TRINIDAD I THEN AND NOW. 



819 



certain for soon after that date I find a notice by the 

 then Inspector of Police which reads as follows : — 



NOTICE. 



M The Public are hereby informed, that 

 MASKS 



are strictly prohibited in the streets, until the 18th 



of February next. 

 Any person being found Masked in the streets will 

 be (immediately arrested and dealt with according 



to Law. 



JAMES MEANY, 



Chief of Police. 



Prom the time of my arrival in Trinidad I endea- 

 voured to ascertain its origin and although I consul- 

 ted well informed people I was unable to do so. I 

 was told, " Oh, it is an old religious festival." One 

 thing must however, be apparent to all beholders, 

 that whatever it may have been in the old days there 

 is not now the slightest form of a religious ceremony 

 connected with it ; the very contrary is the case. 



It is, however of the old — now defunct — Cannes 

 Brulee that this chapter will treat, including some of 

 the circumstances connected with its suppression and 

 with which I had not a little to do, which at the time 

 created such an amount of bad blood and undeserved 

 hostile comment. 



The meaning of Cannes Brulee is Cane Rat, and 

 it is therefore difficult to understand its connection 

 with the senseless and highly dangerous saturnalia 



