| Show QUEER THINGS encountered IN JAMAICA kingston jamaica october 9 1898 whatever may be lacking in jamaica it is certainly not hotels tor for this small island has more big caravansaries caravan saries than any other place indebted to sir henry make blake tor for the them m as well as for many mamy other comforts the andr energetic getic governor general determined to attra attract et capital and immigration to this long neg lecter corner of her maje stYls domain with that end in view he got up a colonial exhibition about six years ago for the purpose of advertising to the world the resources of the british west indies and jamaica in particular he believed that principal reason why for many years the tides of winter travel had set strongly to ward some of the neighboring islands leaving this one almost unnoticed was due to the want of proper accommodations so just before the great fair he caused an extraordinary number of large and costly hotels to be with every modern convenience financially the exposition was not a success as it involved a considerable deficit in running expenses which subscribers to the guaranty fund were required to make good but it was attended by upwards of 2001 1 foreign visitors and a boom in jamaica products resulted which has not yet died out the big hotels served their purpose during the fair but most of them have since become mere empty barracks among the dozen or so in kingston which still manage to sustain a precarious existence the one nearest the landing place Is most generally patronized by visiting americans another farther up town makes a special claim to being northern in style and cuisine aulsia ie As for myself I 1 have not come so eo far to ge t a weak imitation of what may be had every day at home always preferring when in rome to do as the romans there is a quaint and unpretentious tent ious ions inn near the outskirts of the town where in it is a pleasure to put cupl up and dently to put up with its ita superabundant grease and garling odors set in the midst of a tropical garden suf surrounded rounded by high walls like a convent which I 1 belive it was in some past day its cooking is creole and its ways tropically jamaican perhaps the most astonishing thing you will meet in rambling around the streets of kingston is the endless variety of curious headgear A certain amount of lecesse in regard to clothing or rather the of it is always allowed silo wed in tropical countries but no clothing at all for the younger members of society seems like carrying liberty a little too tar far each jamaican to ia a law unto himself in ir the mater of style and although he the earth in fewer garments than decency decercy actually requires his most original efforts are expended in fantastic head covering hardly any two persons wear exactly the same fashion of hat cap or imand anything however atrocious to la quite coi cored here the most picturesquely ugly in design and general appearance pe arance are the pith hats and helmets sported by english colonial officials and their haughty or humble imitators among the blacks and Cr eoles for men whose business keep them much in the sun these pith hats are the best possible protection being an inch thick but ut literally Itter aUy light as a cork they axe are in all shapes and sizes some som e like the ordin ordinary aTy police mans helmet but with an abnormal development of brim others measure from 20 to 25 inches amlo and aft others are circular discs the depth of a dash pan with a small flat crown others huge pieces of pith like an exaggerated clamshell clam shell and no crown at all and others resemble nothing under heaven but a big snow shovel they are usually covered with linen white brown or green twisted around the crown festooned festoon ed or tied in true lovers knots according to the taste of the wearer with long ends enda dangling down the back or napping flapping r the breeze these nightmares of the hatters imagination are never made to fit snugly but are supplied with an inner framework frame work to allow a wide space apace all around the head for circulation of air thus a man who we aeao airs s a number 7 derby requires a number 11 pith hat in which his cran cranium lum looks as if caught in a trap and gives him hiim the appearance pe arance of an overgrown over grown mushroom when seen from the rear the jamaicans Jamaica ns affect the hig big white sombrero with a highly colored silk scarf tied around with floating ends the west india coolie men lounging at the street corners have their heads swathed in Imi immense mense white turbans while the coolie women wear several yards of white cloth pie picturesquely draped over their shining blue black hair and hanging down behind the regresses neg eeg envelop their bushy wool in bandana handkerchiefs of gaudiest gau diest hues and on top of the turban perch any sort of old hat male or female straw felt or pith they can my lay hands on The stevedore women content themselves a twist of straw worn like a crown when at a t work and when off duty they supplement it with halt half a gourd shell the size and shape of an inverted washbasin wash basin on sundays and other fete days the colored ladies of quality often appear in truly miar creations of millinery but always as a secondary adornment adorn ment to the ban bankland klana occasionally one meets a proud darkey under a tall silk hat of antique design or an old and battered plug with wi th long atre lamers of bright calico the policemen wear little rotund peaked caps as funny as those sported ported si by circus clowns and the prettiest of all is the zouave turban of red and white with yellow tassel which is so extremely becoming to the black soldiers another thing that fills you amazement is the queer gibberish that is spoken in jamaica you naturally expect to heiar hear the english language spoken in this old english colony and they consider it english and would feel greatly insulted if you intimidated that it is not of the best the dialect of the bhe upper classes is bad era eni ough with their bolas and sang witches and daunts dawn ts 11 et cetera but never was the kings english so atrociously murdered as by the jamaica negroes AM all their sentences appear to be con on the baby talk plan and words wholly intelligible to fco the newcomer new comer roll out of their thick lips in an oily stream you will get a fair sample of it the minute you set et foot on shore among the crowd of dair kles clar clamoring doring to carry your things I 1 singled ont aut a coal black fellow in a clean white suit because he looked the most intelligent and in reply to tny my question what he would charge to convey a trunk two kiwo handbags and a camera to the custom house boul he be said marm lady I 1 dat quickle quickie fe qiu attie fe lil tings an tanner fe tunk what on earth he meant I 1 had no idea until after several repetitions each yelled louder than before as if 11 by that means to arouse my dull understanding an obliging bystander fa familiar millar with what is known as Qu Qua ahie ashle english translated the porters worlds to signify that he would do the job very quickly tor for qua qu attle ittle or one quarter ot of an english sixpence six pence three cents in our monye for carrying each of the small pieces and tanner a sixpence six pence for the bhe trunk the poorest of these are extremely polite ito ww boin as well as to strangers istran gairis mt it is amusing abusi fig to hear a half naked fellow hiat hat iless and shoeless bowing low bo another in the same ic and saying with the air of at a chesterfield how do dis dds morn sar aar hope um dobe do be well oar aar the response invariably is quite well urn dis morn sair mr tank um sar aar the word um is not understood baut amt ats use la Is co constant in every and ww aar tor miaran lady are never omitted seeing women breaking stone on the roadside coaling ships in the harbor working in the fields and doing all the business of marketing you wonder what the men do for a living it Us Is true that the men are altogether die iddle though the women perform fogt of the labor which calls for strength and endurance the colored lords of creation in this part of the world are to be dressed up to ilin the bec unil torm of oo idlers and glory in the gorge gorgeous laus tun tle o sharlet arlet jacket and blue zouave zoua ve bree of bar barle splendor they will even perform the qt of the police force fonce it its said to be generally to thump a jamaican policeman on the head to wake hilm hdm up when a murder is being under me vose alose one finds men on the railroads too apparently enjoining enjoy ling the free aides as tadd engineers engl also as tele g graph tore glass g I 1 ass diamand be decked cleu in and hates and overseers of the so weaker seel sex r who axe are breaM ng stone and digging digg lingg ditches to lb tell the truth the amaan lans IMM look better bether able to do hard work than the lankey men meil the blackest and braw brawniest niest of af them challenge admiration when met on the road huge bui buird enis ballam bal lanced ced on their beux ds 1 loose garments giar ments tucked high around amund hips arms swinging arwil nging with the graceful which freedmn ot of body and amb slone can give with i us arms they belabor the poor little donkeys laden from ears to un tail with guinia gamss for its own dinner and a variety of articles animate and either of purchase or of sale aale the splendid roads which ate are the ithe pride and boast of the island slat nid were built hy by and the work ot keep ing them in s not mot you xou soon goon cease to feel eel tor for the females who tare lare doling doing it ft when you observe how contented even they we are here end there along the road roadside dide they seit up four poles and thatch them with palm leaves to afford shelter bom the sun and aind under these primi MAve huts they qt happy as any queen on her throne making a a fronic of pounding u up P the easily crum crumblier crumb blied Tied voi canie rock laughing fund aiu adl day long on these retail fitial roads you metat a great many more pedestrians than tham vesicles abot of the ithe latar are queer three wheeled led carts dawm by three bullocks a birbas t or by three mules or three horbes or maybe it is a badly mixed besim f hiort horse se ox and mile ha messed slide side by side aide nowadays every jamaica Jamia aca negro prides himself on descent or connection tji 0 n with the marcons maroons matt Mar dons who muT murdered dered the french and defied the english 1 ln 1651 clamming the old cudjoe as one of his ibm and ignoring every other oither color in im Us alolod but black or brown yet the truth te Is that the blood of airmet every nation nal fion mingles in me his veins amille the coma nut head c with stiffest wool tes every kink of the hair and adborg ot the eyes may be found with almost ev every ery shade of complexion brom ebony to good jersey creiman cre iaan among the most singular angular people in jamacia are aire the colored jews www urbitt e the dark skin end protruding lips of he africani Afric aai with the hebrews hebrew sharp features tea 1 ares eyes and nose of abnormal rion nial development there Is ie ia a very large jewish element in im ithe island in proportion to abts olze ze and Kin kingston geton alone hase has a jewish colony strong the control of th achte mercantile mercian tile business and with the same accommodating spirit which distinguished distinguish eFf the sect elese where they are always ready to lend a helping hand under the sign of the three golden balls to ny spendthrift creoles cheoles who are bent on ruining themselves the exception social importance of the israelites in jamaica is due to the fact that the island was settled while cromwell ruled in england and everybody knows that the protector sympathized strongly with the refugees from synagogues in kingston ont one for spanish and portuguese jews which also includes the negroes tafv 0 other t her for english and gernian german jews J w this ought to be the most pious island under the sun judging from the church records although the eions of the church of england are most in an evidence fully one third of the population are and ivory other religious den ain aitt ii 11 3 ip if p resented flooks ig over the statistics cs 1 I 1 find that there ire are 40 lans ians in jamaica 12 32 baptisms Sis ra methodists roman koman catho lck ard 2740 menera me nera of tina tl i ahr si ir Y churches church ps the clergy includes 50 baptist ministers 30 wesleyan 20 presbyterian 17 Moravia ns 6 united methodist and free and 10 from the london mission society and nobody knows how many state paid rectors and cu rates of the churches of england and scotland priests and jem jewish ash rabbis FANNIE BRIGHAM WARD |
