The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-07-07
DISBURSEMENT THE WAY
FROM BEAUFORT TO OCRACOKE
Herds of Wild Ponies-Waters Broaden and Distant
Shores oom-Beache Dazzling in Their White
ness-Bits Of Cool Green Grass.

(The people of Ocracoke Island
yesterday celebrated at Ocracoke town
the Fourth of July with "A program of
unusual interest. In view of this cele-
bration The News and Observer asked
Col. Fred A. ODDS, who has visited the
island often to write an article on
Ocracoke and other places along the
COAST
(By FRED. A.. OLDS.)
There is no spot along the coast Of
North Carolina which .eems more
foreign and far away than Ocracoke.
To begin 18th the beach, properly
known as the banks" really the bar
rier reef of sand which divides the sea
from the sounds. is there at its low
est. and is but a trifie above the level
of either sea or sound.
Going down from Beaufort the route
is always spoken of by the natives as
"down cast" and from Beaufort.
Ocracoke is what in the mountain
language in Western North Carolina
would be tremed a fur Bit" in name
ly quite a way. The mail boat runs
from Beaufort through the straits by
Harker's Island, where the water mar
rows on he northern side until 1T IS
very like a river. and where Mar
shallburg stands with it's big indian
mound. made of refuse oyster and
claim shells. an outward and visible
sign Of the Indian feasts of the olden
days.
Right here it may be remarked that
in the long ago at a certain time each
year the ~-coun indian in large
numbers made their way to the coast.
their squaws carrying down arrow
heads made of stone and tomahawks
and hoes of the same material, for
barter or exchange with the coast
tribes. Then there was great eating
Of fish and shellfish. TIE pictures
lA H. If h fret Ony
eruor of the English settlement at
Roanoke Island which are in the Hall
OF History AT Raleigh. show the In
dams spearinG fish, and the gigs or
spears are in Some caseSm ade from
three tails of the king crab fastened
to a shaft. SO they could be thrown
or driven into the fish as the latter
passed by the Indian canoe, a dug Out
known as n pirogue or ~periaugur.
How the Mail Goes.
The mail boat goes as Ear as At
isntiC and there it meets one which
has come up from Ocracoke. The
mails are exchanged and then the re
Spective boats go back. the one tC
Beaufort. the other to Ocracoke.
The waters broaden, distant shore!
"loom' or seem to rise high abovs
their cal level. here and there are
passed on the beach circular house;
with conical rofs, loking precisely
like the hutS one sees in pictures illus
trating Central Africa. The fisher
men build these huts out of marsl
grass. and here again is an old Eng
lisff custom maintained in these days
for while the sides are waited o
twigs and marsh grass the roofs ar
very cleverly matched with the sam
grass, and waterproof at that. Thes
queer structures quickly catch the ey
OF the ~up-country visitor, and kee,
htI EnAnE hnSU If no 1I1nEi1V has ane
The Wild Ponies.
something else attracts him too, tn
herds of wild ponies. which sometime
one the little islands are seen in tn
grass, sometimes OH the sandy ShOr
or in the scrub growth which mark
the parts of the beach above hig
water. and which is composed of yee
pom. myrtle, dwarf live oak and Scru
oak. fan palmetto, which to be SUI
many of the people call the 'pimetus,
and an odd shrub. sometimes like
little tree. the pellitory, which the
call the '~pillentary'; a growth qui,
peculiar to that section, for the pell
tory has plenty of thorns and a bar
so bitter in taste that it puts a gree
persimmon completely in the bacl
ground. 1t has, however, some med
cinal virtues.
In this scrub. which is blown by I'll
wind until it in places forms a gigant
utiIDItIid CONctlHS many acres, u
ponies take refuge in time Of storm,
if there chance to be woods, which a,
generally pine with considersb
scrub growth. they get among thes
anything to get above the high It'd
Storms are frequent from August Il
til May. and sometimes severe, a.
the water frequently breaches
breaks over the low places along Il
banks"
Ponies Great Swimmers.
These ponies nave a lot of instin
Discourse, but sometimes they e
caught. They are fine swimmers, a
ordinarily think nothing of swir
ming and wading two or three mil
across a sound where it chances to
narrow. 1t is very fine to see a mot
er pony. with her youngster at h
heels, walking out just as far as t
little fellow can hold his feet to t
ground, and then Standing by hi
as Satlormen say. and helping all-s
can. across the deeper water until