Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-06-20
A TROPICAL PARADISE.
Happy Martinique-EverybodyH Has
Enough to Eat and Wear.


Martinique is a gaIden of romantic
beauty extending from the edge of the
pretty harbor to the foothills of the
mountains and looks like fragment OF
France gone astray.
Is lies in what may be hkened to the
parquet OF the theatre. The line OF
gas lamps, whose roots are washed by
the white surf of the sea, represent the
footlights, the harbor the stage, the
semi-circle of mountains the galleries
and the foothills the orchestra or dress
circle in which the richar families sit
Every building is of venerable stone,
antique in structure, large and roomy,
and Widowed by deep lalousies. The
heavy tile roofs overhang the sills like
the eyebrows of the man, and are COW
cred with silvery MOSES and trailing
vines.
The streets are nearly all paved with
Belgian blocks, and sparkling water
rushes down the middle of each in the
gutter toward which the pavement
slopes. These streams are great bless
ing. They keep the city cool and the
streets clean. for there is no other sys-
tenn of sewerage.
4AC udhtQ lJl1f Al Vic 60
tiers all day. The women sit by their
side and sew as If they were brooks III
the country. The heavy ladened car
cador lets the water roll over his tired
feet, and scooping it up in his hands
bathes his head, neck and arms. The
horses stand in them and cool their
hoofs. The dogs and pigs lie in them
at MONDAY, and to man and beast alike
they are source of refreshment and
enjoyment.
The water is brought down from the
mountain springs in great acqueducts,
which were built in the time of slavery,
more than a hundred years ago, and
cost vast amount Of labor.
Everybody lives out of doors. The
harbor is skirted by a wide boulevard,
shaded by palm trees, and furnished
with iron seats, where the populace
gnther in the evening and chatter like
magpies.
During the day the women sit in the
gardens, and at night sleep in hammocks
under the verandas, except in the rainy
season, when they keep their houses.
There is no glass in the windows, and
not a chimney in the place, writes a
correspondent OF the Detroit Tribune.
All the cooking is done in charcoal
stoves, or upon shelves OF stone like q
blacksmiths forge
On the beach the black roustabouts
during the morning and evening hours
are loading and unloading lighters,
having to wade into the water up to their
shoulders sometimes, for there are no
docks, and all the merchandise is car
Iied on their backs or shoulders. They
joke and sing and chatter, and from the
noise one would judge they were en-
gagged in some boisterous game, instead
of carrying heavy bales aud boxes from
the lighters to the shore.
The coasting boats which go from
island TO island, laden with garden pro-
ducts and merchandise, are rOwed by
six negroes. with hooped roof Of can
vas over the stern to shelter the passen
gers.
About mile from the haIbor is a
public garden, laid out in royal mag
niticenee among the rocks on the bank
Of the river, and 1t is a paradise of lux
urious shade and gorgeous flowers.
The town Of Fort de France, which /
was known as Fort Royal during the /
time OF the Empire, is the seat Of the /
government, where the Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor lives and commands garrison Of /
three or four hundred colored soldiers. +
II is about twenty miles from st. Pierre I
aud has 10000 iRhabitants, but the /
latter place is the commercial capital 4
and the fashionable residence. The |
blacks and white live together rs broth +
BIS and sisters OF the common family, 4
often intermarrying rs if miscegenation /
was not regarded as unholy III other /
parts of the world.
Many of the colored families are
wealthy and aristocratic, and send their
children abroad to be educated.
In the Latin quarter of Paris one fire.
luently sees well-dressed and intelli-
Unlocking colored men who speak no
1ther language than French. Most Of
hem come from Martinique and the
lther French colonies of the West In
lies.
The upper class wear the latest
French fashions and live with consider
lble comfort, but the native women of
he common class, as elsewhere in the
ropi $, are clad in a single garment Of
cotton.
They load themselves with large
mount of jewelIy of peculiar designs,
md on Sundays and feast days get
up in the most elaborate
md outlandish manner, men and
women both rivalling the plumage of the
birds in the myriad colors they assume.
The creole women are very beautiful
nd have natural grace that awakens
he admiration of men. There are no
'oor, no almshouses, no asylums for the
ndigent.
Everybody has enough to eat and
rear, for nature is pro61gal, and the
Innate and customs of the country
make much clothing unnecessary.
The women Of Martinique carry their
aIlies in tt peculiar manner, by psac-
ny them astride Of the left side and
trapping them there by broad slngs of
10th. In this position the child rides
$ comfortably as in > saddle, while the
1T arm OF the mother is entirely re-
eyed of its weight. The ycungstsr so
II. l.. 1. I. l