Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-15
WOMEN OF WEST INDIES.
Many of Them Show French Influence
in Dress and Speech.

in Dress and Speech.
From Harper's Weekly.
In these days of easy travel. when artists
go to and fro upon the earth seeking the
gorgeous. the fragrant or the impressive
one wonders why nobody paints the West
Indies. At the lower end of that island
chain which reaches from the northern
tropic to South America there Is veritable
painters paradise. Geographically this
paradise is known as the Lesser Antilles,
or the Caribbees. Politically 1t is under
four flags-Dutch. Danish. French and Brit
ish. Pictorially 1t offers the utmost love-
Eness and well-nigh infinite variety. Vol
Lanic mountains with rugged outlines rise
from the waves and hide their burnt-out
craters In low. soft, tropical clouds. To
their sides clings the luxuriant vegetation
fostered by lava. The sea around them Is
of that gorgeous and incredible purple pecu-
liar to tropical water. and over all streams
a glory OF light.
In the French islands. Gaudeloupe and
Martinique the human life. too. Is brilliant
ly picturesque and in keeping with Its set
ting. Market-day in Guadeloupe is not as
other marketdays in cold and humdrum- re-
sions. 1t Is revel of color and light.
Those who sell and most of those who buy
are negresses. mulattos. or quadroons. tall.
Shapely,a and bearing themselves like queens.
Trained almost from babyhood to bear bur-
dens on their heads. they are straight as
lances and they walk with jaunty grace.
Their dresses are of gay-colored cottens,
often adorned with large figures or brilliant
stripes. On their heads and often around
their waists in lieu of belts, are bright
bandannas. Around their necks are ker-
chiefs of rich green. yellow. or scarlet
Most of them wear earrings, and many
have barbaric CLEAN of metal ornaments
at the throat They show French influence
and often French blood in the liveliness of
their gestures. the rapidity of their talk and
their ebullient gayety. When one addresses
them their dark faces flash into smiles.
When they chat together there is presently
IA burst of joyous laughter. But there is
no use trying to share the joke We can
not understand 1t, however Yersed in the
French of Paris. Theirs is a patois of
French much debased by Congo associa-
lions. Its conSonantS are Slurred, its VOW
els mispronounced. and it is spoken In the
high-pitched sing-song of the West Indies.
The wares are displayed on stands ex-
temporized out of boards and boxes, in
trays of wood or wicker. or on mats spread
on the ground. and they show how many
things there are which we chronically do
without yet never miss. There are glisten-
Ing piles of the sea-salt which the poorer
islanders use in cooking. There are cocoa
beans in plenty. bundles of cinnamon bark,
and long vanilla beans tied into bundles like
cigarettes. Chocolate Is sold in cylinders
almost corpuent German sausages.
There are brown heaps of unrefined sugar.
dark and moist as mud. Bread rolls
offered, in a shape suggesting the head,
body and tail of bird. and an adventurer
who has eaten them assures us that they
very indgestible. though the population
eat thereof and live.
The little earthenware stoves used in all
the humble island homes can only boil or
stew. A feast of baked meat, when the
family INDUCES in 1t, must be cooked in q
bakeshop. Bread must be bought. and
these tough little loaves have a ready sale.
In market are little heaps of shell-fish the
local oyster, small and knobby. and the tiny
local clans. Near by are the fish, gorgeous
as those who sell them. They are steel
colored. rosy or salmon. overshOt with cop
per. with bronze. or with gold. A pic
turesque old woman wearing over her tur-
ban one OF the wlde soft straw hats made
In these islands. is selling punches Of shin
ing leaves like those of our northern laurel.
These make lather when rubbed under
water and are used locally in lieu of soap.
At three entertaining tables are little as
sentiments or things. and you can choose
among them for centime. You can have,
for instance, on a square Of brown butcher
paper. teacupful Of sea-salt and two balls
of blue. II that combination fails to allure
you here Is another: A square of yellow
soap. a tiny cornucopia of very strong pep
per. and row of pins. Or you can have q
box Of matches, a card Of thread and two
small onions. Indeed, the combinations Of
fered for centime have a wide range. and
IL you refuse them all you are indeed hard
to please.
The basket-seller has the wide wicker
trays which we see in West Indian streets
on the heads of peddlers and baskets of
charming design and color are purchasable
for a few centimes
The potters wife has among her terra
cotta-colored saucepans of familiar outlines
the tall West Indian water-cooers hitherto
unfamiliar. But the most remarkable figure
OF all to northern eyes Is the milk-seler.
Poised on her head Is a deep wooden box,
and from the top Of 1t protrude the jars,
cans. and bottles which have held divers
things. Now they contain milk which Is
peddled to the populace at prices to suit
the most rigidly economical. 1t Is stopped
about, transferred from one microby vessel
to another. and all under a tropical sun!
And yet the population lives and laughs.
Some of the vegetables at last look ia
miliar. These Is as everywhere In the West
Indies, great profusion and variety of
edible eddoes. cassava. yams. and several
kinds of sweet potato some recognizable by
a northerner and others not Here are CO.
coanuts in plenty and bananas galore, the
large ones which come to northern markets
and small variety known in the English
islands as a fig" Here are pIantains
large. coarse bananas which are generally
sliced and fried. and southern eggplant
daintily dressed by nature in pearly white
and purple. and locally known as "volon-
tier"
But there are no flowers. We remember
that In Quebec the poorest market stand Is
not complete without them and wonder that
French strain in the blood has not devel-
oped a similar taste here.
But. perhaps in the dazzle of color every
where flowers would not tell"