The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-09 00:00:00

for an Englishman to despair of an island in which,
as I write, the Guards' waltz is being extracted by
vigorous thumping from a piano in the opposite
house, while a group of black children in a yard
close by have just sung, " Lo, He comes, in clouds
descending," and now and then I hear distant
snatches of a sturdy chorus proposing three cheers
for " the Red, White, and Blue !"

I do not pretend to have fathomed the negro's
character ; to do so requires close study and wide
observation, for he seems to have a complex charac-
ter, with many good qualities, crossed by much that
requires humouring, management, and firm control.
On the surface of things, however, Quashie appears
to be a likeable fellow, good-tempered, sociable,
joyous, easily pleased, easily—ah, too easily—
wrought upon and led ; excitable, and in that state
liable to sudden and almost unaccountable excesses
of rage ; fonder of basking in the shade than of
working in the sun, and as political economists agree,
contented with too little, having few wants, and
these easily supplied, and seldom caring to raise his
condition. I wish he would be more careful of his
womankind, and less careful of his own ease. It is
nearly always the women who bring down the heavy
loads to market. Sir Quashie rides his pony or mule
in dignity and ease, while the hewer of wood and
drawer of water whom he has taken to wife trudges
patiently by his side, generally poising on her head
a big basket of yams, bananas, orgreen oranges. How
well she poises it, too, and with what a Royal air she
walks. Her lithe, shapely figure and well-set head,
the light, clean dress and gay turban, the basket full
of tropical fruit—perhaps gold-coloured, perhaps
flaming red—and the good-humoured black face,
which returns your nod, and shows the reddest (also
the thickest) of lips and the whitest of teeth, make
a study of form and colour which would delight an
Academician. But, then, this always graceful, sel-
dom pretty, black Venus, who toils so hard for six
days in the week, is actually fond of wearing finery
on the seventh ! I believe she shares the reproach
with a good many of those in Europe and elsewhere
who think themselves her betters. She is a daugh-
ter of Eve, and on Sundays at all events likes to be
well dressed, according to her notion of good
dressing. Let me assure all who may be inclined
to think poorly of her in this respect that the
black woman seems to possess an instinct for dress-
ing well, that she evidently has an eye for
colour, and is gifted with a taste very far beyond
that of her class in England. Her turban is gay, as
I have said ; but its bright colours contrast well
with the dusky face and gleaming teeth below. Her
dress is a cool, clean print, always light, hardly ever
gaudy. In the early days of emancipation I am told
that the negress bought dresses of flaming colours,
but for these there is now no market in Jamaica—a
proof that, in matters of taste, the negress is, at all
events, an improvable being. For this reason, a lady
assures me, the black girls make excellent ladies'
maids. They are never tired of brushing and dress-
ing hair, and are never happier than in decking out
their mistress in her best, and in showing their taste
by the choice of her dress and the jewellery which
is to help her charms.
That the blacks are not very considerate towards
their women seems to be too true. In the market
groups here this is veryapparent, and on the wharves
the same scene is enacted. The coaling of the steam-
boats is done principally by women. Some weeks
ago a sketch of this very lively scene appeared in
the illustrated News, and was accurate so far as it
represented the women. carriers, but not at all accu-
rate in depicting them as half-naked. Capt. Cooper,
R.N., the manager of the Royal Mail Steamboat
Company here, showed this sketch to some of the
women employed, and they were highly indignant.
" Him make great mistake," one of them said ; " let
'em come and see us Sundays." And no doubt on
Sundays these women, coarsely dressed as they are
when at work, and necessarily dirty while doing this
dirty work, come out resplendent. They are well
able to do so, for they earn excellent wages. The
Royal Mail steamer Tamar was coaled here the other
day, and 260 tons were put on board. I have ob-
tained the statistics, which are curious enough.
Forty-seven people were employed as day labourers,
of whom 13 were women; in three-quarters of a day
they earned ls. 6d. each, no difference being made
iu the payment to either sex. At task-work 99 per-
sons were employed, and of these 84 were women.
The coal is carried on the head in baskets from the
head upon the wharf to the steamer, and in this in-
stance the price paid, which varies according to the
distance traversed, was 3d. per dozen baskets. The
largest number of baskets carried during the three-
quarters of a day was 166, the next highest was 161,
and in both instances the carriers were women.
The average earnings of each person were about
ls. 9d. At night the pay is double. There was
no difficulty in getting the requisite number of
hands; but the work, of course, is not continuous.

On Saturday his Excellency Sir Henry Storks re-
ceived the heads of the military department at
Head-quarters House, in Kingston, and afterwards
paid a visit to Admiral Sir James Hope on board
the flagship. He was accompanied by his aide-de-
camp, Lieutenant Baring, and the Secretary of the
Commission, Mr. Roundell. His Excelloncy re-
turned in the afternoon by train to Spanish Town.
Mr. Eyre continues at Flamstead.