A Tour Through South America

by A. S. Forrest

Sidewalks and drains have been laid all through the labour camps, and little could be done to improve or better the majority of them. In the married quarters, placed at a distance from those occupied by single men, it is more difficult to prevent the tenants from indulging in their extraordinary propensity for hoarding up a miscellaneous pile of articles of no possible use or value. If left to themselves, the labouring negroes neglect to give much care and attention to their dwellings, notwithstanding that many of them appear in public on high days and holidays dressed in the latest fashions, displaying spotless white linen, and giving the impression to casual beholders that they are neat and cleanly in their habits.

The picturesque costumes which are worn by the women from Martinique are reminiscent of the fashions that were in vogue in Paris fifty years ago, while the slight Oriental touch which the brightly coloured handkerchiefs tied round their heads impart is picturesque and attractive. The material of which their gowns are composed has weird patterns and in few other communities is there a variety of quaintly coloured prints to equal those worn by the women who hail from Martinique.

A TOILET ON THE ZONE.

All these Martiniquian women appear to be very tall, their thin lithe bodies, and small heads accentuating the effect, and the gracefulness of their erect carriage and walk is aided by the long ample folds of their walking skirts, when gathered up and thrown negligently over their arms.

There was a great deal of talk some little time back about the presence of these women on the Zone, and allegations were freely made that the United States Government were paying their expenses to the isthmus, and that the purpose for which they were brought was one that no Government could officially sanction. After a great deal of investigation, much evidence was collected, which went to prove that the women whose moral character had been called in question were quite respectable, and were meritoriously engaged as domestic servants and washerwomen, earning wages far in excess of those obtainable in their island home. Their presence on the Zone is doubtless appreciated by many of their fellow countrymen, and keeps them from growing homesick, for the dancings and rejoicings which they amuse themselves with on holidays and Sundays help to encourage a spirit of contentment.

Over a hundred and sixty affidavits were made by Martinique women upon the isthmus at the beginning of the year 1906, for the purpose of refuting the charges which were brought against them by newspapers in the United States, and the Governor of the Canal Zone at the time, C. E. Magoon, in a letter to the Secretary of War, stated that many of the women were much alarmed when questioned about the articles that had appeared against them, and were apprehensive lest they should be deported back to Martinique. They most willingly gave evidence as to their occupation. They were well satisfied with the wages they were earning and the conditions under which they lived, and all of them protested strongly against the statement that they were “living in sin.” The marriage customs among all the West Indian Islands differ from those obtaining in more civilised communities, and to rigid moralists of northern latitudes may seem rather lax and casual. Few of the women who subscribed to the affidavits put forward were able to write, only twenty-seven out of the whole number being able to sign their testimonies, the other hundred and forty all making a cross. All the names betrayed, as one would expect, the French origin of their owners. Some of them were ingeniously fanciful and almost ludicrous.

Such names as “Susering Johnabatist,” “Danshale Alptired,” “Catherine Maxemen,” “Vuss Marie,” sound rather odd, and the alliteration of names like “Pauline S’Paul,” “Dennis Denir,” “Philomen Philibert,” “Alcina Alcide,” is doubtless intentional, whilst a few like “Gabriel Paralo,” “Fluce Bernadette,” “Eleonore” have a romantic and not unpleasant sound.

But the Martiniquians are not alone in possessing extraordinary names. I remember looking through the register, kept in an official’s office in one of the West Indian islands, and was amazed at the extraordinary names written in it. I asked how it was possible for such inappropriate appellations to have been selected by negroes who surely could hardly have seen them before. The official produced a large old-fashioned dictionary, and explained that when parties came to register the birth of a child and were at a loss for a name, he would read out a list of long words, the most unsuitable of which was sure to be selected by the parents, regardless of absurdity. Fancy a small black child with little clothing or dignity having to support such a name as “Bathybius Johnston.” Luckily, the registered name is forgotten in a day or two, and unless a copy is written out the child usually grows up accustomed to hear itself called by some commonplace and familiar nickname.

During the year 1906-7 there were over twenty-four thousand labourers employed upon the isthmus by the Canal Commission, and most of these were imported from the neighbouring West Indian Islands and Italy and Spain, as it was found difficult to obtain the necessary labour from among the natives.