Io6 HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL SKETCH OF 



Among the French, an individual, whose name 

 has not transpired, adopted a pursuit which many 

 will suppose characteristic. '' A French dancing- 

 master," says Oldmixon, '' settling in Craven County, 

 taught the Indians country dances, to play on the 

 flute and the hautboy, and got a good estate, for it 

 seems the barbarians encouraged him with the same 

 extravagance as we do the dancers, singers, and fid- 

 dlers of his countrymen." 



One citizen of this parish has earned for himself 

 a name in the world of letters, and it is strange that 

 Ramsay, who appears to have sought eagerly after 

 Carolinian celebrities, should have entirely ignored 

 his existence. Thomas Walter, an English gentle- 

 man whose devotion to the cause of science led him 

 to the wilds of Carolina, was attracted by the 

 charms of Miss Peyre, of St. Stephen, married her, 

 and settled there. He devoted himself particularly 

 to the pursuit of botany, and the curious are still 

 occasionally rewarded by a visit to his garden, the 

 ruins of which may still be seen near the banks of 

 the Santee Canal. He is the ancestor of one 

 branch of the Porcher family, and of the Charlton 

 family of Georgia. His book, the " Flora Carolini- 

 ana, which was printed in London in 1 789, is dated 

 ad Ripas Fluvii Santee. 



Walter was married a short time before the battle 

 of Black Mingo. Among the loyalist officers who 

 were defeated on that occasion was Mr. John Peyre, 



