SOME SUMMER DAYS IN MARTINIQUE. 



287 



gether, and suspended from the lobe of the ear by a 

 large ring. All this jewelry is of pure gold, though 

 thin and fragile, as not a woman among them but 

 would scorn to be seen with an article of baser metal ; 

 and not a dealer in the colony can sell a spurious 

 piece. The wise French law that provides that every 

 thing sold for genuine shall be of eighteen carat 

 gold, and stamped with the eagle, is here enforced, 

 even to the confiscation of the stock of a dishonest 

 dealer. One of these females was pointed out to me 

 as having more than five hundred dollars' worth of 

 this character of jewels. Nothing exercises their taste 

 and patience more than the shape and fit of their 

 turbans or head-dresses. These are made from a 

 single bright-colored 

 or black handker- 

 chief, dexterously 

 twisted into shape ; 

 and in this there are 

 as many styles as the 

 fancy of the wearer 

 can invent. 



Contented and 

 happy are these peo- 

 ple, laughing and 

 singing and smoking 

 all the day long. 

 Even the old woman 

 who comes into mar- 

 ket from the moun- 

 tains, bearing upon 

 her head the vegeta- 

 bles and fruits of her ^VIarket ]Voman. 



