, 1888-09-18
SCENES OF sENsuous BEAUTY.
Interesting People Who Loiter Their
Hours Away in West Indian Tropics

Interesting People who Loiter Their
Hours Away in West Indian Tropics.
Hindoos, coolies; men, women and
Notwithstanding, walking or sitting in
the sun, under the shadowing of the
palms. Men squatting, with hands
clasped over their black knees, steadily
observe you from under their white tur-
bans-very steadily, with a slight scowl.
All these Indian faces have the same set,
stern expression, the same knitting of the
brows, and the keen, strong gaze is
not altogether pleasant. 1t borders upon
hostility; it is the look of measurement
measurement physical and moral. In
the mighty swarmings of India these
have learned the full meaning and force
of lfe's law as we Occidentals rarely
learn it. Under the dark forehead with
its fixed frown the eye g~litters like a
serpent's.
Nearly all wear the same Indian dress,
the thickly folded turban, usually white,
white drawers reaching but half way
down the thigh, leaving the knees and
the legs bare, and white jacket. A few
don long blue robes and wear a colored
head dress. These are babagees, priests.
All the men look tall; they are 1.-the,
very Sltut0f, bllldl DOlcu, III Tx III
are well turned. They are grave, talk
in low tones and seldom smile. Those
you see with very heavy, full boards are
probably Mussulmans; they have their
mosques and the cry of the muezzin
sounds thrice daily over the vast cane
fields. Some shave-Buddhists or fol
lowers of Hindooism-but the children
of Islam never. Very comely some of
tho vDn,ap ~ thar rIOca rlinpinr
soft, brief robes and tantalizing wells, a
costume leaving shoulders, arms and
ankles bare. The dark arm is always
tapered and rounded; the silver circled
ankle always elegantly knit to the light,
straight foot. Many of these slim girls,
whether standing or walking or in re-
pose, present p%erpetually studies of grace;
their attitude when erect always Bug-
gests lightness and suppleness, like the
poise of a perfect dancer.
A coolie mother passes, carrying at her
hip a very pretty naked baby. 1t has
exquisite delicacy of limb; its tiny ankles
are circled by thin bright silver rings; it
looks like alittle bronze s%tatuette, a statue
of Kama, the Indian Eros. The mothers
arms are covered from elbow to wrist
with silver bracelets, some fiat and dec
GRATED, others coarse, round, smooth,
with ends hammered into the form of
viper heads. She has large flowers of
gold in her ears, a small gold flower in
her very delicate little nose. This nose
ornament does not seem absurd; on these
dark skins the effect is, on the contrary,
pleasing, although bizarre. All this
jewelry is pure metal; it is thus the
coolies carry their savings; they do not
learn to trust the banks until they become
rich.
There is a woman going to market, a
very odd little woman; is she a Chino
blanco-a coolie or a Malay half breed2
1 do not know. She represents a type 1
have never seen before. She wears one
loose soft white garment, leaving arms,
ankles and part of back and bosom ex-
posed, like a low cut sleeveless chemise,
but less long. Her whole figure is
rounded, compact, admirably knit, and
her walk is indescrbably light, supple,
graceful. But her face is queer; it is an
Oriental g~rotesque, a Chinese dream,
oblique eyes and blue black brows and
hair, very high and broad cheek bones.
Singular as it is, this face has the VERT
able bcaute du diable; it is a very young
and very fresh face, and the uncom-
monty long, black, silky lashes give her
gaze a very pleasing, velvety expression.
Still, the most remarkable popularity
she has is her color, clear and strange,
almost exactly the color of a fine ripe
lcmon.-Lafcadio Hearn in Harper's
Magazine.