28 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



lady and her Jean can speak what they flatter them- 

 selves passes for English, but their native tongue is 

 the perverted French of their white ancestor. To a 

 Parisian, their perversion of the French verb faire 

 would be sufficient to drive him crazy. 



For instance, the old lady strives to make intelligible 

 the number of her grandchildren and their respective 

 parents: "My zon, Jean, he make ze enfans seex ; 

 Ma fille, he make huit, and tout les enfans make 

 seexty." She passed my door one afternoon as I was 

 busy preparing my collections for preservation, and 

 told me confidently that she was going to " make petit 

 walk," but a wail from the house of her eldest son 

 caused her to hurry her old limbs to soothe the child 

 " zat make ze cry." " Me make my sleep," is a com- 

 mon expression. 



Jean B. is full of wise sayings, and gives vent to 

 some very strange expressions. One day I returned 

 from a long hunt in a heavy rain, and my worthy 

 friend was greatly exercised that I did not immediate- 

 ly change my clothing. " Who drink ze watah," said 

 he. " It is youselfs feet ; " meaning that the moisture 

 had been absorbed into my system. "White man 

 next to God (ze Mon Dicu)." "White man not like 

 colored, he no eat ze bones of ze poule." " I tank ze 

 Mon Dieu ef I speaks ze Engleesh." He exercised a 

 sort of paternal sovereignty over me, as the first white 

 man who had honored his little hamlet with his pres- 

 ence, and many a day has he staid from his labor in 

 the mountains to procure something for my table, or 

 some new bird. 



One day he brought to my door an iguana, nearly 

 five feet in length, and very ugly. He had seen it 



