A SPRING VISIT TO NASSAU. 



783 



that it was the Evil Eye fixed upon "them, so that many a good 

 opportunity for a snap shot was lost by the sudden hiding or covering 

 of the face of the picturesque negro. Sometimes they could be per- 

 suaded for a penny or two to grant one's request to " wait a minute." 

 In some cases, discovering that they had been " took," they would 

 ask for a penny indemnity. One day, just as I was about to photo- 

 graph two little children, the angry mother appeared, severely scold- 

 ing because some one had not bargained for a penny. The small 

 children are scantily clad with a single garment, while the women 

 wear white calico dresses, white aprons, and bright-colored plaid 

 handkerchiefs tied around their heads under straw hats. They may 

 or may not be barefooted. The homes of these people are pic- 

 turesque, especially in the village of Grantstown, where the little 

 huts, often thatched with palmettos, nestle among luxuriant tropical 

 gardens, and the cocoanut palms wave above bananas, oleanders, 

 datura, and sapodilla trees. The houses have no glass in the win- 

 dows, but instead have shutters with bars, which are the only means 



Native Hut, Grantstown. 



of closing the windows. There are never chimneys, for the cooking 

 is all done out of doors, a black pot, with legs suspended over a 

 fire of fagots, serving for general use. Men, women, and children 

 speak to travelers, and expect a word of recognition in return. When 



