The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1912-10-03

and under jaw that even drunken sa;in.,
would not think Of trifling with,
Resuming our brief SUMMARY 80
scenes and incidents that attracted NJ ~ :,
attention as sailed up the Latitude.
The islands off the Georgia and Sor+h
Carolina coasts, on which the renownad
sea cotton grows (among them .Jekvl
Island with its famous club, whose hnss'
pitality it has been the privilege of tho
II. G. Johnsons to enjoy, though passed
only at a distance, were objects of ;nA
terest to me. Still farther up the coast
the islands in Beaufort Harbor and
south and north of it, over which herds
OF half wild horses rove, were skirted
close at hand. These marsh or bank
ponies, as they are called locally. are
rounded up and branded from time to
time as or the plains. and belong to
various persons, though they rove abso-
!utely at large, going even from one
island to another. l was very fortunate
in seeing a troop of perhaps fifty of
them dashing through the flying spray in
the sunlight early one spring morning.
from a small, fiat, grass-coyered island
over partially submerged bar to the
main land.
Upon inquiry from a native | found
that this herd of wild horses leads a
migratory but regular life between this
island and the main land, spending dav
or night or more on each, according to
the weather, tide and other conditions.
The island contains mo fresh water. and
after the ponies had eaten enough Of the
rank, salt grass with which it abounded
TO become thirsty, they would wait for
low tide and all march over in single file
to the main land for a drink from a
spring more than mile from shore. but
which they knew we'll. They also cross
on not days from the treeless island to
get INTO the woods on the mainland for
shade, and return at dusk or as the tide
permits.
Later l made special trip at low tide
TO see these horses cross the ford, and it
was an unusually lively and spirited
slght. The leader went couple of hun
ored yards ahead to sound out the ford
the others always waiting at least hun
dred yards behind until he had chosen
his course. Then, as he looked back and
waited for them to come up, giving at
the same time whinny to them, thew
would all dash through the water, cast
ing the spray with their fore feet high
INTO the air as they ran up to where he
was. Then they would rest until he had
made another trial of the depth. In a
part of the channel it was, learned.
always over their backs, and the leaders,
problem was to pick out the place where
there would be the least swimming and
where the current was least strong. This
ne dld on the day spent observing them
WIN absolute accuracy. as the chart
nelo open IN my hands before me all the
While showed. If / hadn't seen the
whole thing myself | could hardly have
imagined such discrimination possible.
Inc way IN which the mothers coaxed
the little fellows along was pretty pic
ture, too, and not unlike taking children
IN swimming for the first time
The whinnying and neigbing and dis
tending OF nostrils, the vigorous shaking
OF names and waving of tails and kicking
up OF heels, the general prancing and
dashlng through sunshine and spray,
lead me to conclude that the domesticat-
ed horse as we know him is but sad and
staid animal compared with his primitive
in their wild, free, joyous
state.
Formerly one could have these ponies al
most tor the trouble of catching them,
am told; but through the general increase
In value of horse flesh in recent years
they are more in demand, bringing now
from $40 to 500 apiece. During the three
days | spent in the region l be-
came covetous admirer of the
leader of the herd to which l have
referred. An active, wry chestnut,
with good pony conformation, strong
shoulders, sinewy, straight, smooth legs
and flowing name, he always stood
head to the wind when grazing; frequent
ly shifting, and listening, head erect, ac-
cording to his ancestral instincts, for an
enemy. Behind him, few feet in the
rear, the others invariably punched
themselves, all facing the same way as
ne and serving as weather-vane to the
observer ashore. The principles of lead
ershlp were never more forcibly brought
home to me than while | was watching
this splendid animal, whose every move
ment had a meaning to his followers.
If | had been in the Marietta I'm not
sure ! wouldn't have tethered him to her
paii-post and brought him home with US,
but we couldn't quite handle him aboard
the little Myrtle, provided OF course we
could have caught him. | have no doubt
though, that Charlie would have had
nerve enough to have jumped on his back
if we could have gotten alongside of him
in the boat while he was swimming the
ford and put hawser round his neck, or
even his tail, for like all sailors he was
crazy to get on horse, and like all I've
ever seen, too, he probably knew worse
than nothing about them, even though he
had begun his sailors life by crawling
through the hawse-pipe.
MAKING NORTH EDISTO INLET.
Off Port Royal and St. Helena Sounds
we had one of our closest calls while try
ing to get to Charleston, after being at
sea two days and night. Owing to our
errors-the instrument being
by its proximity to the engine,
as have already explained we We're
twenty miles out of our reckoning, and
when we made land at daylight had no
means of telling where We were, in the
mist and stormy sky. These low shores
all look alike at any time, especially to a
stranger, but in cloudy or haZy weather
they are hopeless. And on this coast it is
impossible to approach them closely
enough to recognize the few landmarks
that do exist; for the dangerous shoals
make out for seven miles from shore,
and if one is swamped here there is no