The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-01-12
Free Ethiopia on the Spree and
Black and Tan Enjoyments
of tho Occasion.
The Feast of Weeks i'm
Jamaica.
Horse Racing and Betting, Drinking and
Gambling as Practised by the Ma
tives of That Sunny Isle.
CREOLE HOSPITALITY.

KINGSTON, JAM, Dec "a, 1879
La vtda en- los tropcos, at this festive season Of
the year, 10 full OF interest and replete with in-
struction. To you of the northern chimes. sur
rounded by luxury and intelligence, with all the
facilities OF communion Dy railroad and telegraph
with theatres In abundance, lending comparisons
between the real ana the ideal, the entertainments
OF The drawing room and the conoersazlone OF the
boudoir, pleasure and excitement are NO longer
rarittes. In summer the gay watering places, the
delight OF Cresus and lndlgene, form the Amert-
can elysium. In the present season the inconven-
fence OF snow, slush ana ice IL more than compen-
stated for by the physical activity engendered, and
the abundance OF amusement, the freedom OF ex-
preston the delights OF the cocktail and billiard
cue may render you almost Obvious to the sweep
ing winds and the pincnings OF Jack Frost. In this
MINIATURES AFRICA
Il is far different. The man and brother Is slave
to freedom. Decade after decade Of attempted
mental illumination and physical amelioration has
passed, but the primeval conservatism Of the
majority OF Afric's sons remains in all its naked
dignity and grotesqueness. His habitation, his
dress, his idieness his love Of property belonging
to others, hts narrow conception Of the require
ments OF the age, and his lack of appreciation Of
true morality are now as real and reprehensiple az
in the day when Brougham's el0quence forever I'M
Tossed their shackles; and to all appearance they
will 30 remain, Notwithstanding the dOctrinal
EFFORTS OF semi-despotic rule and the interpretive
school OF Dsrael 1t s true that Byronic irony and
misanthropy can scarcely be applied IN this rela-
tion. What If the rebellion did produce a hotbed
OF political corruption and that the Eyres, the
Hosacks, the smiths and Gordons surrendered the
constitution deprving the country OF direct repre-
sentaton and building up instead paterna council
n n a ID q rhi trOr nd nv
acting9 Shall the appointees, raw and bumptious,
rom the shades of Downing street, be deprived OF
their elegant ease because there Is not one foot
Of domestic telegraph wire and but % miles OF rail-
road in this great dependency
TIE COFFEE POT AND SUGAR BOWL OF BRITAIN,
the pride of Protector Cromwell and the boast of
the Oldest English war dOgsP Even the stage
coach might be blessing; but any attempt at re-
viving this luxury would be as lutile as the effort
OF Julian and ZOslmus to resurrect the ghost OF
Pagansm as a rebuke to the wOrshippers at the
affairs OF Christianity. The sh0pkeeping spirit of
century ago In England now pertains here. 1t
wouldn't pay to give the 'blacks" the pleasure Of
communicating by lightning instead of waiting
Two days for an answer to a question. as at pres
emit; to ride In four hours the 80 or 100 miles Tor
$40 that now take from "a to 90 hours at cost of
$50, exposed to heat and fever anu the danger of
falling over precipices drowning at swollen
fords Nature has done evcry thing; man nothing.
POmpey must feed on her bounty; at some period
nearer the millennium his case will be looked into.
The tons OF delicious fruit now annually rottinz
for the want of rapid transit may then be sent
out to market. Instead OF appointing gov
errors who have grown aged in the service Of their
country elsewhere, feeble In enterprise and inca
pable Of energetic action though cautious in
boarding up the emoluments OF ONCE, the Grants
and Greys will give way to younger and better
men, and public interest, not personal grasping,
will be the order Of the day. Ny youthful lord-too
lordly in his attacks on the paternal bank
account in Begravia-is now taught econ
Omy and prudence by q forced fast life in
the tropics-a nuisance to himself a bore
to everybody else. The spoony Etonlan who in
sists on marrying his fathers chambermaid,
around whose brow he would place the coronet OF
romance by examining her with education in the
same way French farmer fattens his turkeys is
quartered on the unfortunate taxpayers here In
the shape OF "a bOated ofical;' but he only gives
his immortality another color, acts in Rome like
other Romans, learns to natter the native vanity
In the lowest sense, becomes disgustingly lazy and
refuses the company of all capable of either re-
forming or improving him.
THE PLEASANT sIDE.
1t Is pleasant, however, to turn aside from so
much that is disagreeable to topics having q
brighter side. The gayety and neglfqe of the past
ten days would almost lead one to believe this a
perfect Paradise. For eleven months and half of
each year the great "unwashable" is content to
drag out an existence without specified highdays
or holidays II he can manage to find labor suffi-
ciently remuneratIve to furnish him in yams cigars
and straw hat Sambo will snap his fingers at the
world Employment OF legitimate nature want
ho will IN ko IN ,hno arix nrrip
among the mangoes and orange groves OF the
fowls, turkeys, goats or whatever else may come In
his way on the plantations and pens. Coffee, too,
he sometimes so deity manipuiates that the
grower Is often induced to buy the production of
his own bushes. He will rise beloqe
daybreak when myriads of ROSTERS and
thousand yeiplng ours I'LL the
Air with torturing discord, In order to turn an
''honest" penny by making a one-slded purchase
at badly secured store in the absence OF employer
and employees. HIS bare feet may make the &C.
guaintance OF the bes. quality OF timber on the
penitentary treadmil for three months of the
year. All these things MAY occur, but take him to
scenes OF pleasure at the end OF the season and he
viii come out "a perfect gentleman" spend his
money royalty and walk out with two sweethearts
~ time. So with
MRS. AND THE MISSES ETHIOPIA.
Mrs. may be dutfu cook or chamber woman,
to whom clean water and cvty are alien, who
never fails to expose all the graces of Africa her
mistress oOarders On gala days she throws all
her scruples Of caste aside, and in black or brown
silk, trimmed with green yellow red, she haunts
her rustling attire teiore the eyes OF astonisned
civilization and holds her head so high that 1t is
wonderful she escapes cerebro-spInal meningitis.
The misses will brush the early dew search
ing for fruits and flowers: they will pile up
their baskets with property which they facetiously
state belongs to the queens" load 1t, cradle FASH
Ion, on the backs OF asses mules and bring 1t to
Market Shoeless, with q dress reaching to the
Snees, tied around the centre Of the body with q
card ike one-band faggot the tail OF the quad
rPed In one hand ana q stick in the other, they
VII trudge 10 or II miles, often to ind the reverse
Oh "quick return" Festive occasions find these
az l L.