One of the first Indian/Settler exports from the Lowcountry were hides from the mule eared, white tail deer. Over several centuries, deer living on the islands grew to be smaller than their cousins in the mainland forests because the mainland branch a wider variety and volume of forage, along with a much wider range than found on the islands. These two fawns are sharing the grasshoppers they uproot in the grass with two cattle egrets.
their investment stable. The plan was for the off-shore islands to exclusively grow their in-demand cash crops, such as sugar cane and cotton, while the abundance of land in Carolina would include land to grow routine crops, create dairy products and graze cattle and other livestock, all of which would be shipped out to feed the large agricultural labor force it would take to generate the profitable output on the islands. A second role envisioned for Carolina was meeting labor force needs on the distant, sparsely populated islands. As Europeans settled the islands, the indigenous people were increasingly pressed into servitude. At the same time, their numbers were diminishing because of new European diseases and overwork. From the very outset, exploration along the North and South American coasts involved locating sources of slaves. The Lowcountry was reported to have giants on today’s Dataw Island, which generated one of the earli20 PREMIER
WINTER 2017
est Spanish exploration forays into the area. Slavery was routine in the Aztec and Inca cultures and among the smaller American indigenous peoples as well. Some tribes specialized in “harvesting” slaves and trading them to other tribes. Ultimately, the main reason that Africa became the main source of slaves in America, north as well as south, was because the supply of Indian slaves simply became inadequate to meet the rapidly growing demand. The inability of Carolina to satisfy the Barbadian wish list for such manpower would lead the islanders to African sources and make Barbados one of the first of the islands to import African slaves. The Barbadian Captain William Hilton With Barbados becoming part of the Lords Proprietor’s operations in 1663, almost before the ink was dry on the charter in London, Barbadians had commis-
sioned an exploration to Carolina to assess its ability to meet their needs. A local Captain William Hilton and the good ship Adventure were hired to lead the expedition. Hilton departed August 10, 1663 and entered St. Helena Sound on September 3. Five months later the expedition was back in Barbados and not long thereafter, Captain Hilton had published the exciting, “A Relation of a Discovery lately made on the Coast of Florida.” Hilton relates his experiences with natives who still spoke some Spanish, a visit to the former capitol of La Florida at Santa Elena/Parris Island and details of resources, agriculture, navigation, climate and inhabitants. Even with the ghastly typical title of the day, the writing was not unlike some of the adjective prone travel brochures and booklets of our own time. Charleston Founded in 1670 Hilton’s skills as a pitch artist are credited with contributing to the settlement of Charles Town