The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1888-07-18
THE ISLAND OF JAMAICA,
DOMESTIC ECONOMY IN THE CAPI-
TAI ISLE OF THE WEST INDIES.
Dwellings without Chimneys or
Fireplaces-DiiIicu of House
kccping-Polished Floors.

Dwellings without Chimneys or
Fireplaces--Dihicu of House
kccping-Polished Floors.
The climate Of Jamaica surprised me,
says a writer in the New York ObserCeTj
for though very hot in the sun, it is SO
tempered by the land and sea breeze
that in the houses the thermometer rare
ly rises above nihety five degrees some-
times in the winter season sinking as low
as sixty-fve. 1t much resembles the
summer climate of Virginia, though
much damper, to which fact is due a
great deal of the malaria and terrible rheu-
matte fever which prevails. In the
rainy season the dampness pours in
through the "jalousies," of which the
sides of the room; are principally built,
and which rarely close tightly. The
books on the table mould, ones shoes
become covered with mildew, and kid
gloves are soon too spotted to wear, un-
less kept in a closely stoppered bottle.
The houses are without means of being
warmed in any way, as they are built
without chimneys, or tireplaces. This is
q general rule, though | believe in the
Parish of st. Anne's on the north side of
the Island, where there is good deal of
rainfall, some few houses are built with
n chimney, and one room has fireplace.
| The kitchen, which is always an out
side cabin, is also minus q chimney; an
elevated sort of range or hob is built out
into the floor, on which the cooking is
DONE sometimes by means of charcoal,
but oftener with brushwood and smaller
sticks, the smoke escaping through a
hole in the roof.
There is generally an old fashioned
brick oven outside for baking bread, but
it is seldom used, as few families now
bake their own bread They buy it if
near or in a village from bakers cart
which makes its rounds in the country
from the nearest store where it can be
procured fresh twice a week. Many
households do without the article alto
gether, or only get enough to serve with
''early morning coffee" small bit of
toast being put with each cup. They
use in its place some of the substitutes
which are classed under the one generic
/ term "bread kind" These consist of
boiled or baked yam, roasted breadfruit,
potatoes, rice, cooked unripe plantains,
''bammee" and ''cassava cakes,n both of
which are breads made from the grated
manioc root from which tapioca is also
prepared.
Wheat is not raised in Jamaica, and
the price of the imported flour of very
ordinary grade is fourteen dollars per
/ barrel. Owing to the ravages of insects
and mould it keeps badly. The meals
/ are arranged as in France, early coffee
in your bedroom at six; at eleven A. NJ.
"second breakfast" and at which there
is no tea or coffee, consisting principally
| of "currics" and ''devils," with fruit,
vegetables and bread kind. Dinnea is
the next meal, at six o'clock. This is n
meal of several courses, usually begin
ming with the inevitable Jamaica 'pep-
per-pot," or turtle coup, and winding
up with delicious pineappes, oranges or
mangoes. After dinner, coffee is served
in the drawing room, and some few Eng
lsh families keep up the custom of af-
ternoon tea.
One of the difficulties of housekeeping
here lies in the dairy, for it is hard to
procure good milk and butter. The
cows usually go dry in the droughts,
which are sure to come with the return
of the dry season, and they then have
resource to goats or condensed milk.
Even with a good dairy the absence of
ice or any facilities for keeping it creates
another trouble. For cooking purposes
they use butter from America, which
only costs twenty-five cents per pound,
and comes in five pound tins, but
it is strong and somewhat rancid.
For the table butter is imported
from Holland, prepared expressly
for the tropical market. This has
superior keeping qualities and costs
seventy-fyc cents per pound; it is put
up in small packages holding from half
a pound to pound, and as it is so oily
it is usually helped from the can with a
spoon. On entering a house one is i'm
mediately struck by the beauty of the
floors; they are made of the handsome
rubbed to n state of polish which rem
ders it difficult to walk across them with
out slipping. AS there are no carpets
the lady of the house takes great pride
in keeping them in good order, aud in
each establishment there is a floor
woman, "a domestic whose sole duty il is
to take care OF them. Each floor is
washed daily with water, into which is
squeezed the juice of the bitter or Sc
vile orange, and then waxed with a
woolen cloth. The juice of the orange
answers two purposes, darkening the
color and preventing the inroads Of in
sects. One of these pests is the we'll
known "chegoe" or ''jgger." 1t is
small black insect which burrows into
the flesh of the foot, depositing a tiny
bag of eggs; these soon hatch out, and
cash young one, in its turn, lays more
until the surrounding flesh is infested
with the result that modification sets in
and the unfortunate victim loses a por-
tion of hand or foot. 1t is therefore of
Importance to extract it as soon as posi-
BILE.
TripletS Seventy-One Years Old.
''There stopped with me last week.