The times., 1898-11-13
Fantastic Headgear.

Each Jamaican is a law unto himself in
the matter of style, and. although he
perambulates the earth in fewer garments
than decency actually requires. his most
original efforts are expended in fantastic
head-covering. Hardly any two persons
wear exactly the same fashion of hat,
cap, or turban, and anything, however
atrocious, is quite correct here.
The most picturesquely ugly in design
and general appearance are the pith hats
and helmets sported by English colonial
officials and their naughty or humble imi-
tators among the blacks and ereoles. For
men whose business keeps them much in
the sun these pith hats are the best pos
sible protection, being an inch thick. but
literally light as a cork. They are in
all shapes and szes-some like the ordi-
nary policeman's helmet, but with an alb
normal development of brim; others meas
ure from twenty to twenty-five inches.
fore and aft; others are circular discs. the
depth of a dishpan. with a small. fiat
crown; others huge pieces of pith, like
an exaggerated clam shell and no crown
at ali; and others resemble nothing under
heaven but a big snow shovel.
They are usually covered with linen
white brown or green-twisted around the
crown, festooned. or tied in true lovers
wearer, with long ends dangling down the
back or Tapping in the breeze. These
nightmares of the hatter's Imagination
are never made to fit snugly, but are
supplied with an inner framework, to al
low a wide space all around the head
for circulation of air. Thus a man who
wears number Z derby requires num-
ber II pith hat, in which his Uranium
looks as if caught in a trap. and gives
| him the appearance of an oyergrown
mushroom when seen from the rear.
Sombreros and Turbnns.
The SWEETEST Jamaicans affect the big
white sombrero. with highly -colored silk
scarf tied around with floating ends
The West India coolie men, iounging at
the street corners. have their heads
swathed in immense white turbans, while
the coolie women wear several yards of
| white cloth. picturesquely draped over
| their shining blue black hair and hanging
| down behind.
The negresses envelop their busly wool
| in bandana handkerchiefs tof gaudiest
| hues. and on top of the turban perch any
| sort of old hat. male or female straw
| felt, or pith, they can lay hands on. The
stevedore women content themselves with
| twist of straw, worn like a crown,
supplement it with half sgourd shell
| the size and shape of an inverted wash
basin. On Sundays and other fete days
the colored ladies' of quality often ap-
pear in truly marvellous creations of mil
| linery, but always as a secondary adorn-
ment to the bandana.
Occasionally one meets a proud darkey
under tall silk hat of antique design
or an old and battered plug with long
streamers of bright calico. The police
| men wear little round peaked caps as
funny as those sported by circus clowns
and the prettiest of all is the Zouave trr-
ban of red and white. with yellow tasse,
which is so extremely becoming-to the
black soldiers.
Another thing that fills you with amaze
ment is the queer gibberish that is spoken
In Jamaica. You naturally expect to hear
the English. language spoken in this old
English colony; and they consider It Eng
lish and would feel greatly insulted if
you mtimated that it is not of the best.
Dialect of the Negroes.
The dialect of the upper classes is bad
enough, with their sbobs" and Sang
witches" and "cawnts," ct cetera. but
never was the Kings English SO afro
ciously murdered as by the jamaican me-
| groes. All their sentences appear to be
| constructed on the baby talk" plan, and
words wholly unintelligible to the new