The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-03-01
NORTH CAROLINA PONIES.
Descendants of the Barbary Horses Which Sir Walter Raleigh Sent
 With His Colonists.

Fred A. Olds in Atlanta Sunny South.
 There Is really no more historical as well as interesting and curious territory In the United States than the long sand banks which mark the eastern boundary of North Carolina, and which form a vast breakwater within which are the sounds through which the Government now proposes to provide an, inland wa terway which will end the terrors of Cape Hatteras. The writer has told for The Sunny South the story of the part of the banks of which Cape Hatteras forms a vast promonotory, and this is to be a story about the part further to the southward, where the little ponies are, the only wild horses east of the Mis- sissippi-ponies which have over three centuries of history behind them.
 The part of the banks in question Is known as "Shackelford's Banks, talk ing It's name from the chief owner. Be- ginning at Ocracoke Inlet, this stretch of sand reaches to Rogue Inlet. terminat- ing at Shackelford's Point, in front of the town of Beaufort. Shackelford's Banks is about forty miles long, low lying. with here and there dunes. or sand hills, rising to a height of say. thirty-five to forty feet, tree-covered, the trees laced with vines, and in this mass of nearly subtropical vegeta tion, most of 1t evergreen, the Spanish bayonet, prickly pear or small cactus and the fan scrub palmetto There are homes here and there along the irregular stretch of Shackelford's Banks. and there is also H lighthouse, and near it great natural harbor or refuge, at Cape Lookout, which the Government is also planning to util- 1ze.
 On Shackelford's Banks alone are the little ponies referred to. It is strange, but true, that these are found in their wild state nowhere else There are said to be about 1 POO of them on the banks Inquiry made of observant residents as to whether the numbers of the ponies had decreased during the past fifty years brought the response that they had. and that until about 1850 the ponies increased.' The ponies weigh about 800 pounds and their height is about 13 or 14 hands that is, 1 IA to 1-2 feet. Their life Is mainly on the banks. though in very stormy weather they sometimes swim over to the mainland, distance of two to five miles away. Their food is marsh grass, leaves of scrubby trees and shrubs and berries, particularly the berries of the holly. The woods give them usually a good shelter, and hence 1t is but seldom that they seek the shelter of the Tain- land. They live to quite an age, but the average Is about 2 years. Some reach the age of 40.
 These ponies have owners The banks" are owned by various persons. largely by grants sold by the State. These people make pens out of driftwood and rough logs and poles. and into these the ponies and their colts are driven and branded. colt IolloWing d Dfanued HhHre IS Coil- sidered the property of the owner of the mare, and he holds 1t. In cases where there are colts which do not follow the mares, then the 'penners"-that is, the men who make and own the pens, take them Such Is the unwritten law The ponies are driven out of the scrub by drivers or herders, and this Is a work of no small difficulty, as the scrub is so thick as often to be a jungle, threaded by thousands of narrow paths through the shining sand. The wind and the salt keep down much of the vegetation, so that there one may see hickory trees not over three feet in height. yet loaded with