That upon Pearl River, of these, perhaps, was most
populous; but those eastern settlements were constituted of a different
people: most of them were from the poorer districts of Georgia and the
Carolinas. True to the instincts of the people from whom they were
descended, they sought as nearly as possible just such a country as
that from which they came, and were really refugees from a growing
civilization consequent upon a denser population and its necessities.
They were not agriculturists in a proper sense of the term; true, they
cultivated in some degree the soil, but it was not the prime pursuit of
these people, nor was the location sought for this purpose. They
desired an open, poor, pine country, which forbade a numerous
population.
Here they reared immense herds of cattle, which subsisted exclusively
upon the coarse grass and reeds which grew abundantly among the tall,
long-leafed pine, and along the small creeks and branches numerous in
this section. Through these almost interminable pine-forests the deer
were abundant, and the canebrakes full of bears. They combined the
pursuits of hunting and stock-minding, and derived support and revenue
almost exclusively from these.
Pages:
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681