The Portland daily press., 1894-12-10
(<E1oE&&E X. E1& Y -E1
Corner of Congress and Franklin ss. POrtland Me- -
an31

Speaking of slender coolie they are
all slender. Generally they are tall, but
on their arrival in Trinidad they are al
most skeletons. That this is the result
of insufficient food at home is shown
by the way they make muscle after they
have been year or two on the island.
But they never grow fat; or if they do
the rat ones all escaped me, and was
so much interested in them that J. took
pains to be among them frequently.
Their waists arc particularly small,
and their ribs stand out prominently, but
there is plentyof muscle on them. even
when they first come from Hindustan.
They are dark iu skin, but not one of the
thousands / saw could by any possibili-
ty be mistaken for negro. And think
they must be the most graceful people
in the world. Hard labor does not
seem to interfere with their grace of
form and movement. When they stand it
is in graceful pasture, without, OF
curse, any attempt at striking an att1-
tude. When they squat down (and they
never sit) they do it gracefully. Even
when they are engaged at that most
unvraceful labor digging holes in cane
field with heavy West Indian hoe,
every movement is study for an artist.
A great many Of them have very intelli-
gent faces.
4 "These are the men ] am talking about,
the field laborers. The women did not
seem to me to be equally admirable in
appeara :ce They are ali modest in de-
meanor, OF whatever age; but when
woman has passed 25 her only handsome
points are her shining eyes and her coal
black hair. They mature too early to
preserve their beauty long; and AS TO
modest demeanor it rather behooves
woman to act mdestly when she has a
husband who would think nothing of
cutting her windpipe. The women are
generally cled in long gowns of thin
stuff, particularly when they appear IN
the streets; but in their own villages
and in their little homes they are fire.
quently seen with nothing on but the
native 'lungee,' a long, narrow cloth
which they wind about themselves SO
skillfully that they can make of it
mere breech olout or garment that
covers the entire body, head and feet in-
cluded, as they desire. II the husbands
are terribly ready TO slaughter their
wives, it must be said for them that
they are equally careless of their own
lives. When coolie is abused by his
master he sometimes aveDges himself
with knife or club; but be is far mora
likely to retire to the seclusion OF cane
field and stick a knife into his own
body, committing suicide because he
had been i'll treated.
"The long gown worn by the women is
not their native dress. but concession
to western custom. The woman's native
dress is a short waist, or bodice, gener-
ally made of bright colored stuff and
highly ornamented. and short and
scant skirt. The lower part of the bod
ice does not meet the skirt band by sew
eral inches, and in the interval field of
tawny skin is shown, The men all wear
the, lungee when they go into town,
but at home or in their Villages they sell
dom wear more than single garment,
that seems to be fashioned precisely like
q pair OF swlmm ng drawers. The child
ren are the most graceful little things
imaginable. and often extremely pretty.
The boys up to 10 to y years ears and the
girls up to tsr tba thew both
little 'lungees. The children are re-
markably well behaved, and although
they have their own little sports and
games like other youngster, they set tLeir
fun out of action rather than out of
yelling. The parents taken good care
them. IN. Y. Sun.