Description
Pamlico, Algonquian-speaking Indians who lived along the Pamlico River in what is now Beaufort county, N.C., U.S., when first encountered by Europeans. These sedentary agriculturists were almost destroyed by smallpox in 1696, and in 1710 the 75 survivors lived in a single village. The Pamlico Indians lived south of the Pamlico River in present-day Beaufort and Pamlico Counties and were known as the Pomouik by members of the 1585-86 Raleigh expeditions. The Raleigh colonists referred to the Pamlico in 1585-86 by the name Pomoui.
Language
Carolina Algonquian
Culture
After the Tuscarora War, the Machapunga also were assigned to a reservation. Other groups on the Pamlico Sound joined either the Machapunga or the Tuscarora. With growing white presence in eastern Carolina, more products of European origin were introduced to the natives. Guns were regularly used instead of bows and arrows during the eighteenth century. Iron hatchets had likewise replaced wooden clubs. English clothes were also widely used by the natives. The Roanoke chief had an English-style house built in 1654. Other practices persisted through the nineteenth century, including the women making baskets of rushes and silk grass. They decorated them with woven-in life motifs.