S-VJ. CUBA AND POETO ItICO 



nets of their toil. They still barter in "gills" and "quat- 

 ties * old-time coins, fractions of farthings, no longer 

 made, whose value indicates the extent of their dealings. 

 The woman who does a business of two shillings a market- 

 day feels well rewarded for her work, which lias probably 

 included twenty miles of walking to and fro. 



But the best traits of the darkies are seen around their 

 houses, or in the domestics of the buckra's home. Often, 

 as one passes the huts, the black mother may be seen comb- 

 ing out the wool of her fatherless child trying, trying, 

 ever trying to eliminate those African kinks, whose tem- 

 porary straightening seems in her imagination to lift the 

 little life a step nearer the ever-hoped-for but never-attain- 

 able white man's caste. And as she lovingty performs this 

 task, she tells weird stories which her ancestors brought 

 from Africa, or teaches that most remarkable Jamaican 

 alphabet a rhyme which originated no one knows how, 

 but which for two centuries has been handed down orally 

 from mother to child, and which every Jamaican can 

 repeat. It runs as fellows : 



A is for Assinoo j 1 see how him stan' ! 



B is for Buckra, 2 bery bad man. 



C is for Pussy ; him name Maria. 



D is for Duppy ; 3 him eye shine like fire. 



E is for Eel ; him catch in de ferry. 



F is for Figgler ; 4 him play sweet, be**y. 



6 is for Governor ; him live at King's House. 



H is for Dry-Harbor, place poor as church-mouse. 



I is for Miyself . When I sick, I go to bed. 



J is for John Crow ; he have a peel head. 



K is for Kalaloo, 5 bery nice when him boil. 



L is for Lizard, but him tail 'poil. 



M is for Monkey ; just look 'pon him face. 



N is for Nana; 6 him cap trim wid lace. 



1 Ass, donkey. 2 White man. a Ghost. 4 Fiddler. 



5 A kind of bird. 6 Baby (a corrupted Spanish word). 



