SOUTH CAROLINA 161 



The individual hairs were of one color throughout. 

 The end of the tail verged somewhat on black, but the 

 rest of the tail was of the color of the body. A paw 

 had been preserved ; the claws were crooked and very 

 strong, but there were no bony cases, (as with other 

 varieties of this species), into which they might be 

 withdrawn ; they stood free, but so that they could be 

 out-stretched and bent upwards and backwards. Sev- 

 eral of the negroes ate of the flesh of the animal, and 

 found it not at all distasteful. The man who killed it 

 came almost upon it in the woods, before he observed 

 it; it fled before him from tree to tree, until he could 

 bring it down with his gun. 



These animals are nowhere plentiful this side the 

 mountains, and are hardly to be met with except in 

 the most solitary forests of Virginia and Carolina. 

 They are everywhere regarded as timid, and it is 

 claimed that there are no instances where men have 

 been attacked by them. They venture very rarely into 

 settled parts ; in the woods they find prey enough 

 among the tame and wild herds, for which they lurk 

 from among the trees. 



Shortly before, a bear had been killed in this region, 

 no less than 7 ft. 4 in. in length, and weighing 500 

 pounds ; evidence that predacious animals find abun- 

 dant nourishment here ; bears in the northern provinces 

 do not reach this size. 



Proceeding from the last-named plantation, after a 

 few miles of woods-road, one comes to the so-called 

 Long Bay or Beach. Here for 16 miles the common 

 highway runs very near the shore. Lonely and deso- 

 late as this part of the road is, without shade and with 

 no dwellings in sight, it is by no means a tedious road. 



