49 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



enters port, break out at her taffrail the ensign of Britain or of 

 Norway. 



There are but five ports in the West Indies and Central Amer- 

 ica which boast wharves where ships may load or passengers may 

 land. Two of these are chief centers of the fruit trade in Ja- 

 maica Port Antonio and Port Morant which owe their facilities 

 to the enterprise of the Boston Fruit Company. Here the fruit 

 is transferred to the ships, bunch by bunch, upon the shoulders of 

 men. But at all the other ports, which lie scattered along the 

 northern and eastern coasts at intervals of ten to thirty miles, 

 from Morant Bay to Lucca, ships m ust anchor an eighth to half a 

 mile off shore, and receive their cargoes from large surfboats, 

 manned each by three stout negroes, two rowing in the bow and 

 the other standing in the stern, alternately sculling and steering. 

 These boats bring out at each load from a hundred and fifty to 

 two hundred bunches, which are passed on board ship by way of 

 a staging let half way down her side. Each bunch, as it comes 

 on board, whether from wharf or boat, is passed down a line of 

 men reaching from the deck to that part of the hold which is be- 

 ing filled. The first man, as he receives the bunch, calls out its 

 number in series, and, following him, the tallyman on deck keeps 

 the score in his book. Often half a dozen men will join in the 



refrain : 



" One let 'er go. 

 Two put 'em down. 

 T h ree carefully. 

 Four banana. 

 Tally oh !" 



This is shouted or chanted with a slow rhythmic swing, and is 

 most frequently heard at night. At such a time; for when once 

 the loading of a ship is begun it continues without interruption 

 until she is ready to sail the effect is particularly weird. The 

 splash of the oars of boats emerging from the darkness, the shouts 

 of the men, the scantily clothed dark forms dimly lighted by flar- 

 ing lanterns, and, dominating all, this almost unintelligible chant, 

 suggest some orgy of voodoo. In the hold the bunches are placed 

 upright, resting on the thick ends of their stems, and as close to- 

 gether as possible. 



So a steamer is loaded, in from twenty-four to forty-eight 

 hours, with twelve to fifteen, or rarely twenty, thousand bunches. 

 In the busy season, from April through July, the Boston Fruit 

 Company alone loads five ships per week on an average, including 

 two for Boston and two for Baltimore. Their supplies are drawn 

 chiefly from the region between Morant Bay and St. Ann's Bay, 

 and up the east coast as far as Annotto Bay they are the chief 

 shippers. Their leading competitors are the Jamaica Fruit Com- 



