Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 118, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 May 1916 — Jamaica's Fascinating Markets [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Jamaica's Fascinating Markets

THERE are two great public markets in Kingston, Jamaica, where the natives sell fruit and vegetables and all sorts of local commodities for little more than a song. These are Victoria Market, by the harbor at the foot of King street, where war vessels and colliers sail into pqrt across the blue waters of the Caribbean almost daily, and Jubilee Market, further uptown, and fronting the public square where are the great banyan trees and all manner of tropical plants. The daily supplies are brought to market by the natives in large flat baskets borne on their heads or in panniers on the backs of ifee small burros that are the burden bearers of the island, says a writer in the New York Sun. These little beasts, hardly larger than big dogs, are led or driven, their owers generally walking beside them. In the open spaces of the market woman venders take up their positions for the day on the bare ground or perhaps seated on low boxes, with their slender stock in. trade spread out in tittle heaps about ttrem:These consist of a few yams, or bread fruit, or naseberries, or whatever they may chance to have, and upon which they make during the long sunny days oply a few pennies profit. They pay about a shilling and sixpence per week as license for the space that they and their wares occupy and clear scarcely enough to supply even their simplest necessities. Yet for the most part they are cheerful and happy, and the soft, continuous patter of their voices as they gossip and trade all day suggests the name of the tree, "Women’s Tongues," whose dry pods rustle together so musically In the country lanes.

It does one good at any time to make the tour of the market, walking among the women with their strange fruits and vegetables, and buying a penny’s worth here and a ha’penny’s worth there for the sheer delight of it all. "Buy a ripe banana!” they will call out mellifluously, or “Buy a sweet orange!” or “Ha’penny! Ha’penny! Buy a cake!" And looking down into their engaging brown faces One desires forthwith to buy everything. A quartee, or “penny-’a’-penny,’ as they say quickly with soft elision, is a favorite coin among the small denominations; it is a quarter of sixpence, and for this price one can buy three or four oranges, or perhaps twice as many bananas. A stranger rarely ever cares to pay more than this for star apples' or naseberries, which require an educated taste for enjoyment; but pawpaws, resembling our cantaloupes, and cho-chos, similar to our white squash, are delicious. As for tangerines and guava, they are Joys forever. Market Women In Bcrap. Picking my way gingerly one day among the scores of seated and stooping venders, and being very careful not to step into the little piles of peppers and what not that were outspread everywhere, I plunged into the midst of a lively scrap between two colored women. One of them, who had been seated on a box in the sunshine, irascible with her long vigil, had picked bp her seat and moved it back plump into the midst of her neighbor and her neighbor’s wares, all outspread together on the ground. The result was a scrimmage, with much pushing and chattering, all of which was so funny that my amusement set them laughing also, and the trouble wound up in a good natured romp among them. And, oh, but the sun was hot, and the blinding white light quivered out upon the waters of the harbor. A row of stalls runs along one side of the market, where sticky sweets are sold, most unappetizing to foreign sensibilities. The stuff is ladled out of great dingy cans and sold in penny worths and farthing amounts or more. Near this row of stick ghee are racks and stacks of flimsy cotton goods and ribbon, laces and embroideries, all immaculately fresh and clean, though

scarcely three feet removed from the sweets. There are piles also of linen and cotton prints, whose cheapness the venders loudly proclaim as they stand measuring the goods off by the yard and selling it at ridiculously low prices. It was near this place that a woman buying embroidery that trailed down into the dust, held in her arms a plump little brown baby. It chuckled and held out its hands to me, playing like a kitten. I found that the only name by which it was known was “Da-da.” Later, on the edge of the crowd that overflowed into the street, I discovered little “Murenne Cole," black as a coal, hiding behind her mother’s skirts and laughing up Into my face. The brown babies in Jamaica are irresistible. There are many coolie women in the markets, who sell fruits and vegetables as well as their odd East Indian trinkets. These women are bedecked with heavy silver ornaments, in which they invest most of their limited means, and the necklaces, bracelets, rings, anklets and bangles with which they are -loaded down, display - exquisiteworkmanship and design. The manner in which many of these ornaments are worn indicates caste, and a lot of filigree work disfiguring the nostril proclaims a married woman. These Eastern women are always picturesque and often beautiful. Wistful and fawnlike, with soft, dusky skins, they are as shy and proud as wild animals. Tobacco by the Yard. Over in one corner of the market place colored men sell ropes of strong native tobacco by the yard and suggest that strangers take home a few yards as souvenirs. Into the meat and fish markets, presided over chiefly by men, I could not persuade myself to go, as everything was too 111-smelling and unsightly; but I poked about unhesitatingly everywhere else. The most delightful of all the stands are where they sell native basket work and beads; the latter being seeds of various colors and sizes, strung in long necklaces, and selling at sixpence each. The venders of these bead strings, with long bunches of them hanging over arm or shoulder, hawk their wares everywhere, haunting the piers and railway station and victimizing travelers. It seemed to me as if they were always on the lookout for myself, for I found it impossible to refuse and bought dozens of them, red and black, brown and yellow, and dove colored Job’s Tears that seem to have been wept all over the island. The baskets are equally tempting and are of every conceivable shape and size, from tiny ornaments and shapes for ordinary usage to great hampers and suit cases. In suitcase form they cost but a shilling or two. and are extremely light and highly serviceable.

Then there are knicknacks and fancy articles made of bamboo Joints and palm leaf, candle shades and mats made of cotton fiber or lace bark; and cocoanuts carved and decorated in endless designs. It is a morning’s treat to examine them all, and buy here a bit and there a bit, until an astonishing number of shillings and pence have been transmuted into baskets and beads. And then there is the sweet smelling cos-cos grass, that costs but a penny a bunch and leaves the things in one’s trunk perfumed ever after. Coming away after a morning's stroll through Jubilee Market I helped a big, slatternly darky girl to pin up her skirt, which was slipping loose, and received a grinning “Tanky. Missy, tanky!” in reward. Then-passing over to a stall where another darky woman sold oranges I Btopped and bought four for a quarter. It was very And thea the orange woman wanted to return with me to New York, as the darkies everywhere wanted to do. being willing to work tor next to nothing for the opportunity of coming to the States. They are so pitifully poor in their own country!

IN THE JUBILEE MARKET, KINGSTON