JAMAICA 227 



of colored people on the island, the best of which is that 

 of the English mixture. So long ago was the African 

 strain ingrafted that in many instances its possessors are 

 of ten indistinguishable from the white ; but there is always 

 some meddlesome fellow who will call attention to it even 

 when it is not evident to the eye. Trollope has well de- 

 scribed this habit of the Jamaicans of pointing out the 

 blood-taint. 



The other mixtures of Jew and negro, and Spanish and 

 negro, and these two classes mixed with each other, do not 

 result in as handsome a race as either the Cuban or French 

 island mulattos. The product is a scrawny race, of un- 

 pleasant features. Nearly all the tradespeople of Jamaica 

 arr of this class, possessing the shrewdness of the Jew, the 

 groveling traits of the slave, and the servility of the Lon- 

 don shopkeeper ; they grate upon the American nerves most 

 unpleasantly. Of the better class of colored people many 

 arc highly educated and intelligent, including in their 

 ranks professional men and merchants who would do 

 credit to any country. 



But the unadulterated black the coal-black, the "nig- 

 ger " par excellence of Trollope, Dickens, and Thackeray, 

 an amusing and interesting type is in a vast majority 

 here. The Jamaican negroes are sui generis; nothing like 

 them, even of their own race, can elsewhere be found not 

 even elsewhere in the West Indies. They are omnipresent. 

 The towns, the country highways, and the woods ring with 

 their laughter and merry songs; they fill the churches and 

 throng the highways, especially on market-days, when the 

 country roads are black with them; and they are witty 

 and full of queer stories and folk-lore, some of which 

 we give below. Although the Englishman will tell you 

 that they are poor laborers, they do the menial work of 

 the island, and altogether are cheerful and respectful, hav- 

 ing at least a great regard for good manners ami appear- 

 ance. Their wants are few, and most of them are content 

 with a small hut surrounded by a provision-ground, where 



