856 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 26, 1910. 
tion and swept in a mad rush through the open 
entrance into the pen. The gate was quickly 
closed and the spectators got upon the fence. 
From years of use the center of the pen had 
become somewhat hollowed out, and in this de¬ 
pression were some inches of water. As the 
ponies crowded into a compact mass, they sud¬ 
denly began to run in a circle. This quickly 
jammed and one could almost fancy that the 
ribs of those in the center of the press would 
be cracked. This movement winnowed out the 
colts, and some of these were pulled through 
the fence and tied, and some persons even went 
to work to brand those that had been seen with 
their mothers, the mother’s brand showing the 
co'.t’s ownership. But there were mothers with 
no brand, these being mavericks, and so in a way 
common property, for there must be sharing 
with the men who had done the arduous work 
of driving the herd and getting it within the pen. 
It was very strange, indeed, to look at this 
mass of animals. The older ones had rather 
smooth coats, but there was a wildness in their 
eyes. Big forelocks hung down well over the 
eyes, and these with quick shakes of the head 
they tossed aside. Some of the larger colts were 
covered with “colt hair,” this looking almost 
exactly like the big sheets of felt which are used 
for saddle cloths, so thick, so densely packed and 
so brown was it. This is nature’s protection to 
these animals. Owing to the chafing the larger 
colts got, these mats of hair were rubbed off in 
some cases and fell in sheets to the ground, only 
to be trampled into the muck as black as ink, 
which continually flew from under the hoofs of 
the frightened animals, and with which many a 
spectator was well besprinkled. A dozen more 
sprang inside the pen, Big Jim at their head, and 
he was cheered as he grabbed a fine animal. The 
latter threw back its head, then bent it down and 
swerved into the thick of the press in an effort 
to shake the negro off, but he held on, and a 
life-saver and two strapping young men came up 
and helped him. It took ten minutes' for the 
four to get a rope bridle lashed around his nose, 
and this done, wild-eyed, sullen and with crim¬ 
son nostrils, the pony was dragged out of the 
pen. 
Some of the mares were very fat; others bore 
the marks of age. The hoofs of some were 
more than a foot in length, projecting, far out, 
and some of these animals were caught, and with 
a saw this growth was removed. Other hoofs 
bore the marks of pawing, for in general the 
ponies get fresh water by pawing holes in the 
sand along the banks. The water they get is 
somewhat brackish, but serves their purpose. In 
some cases the mares tried to prevent the seizers 
from getting at their colts or the stallions took 
part in this defense. There was no savage bit¬ 
ing, but some hard kicking. Occasiona ly men 
are injured at these pennings and one or two 
have been killed, but as a general thing the pen¬ 
nings are the subject of much merriment. 
After the first few ponies had been captured 
and dragged out, little knots of men gathered 
around the pen, and haggling and bartering be¬ 
gan. Some people had come to the place with 
boats large enough to take away half a dozen 
ponies, and these began trading early. Prices 
ruled low in comparison with what other horses 
sell for, but yet were fairly good, ranging from 
$50 to $125. Men were to be seen here and 
there, bending over the little colts, branding 
them, and this done they were released to wan¬ 
der about and presently to join the herd. Some of 
the older mares were driven out of the pen, and 
a few,, accustomed to such scenes as this, grazed 
peacefully on the marsh. There were not many 
stallions, and most of these were left, but a few 
were bought. Their appearance was different 
from that of the other animals, their coats being 
glossier. There was beauty of outline in Some 
of the larger colts of the type most in request, 
say yearlings or something older. The men who 
were doing the active work in catching the 
ponies do this usually from sheer love of the 
excitement, this being one of the sports of the 
coast looked forward to as regularly as summer 
comes. The number of ponies taken was some¬ 
thing like a couple of hundred, and those sold 
amounted to about a fourth of these. 
Noon came and appetites were good. The peo¬ 
ple were hospitable and we were asked to eat 
by different ones. Good North Carolina corn- 
bread and salt pork formed the basis of the 
meal. It would be hard to find a heartier look¬ 
ing set of men than these, most of them sun¬ 
burned to the last degree. Much of the talk 
was about past pennings, about life-saving work, 
oystering and fishing. Nothing was heard of 
politics or of general news, everything being in¬ 
tensely local in color. Dinner over, the work 
of getting the ponies aboard the boats of the 
buyers, or of those who had contracted to take 
them to the mainland, was begun, and here again 
there were lively scenes. These ponies are used 
to the water all their lives, and are fearless 
swimmers. They swim sometimes several hun¬ 
dred yards across channels. They know all the 
shallow water and wa k as far as they can be¬ 
fore they swim. Frequently the mare will be 
seen wading, and the colt swimming behind. Yet 
accustomed as they are to the water, most of 
the ponies objected to going into it and aboard 
the boats, and it required sometimes half a dozen 
men to handle one. All sorts of whips were 
rigged to hoist them aboard, and some rebelled 
and struggled so violently that in a few cases it 
seemed they would surely be drowned, but all 
escaped injury. Once they were put inside a 
flat-bottomed boat and tied by the head, all they 
did was to stamp their feet in pure nervousness. 
Boat after boat began to pull out and sail toward 
the mainland. There must have been at least 150 
boats, and some had come forty miles to the 
scene. On our own boat we had six ponies, 
bought by the sheriff of the county, all bound 
for Beaufort, some destined for home use and 
some for sale to up-country people. 
Many stories are told about the ponies, one 
being that instinct sometimes fails them. They 
generally seem to know about great storms or 
very high tides, but sometimes are caught un¬ 
awares and drowned in considerable numbers. 
This happened during a great storm some thirty 
years ago and again in another about nine years 
ago. Some of the ponies on the latter occasion 
did not take to the very highest point on the 
banks, where they would have been safe, but 
stayed on the marsh. Here and there in the 
dense jungle are places, rudely circular in shape 
and surrounded by a perfect screen of ever¬ 
greens close-packed as a thatch almost, and in 
these the ponies huddle together on cold nights 
and in bad storms, generally sleeping lying down. 
They usually eat the marsh grass, but when hard 
pressed will eat leaves of various kinds. On 
these banks sea-oats with luxuriant heads grow 
quite profusely, and these are an article of food 
also, green or ripe. 
No one knows exactly the number of these 
ponies, but there are said to be more than 3.000 
of them now on the banks. The number is main¬ 
tained fairly well, and they are a source of 
revenue to the people who lead a very simple 
life and get along with little. These pennings 
have always been conducted in the same way, 
and the oldest man present told me his grand¬ 
father told him that when he was a very little 
fellow he had found the same sort of thing go¬ 
ing on. At some of the pens but few ponies are 
taken, but into others as many as 400 have been 
driven. Of course sometimes there are fancy 
prices for animals. Prices have advanced dur¬ 
ing the past few years. When these ponies, 
which are always spoken of as banker ponies, 
are taken up-country, they generally deepen in 
color, grow fatter, and seem to round out and 
be larger. They are very gentle, having none 
of the viciousness of the Texas ponies, and they 
will be found in almost every town in the middle 
part of the State and in the East. They are 
very fond of children and are pets in every way. 
I owned one for several years which would walk 
into the house, and on one occasion went through 
the parlor and out into the front porch and stood 
there looking very unconcernedly at an amused 
audience in the windows of a building in front, 
then at a touch returned to the stable. 
One of the pens is known as the Diamond pen, 
being near the hamlet Diamond City, quite near 
Cape Lookout. Another one is known as the 
Middle Quarter pen. All these are from Beau¬ 
fort northward, not a pony being taken south of 
there. Some of these animals have been taken 
to other States, though this is somewhat rare. 
They are not crossed with larger horses on the 
banks, but are left alone, so to speak. In their 
wild state they look remarkably like the little 
Cossack horses or ponies, though there is no 
kinship between them. There is kinship between 
them and some of the horses which have been 
brought from Africa to this country, though this 
of course has only been done in comparatively 
recent years. The horses which the Spaniards 
brought across the ocean were larger animals, 
heavy enough to carry a man in armor, no in¬ 
considerable weight. These banker ponies usual¬ 
ly run from 600 to 800 pounds in weight. The 
wildness fades out of their eyes and the con¬ 
trast between the wild and unbroken ones we 
took into Beaufort town, and those we saw be¬ 
ing ridden or driven to vehicles on the streets 
there was remarkable, yet in a little while the 
new arrivals would be broken in, for it requires 
little trouble to domesticate them. They are then 
turned loose and go and come. They can be 
seen when not in use, grazing on the marshes or 
on the little island flats north of the town, and 
sometimes swimming when need be. There are 
cases in which the wild ponies swim and wade 
from the banks to the mainland, though usually 
they prefer their own banks. Inlets are rather 
frequent and they do not swim across these, as 
they are afraid of the currents taking them out 
to sea, so their life is largely limited to their 
own particular stretch of the banks. 
Fred. A. Olds. 
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regularly. 
