382 DUCK SHOOTING. 



from their produce, which they ship by rail or by 

 steamer to a market; or if by chance their crops fail, 

 they turn to the waters of the sound to supply them 

 with food or with money. For his canvas-back ducks 

 the gunner receives $2 per pair, and the common duck 

 and the fish find a ready market in a little city only 

 forty miles away, which is reached by water transpor- 

 tation. So, really, the sound is the people's salvation, 

 and to-day, just as it did centuries before the white 

 man's foot touched this continent, it supports those 

 who dwell along its shores. 



These men, between the gathering of their crops in 

 early autumn and the preparing of their land in early 

 spring, spend much of their lives on the sound ; so they 

 are good boatmen, and, as a rule, know all the sloughs, 

 leads and channels in these waters. Many of them are 

 good shots, and from bush blinds and batteries kill, 

 first and last, a great many ducks. They are also fond 

 of hunting on the shore, chiefly with the aid of hounds, 

 and sometimes follow the fox or drive the deer through 

 lines of waiting men. They are a kindly people, and 

 easy to get along with, the worst faults of the worst of 

 them being drunkenness and a failure to respect the 

 game laws. 



Of course, there is a large negro population here, 

 though it is said to be only 25 per cent, of the whole for 

 Currituck County. As a rule, the negroes have made 

 very little progress since the war. They still fail to ap- 

 preciate the necessity of economy and the saving of 

 money, and eat, drink and wear all that they earn. The 



