The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1897-04-10
THE ISLES OF JUNE,
Continued from Page 1.)


private houses from the hill down to the sea,
or harbor the city proper is built, occupied
| by business houses and the white population
From the range of hills south you see what
appears to be an immense cocoauut grove
but on taking any of the streets you find this
is quite thickly settled town. This side of
the hill is occupied by the coored population
Streets and lanes, all of them walled, with
hundreds of little houses hiding in among
beautiful rose trees, oleander and cactus. AS
before said, it is all Nassau, but this part of
the city is called Grantstcwn. Jamestown and
| Delanceytown. To the east of the city, about
six miles distant, is Fox Hill, an African set
tlement. The people are all Africans or de-
scendants of Africans. Many of them still
use their native language, and have their
faces and arms tattooed, and some have their
teeth filed to point. There are numerous
other settlements of Africans. Further east
is one called Jericho, on the south side Ade-
laide, and one nine miles west called Gambia.
They retain their native tribe distinctions and
are divided into Congos, Yourabos, Eboes,
Egbas and so on. Every year about August
one of the tribes elects queen and her will is
law to certain extent. The "llre Dance" a
relic no doubt of their previous savage life,
has still a great hold on them. although the
government has tried to break it up. The
| people form a circle and fire is made in the
center. The orchestra CD is composed of two
or three tom-toms, a pair of castanets and
one or two pieces of tin punched full of holes,
over the rough side of which they scratch II
nail. The people clap their hands all through
the dance, chanting in II dreary funeral tone
"Oh Kindoiah! Kindoiah May Come Along"
As the dance goes on they change to Come
down, come down." over and over again in
the same tone. Every now and then IL man
or woman or n couple together will rush into
the circle and dance wildly without any idea
Of step or figure. The sole ain and object
of the dancers seem to he, who can execute
the most eXtrayagaut capers in, over and
around the fire without burning themselves.
They. however, do not always escape, as
sometimes they fall exhausted right in the
| fire. Another dance that takes place on Sat
urday nights in GrautstOwn is called the
| ''nativc DANCE somewhat on the order Of
the Hoochec- Coochec, and the least said about
it here will be the better.
On Sundays the colored women generally
wear cotton dresses Of various shades, white,
| pink blue. rose. etc Once in while you
will meet Il dame grandly attred in silks and
satins, and even velvets. They all seem to be
up to date in the matter Of headgear, and
differ from the men in that respect As they
have the very latest styles in hats. bonnets,
etc. The height of the cOlOrnd mans amh
ton in the Bahamas seems to be the posses
sion of n dress suit and Il suit, and a silk tile,
both entirely unsuitable for the climate. Per
haps it is in imitation Of the assemblymen
who use this style OF dress in the opening
day of Parliament which, by the way, is a
great day in Nassau. Eyeryt ody and their
sister, cousins and aunts, black and white,
brown and yellow, come in all manner and
ways to the opening of Parliament. With us
the colored people are prone to high sound.
ing names, such as George Washington Smith
Abraham Lincoln Brown. The Bohamians
have the same weakness. 1t is Prince Henry
Mcdonald, Duke of Wellington Mcpherson
the surnames are those from the old Scotch
masters, while the christian names are for
those who rule them, they being British sub
jects. sign board that struck me as pecu.
liar was on a little 6x10 shanty in the east
end of Bay street which read, '!Lord Duke OF
Alberttown, dealer in cigars, candy and
fruit" The aforesaid Lord Duke was big
fat buck.
Most all the residences and estates are
named such as "The Retreat "Brooklyn,
"The Hermitage" Breezy HILL" "Orange
Hill, Clifton etc. During my wheel trips
| used to pass one in particular that attracted
my attention by the name over the gateway
"Clevelani." 1t is a beautiful place of about
20 acres. large mansion, with broad piazza:
all round, and beautiful terrace, lawn ant
tennis court and croquet grounds. l mad,
the acquaintance of the owner l.. G.. Reed
formerly OF Brooklyn N. Y. Twelve year.
ago Mr.. Reed was dying with consumption
Mr.. Cleveland on coming to the Presidential
chair appointed him Consul to Barbados
when Mr. Harrison fired him. He came t.
Nassau, knowing that if he went home i
would only be n short time before he would
die, so he settled here and named his beauti
full place after Mr.. Cleveland. Mr. Reed ha
entirely recovered. enjoys the best of health
and weighs about $50 pounds ut pr sent. Mr.
Cleveland is not Il stranger in Nassau. Whel
you go to the L. s. Consulate to register turn
back II few pages and you will see in a bolC
hand "Grovcr Cleveland, Buffalo. y. y
Mr.. Cleveand's brother at ono time ran tn,
Royal Victoria Hotel here and died here Tha
is one reason why Grover Cleveland came t
the Bahamas, it was to settle up his brother
estate.
From Nassau numerous side trips can b
made to the other or out islands, as they arr
called. They will charge you from - to 50
according to where you wish to go, o
you can charter a sponger for about :
los per day. The trip to Eleutheri
and Harbor Island also to Andres, can b
made in II short time and at little cost. Th
, trip to Watlings Island, now set down on ou
maps as San Salvador, since the Chicago
Herald expedition came out in 1891 and set
tied the vexed question for all time which
really was San Salvador, Cat Island or Wat
lngs. There always had been Il doubt whicl
of these two islands really was the first on