126 
Journal of the Mitchell Society [ December 
the sand of the beach began to drift in on the forest somewhere 
near 1840. At this time the beach was higher than the forest on 
the sound side. The beach is described by Mr. Torrey Moore, an 
inhabitant of the Bank since 1828, as “flattening out on the 
woods,” and so killing the trees. At the present date the eastern 
end of the Bank is completely “sanded over.” The original 
forest is represented only by several clumps or “islands” of live- 
oak, which happened to be hardy enough to withstand the drift- 
ing sand. Near the western end of the Bank, about two miles of 
this forest land still remains, though it is rapidly being encroached 
upon by the advancing sand. Along the seaward side of this strip 
the beach, originally narrow, has broadened to a quarter of a mile 
or more, destroying the forest as the sand moved toward the sound. 
The sand is encroaching on the forest with greater rapidity as the 
increased breadth of the beach gives more surface for the wind to 
take up the dry particles and blow them over on the forest. 
The forest here is made up chiefly of live-oak and red cedar, with 
the red mulberry, holly, water beech (Carpinus) , and red bay 
(Persea) occurring commonly. The trees are not large, but are 
densely massed, and serve to prevent the winter storms from 
sweeping over the Bank. Cutting of timber was once a common 
practice but is no longer so, for the reason that the islanders real- 
ize that their only protection from storms lies in the forests them- 
selves. The trees are still sometimes used for firewood by the 
natives. 
The inhabitants of the island live on the side of the Bank near 
the sound, and make their living partly by fishing and partly by 
gardening. The soil is a deep and mellow loam, suitable for most 
vegetables grown in this country. The principal plant now under 
cultivation are figs, tomatoes, sweet and Irish potatoes, cabbage, 
turnips, beans, peas, watermelons and cantaloups, If the drift- 
ing sand is allowed to advance much farther toward the sound, 
these gardens must be abandoned and the living of the inhabitant 
must become very precarious. 
In the woods on the western end of Shackleford are a consider- 
able number of ponies, cattle, sheep and goats. Sheriff Hancock 
of Carteret County estimates the numbers from Cape Lookout west 
