¢ 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 Market Woman. 
