The leader., 1897-02-17
LIFE IN JAMAICA.
rhe Isishd Belongs to the Colored
People.

found myself in great, shadowy.
roomy hotel, with hardwood floors an
furiongs of veranda, giving on gar
len which had run somewhat TO seed,
but contained several palm trees, and
m assortment of lizards, green and
brown, in agreeable confirmation Of the
propinquity of the equator. Round
about this hotel and its environment we
wandered till lunch was ready; there
were oranges, bananas and several other
fruits which do not specify only be-
cause / am still unable TO recollect
their names. AS 10 their flavor, l can
only say that / do not care much for IL
as yet; there was one that tasted like
butter, and another that had the con-
sistency of cream cheese and the taste
of strawberry jam.
On the whole, the flavor of these
southern products strikes the northern
visitor as insipid and too sweet, and
makes one understand why Engiishmen
always banker after cutries and the
like sharp condiments i'm the tropics;
but no doubt we are sophisticated and
wrong and ought to like what seems to
us insipidity. Meanwhile, the oranges,
bananas and pineapples are all much
better here than they ever are after en-
during export.
AS for the breadfruit and yams, of
which we also had specimens, they are
a mixture of the potato and the sweet
potato, and are less captivating than
either. They have almost no taste at
all, and i should suppose that one
finally would come to regard them
in much the same light as bread, some
thing usefully filling, but without char
acter enough to inspire either loath-
ing or devotion. With the aid of sauces
and gravies, however, they go down very
well.
The bill of fare included likewise fish
whie b was good, and meat which was
not very good; it has to be eaten too
soon after killing TO have lost its tough
ness. But one does not expect to eat
much meat down here; vegetarians are
in their element in the tropics, espe-
cially that superior order of them who
favor that part of the vegetable king
dom which grows above ground. The
country women, who walk Il to 25 miles
a day in the sun with burdens on their
| heads which must sometimes weigh not
less than so pounds, and who are never
in the least tired-these ladies, ii ap-
pears, live on fruit and yams only, and
find them all-sufficient dict.
After dinner 1 went into a barber
shop and submitted myself to the min
istrations of an artist there. The shop
was at the rear of the little structure
which bore the sign; the front part of
it, if remember right, was devoted in
part to the sale of tobacco. On three
sides of the room were windows pro-
tected by wooden gratings painted red
and blue; through them l saw bits
intense blue sky and green fronds OF
palm. On wall just outside the sash
a lizard ran and hoped, and the eternal
buzzard alighted on corner of a root
within my range of vision. Close be
side me young darkey with counte-
nance of illimitable amiabiity labored
assiduously on an instrument in the
nature of a hand-organ; but the works
were in full view, and in the opinion oil
| several bystanders seemed to vie in in
terest with the tunes. This music tool
the place of the traditional barber I
conversation, though that also wa!
abundantly available on demand, ant
| was, indeed, carried on with much vi
vacity between the various employee!
and some visitors who appeared to havt
come in for that purpose. 1t sounde,
like mixture of Italian and French
and may have been Jamaican popula
English, for aught l know. / could no
understand it.
| l accepted all these details as bein.
typically tropical; but, en- the othe
hand, the chair on which sat was mad
in Rochester, n. Y; on Tie wall wer
large Autograph of Brooklyn bridg
and a portrait of President Cleveland
Electricity, too, has got to Kingston
and the wires run through TIL
branches of the manages and palms
The house in which | have takel
up my abode is fitted Throughout
with electric bells, but l am happy t,
add that none of them work. In on
of the larger shops, think, there is al
elevator, the only one on the island.
/ said just now that the white peopl
look out of place. That fact, so far a
can judge, is the moral of the stor,
here. The island belongs to the col
ored folk, and the others are gradual,
being crowded out. The proportion Ii
already about thirty to one agains, thu
latter; and while the colored race goe
on multiplying, the whites are packing
their trunks and moving cut. Is thi
| movement to be arrested or not?
doubt whether it will be arrested by tn,
English. Workmen imported from TIL
states do not succeed here; that is, the,
all die in two years from rum. Thu
coolies do admirably, but they canno
be the final solution of the problem
Perhaps the best thing we can do il
to become colored people ourselves
Julian Hawthorne. in Gentry.