scriptions than he would encounter in
any Mexican section of our western
towns.-Hon,e Journal.
THE CHINCOTEAGUE PONIES
AS far back as the memory of man
and tradition runneth, there has roam
ed, in more or less wild condition, a
distinct and most remarkable breed of
ponies on the group ofislands that dots
| the Atlantic off the extreme southern
coasts of Maryland and Virginia. These
sand dunes thrown up by the tireless
action of old ocean through ages yet
unwritten by the pen of man, are some
eight in number, ranging in size from
two to eight miles in length, and in
| width from one to three miles.
Assateague is the largest of the
group, but Chincoteague, being the
nearest to the mainland, and therefore
more easily accessible, is the most
largely inhabited To reach these is
lands the eastern tourist takes what is
known as the New York and Philadel-
phia Railroad, via Wilmington and
Dover, Del, to Wattsville, Nd. From
thence he is rowed over to Chinco.
league by batteaux, and by native if
he wishes to 60 singly. If he wishes
to take with him private conveyance
he hires fiatboat of most primitive
construction and which is liable to be
submerged if the waves run high.
The inhabitants of these islands are
quite as primitive as the boats with
which they navigate the several inlets
and the deep blue waters of the Allan
tic. Few of them can read or write.
Religion with them is kind of pagan
superstition that frequently runs into
lines of the most amusing and grotesque
vagaries. Their language is jargon
of ancient Saxon and negro patois,
hard, at first, to understand. Allpains
and aches, with them, are termed mis-
cries. Collie is misery in the stomach;
toothache is misery in the jaw, and
so on through the gamut of all the
pains and aches that flesh is heir to-
Void Of a certain kind of grim humor
they are not During my visit to
Chincote ague last June the bishop of
the Maryland diocese was holding the
usual yearly bush meeting on the is
land. AS large families among the
natives are the rule and not the excep-
tion-ffteen, and even twenty, children
to household being frequent occur
rence-the good bishop sought to pay
the heads of the several households
what he deemed to be high compli-
ment by seeking to impress upon them
how greatly the Lord had blessed their
loins. To the confusion of the bishop
an old patriarch named Jonathan Das-
we'll rose up in the amen corner of the
camp and exclaimed: mo, Bishop,
you're mestakin'; it amt de Lawd, it's
de shrimps; dey is the mos fructiver-
GUS fruit in de wold!'
Fishing is the occupation of the men
and boys, as well as the cultivation of
oyster beds and terrapins Thus do
they exc out scanty subsistence, car
ing for little except the commonest
necessities of life. The soil, being an
alluvial deposit, is naturally fertile. 1t
grows all the cereals, except wheat and
oats, but no one thinks Oh planting
anything except a few vegetables.
Landholders there are, but few of the
titles to land are vested in anything
but the common-law right to hold prop
erty on which one has sauatted and
held undisturbed possession for twenty
years. The men are tall, lanky, beard
ed and weatherbeaten. The women
are sallow, hatchet-faced and shrill-
voiced. Their notes are so high that
they are never discounte ed, the soft ped
al being unknown among them. The
maidens are rosy checked, plump, bare
footed and barelegged, as rule. The
men wear coarse drab suiting, with
their heads envcloped in wide, oval
shaped hats resembling those worn by
the Cape Cod fisherman. He who has
seen the "Lone Fisherman" in EVAN
geline" can readily draw an imaginary
portrait of a Chincoteague or an ASA
league fisherman.
So much for the inhabitants Oh these
islands, who are considered such rare
and unique types of humanity that
scores of curious people visit them
each season to study their character
istics and to see their ponies. AS to
the ponies themselves, they are quite
as unique their owners themselves
These little, but graceful and hardy,
creatures roam the several islands in