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The National Geographic Magazine 



Palmettos on Smith's Island, N. 



west winds. Hence it is comparatively 

 easy to plant' grasses and shrubbery in 

 late winter or early spring and have 

 them gain a firm footing and accomplish 

 something of their growth before the 

 strong winds come. 



In January, 1886, the writer planted 

 the seed of the loblolly pine on the back 

 of a dune and covered the area with 

 brush cut from a near-by road in process 

 of making. The brush served not only 

 to break the wind but to conserve the 

 moisture of the sands, and today there 

 is a forest of several acres where twenty 

 years ago was a moving sand waste. The 

 method so common abroad of building a 

 barrier dune by means of wind breaks 

 has been tried several times along this 

 coast, but always without success. 



The atmospheric humidity of Hatteras 



Island is greater than 

 that of any other station 

 in the United States ex- 

 cept in the Puget Sound 

 region, and even there 

 the excess over Hatteras 

 is not great. Yet there 

 are more days of sun- 

 shine on Hatteras than 

 at Cape Henry, or Nor- 

 folk, or Wilmington. The 

 heaviest rains come be- 

 tween late July and mid 

 October, after the plants 

 have done most of their 

 growing for the year and 

 when plants in many 

 parts of the country are 

 suffering greatly from 

 the drouth. 



The people of these 

 islands are not the sloth- 

 ful bankers and rude 

 wreckers pictured in 

 song and story. They 

 are fair women and 

 brave men, most of 

 whom live and do for 

 others — life-savers, 

 heroes. Their homes are 

 comfortable and well 

 kept; they attend regu- 

 larly upon the services of the church, and 

 their children are in school for eight 

 months of the year, for the inhabitants of 

 Dare County have voted upon themselves 

 a special tax for this purpose. The 

 islanders have herds of small wild ponies 

 and flocks of sheep and goats, as well as 

 cattle, on some of these islands. 



True, some primitive customs are pre- 

 served among them and some early 

 English forms of speech. Their lodges 

 used in fishing and hunting are built after 

 the most primitive type of straw thatch, 

 while a higher type, similar to that used 

 in the village of Gabii in the days of 

 Romulus and Remus, is used as a tem- 

 porary residence during their camp meet- 

 ings in the summer, and this higher type 

 of dwelling is on Hatteras built of pal- 

 metto thatch. 



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