The Military Church—The Zouave Costume—Sunday come again—Twilight Rambles—The Kirk—Miscegenation—A Private Misery—The Old Fort—Lazy Negroes—Wrecking—The Town Library—Shopping—The Zouave Band—The Search for Coolness—The Government House—Silver key—Buying Shellwork—Nassau grows Purgatorial—Farewell to Nassau.
Sunday, April 15th.
ONE of the ladies having invited me to accompany her to the military church, we started early, hoping to arrive in time for the military music and procession, but both were over. Everybody was quietly assembled in the church, a plain, old-fashioned building, with large windows wide open, and between them numerous tablets and inscriptions. Two clergymen officiated; the English officers occupied the front pews; a few chance visitors besprinkled the body of the church, while thickly packed in the background, or blackground, were the soldiers with tall, fine forms, Moorish features, and jet-black skins. The gallery was also filled by them; the services and hymns were played by their band, and sung by their choir; all the colored people above and below responded heartily from open prayer-books during the entire service, and listened with intelligent interest to the sermon. This was a farewell discourse from their young pastor of the last year: it was appropriate in spirit, but so mouthed and mumbled that I scarcely comprehended a word of it.
When, at last the services were over, the black soldiers,—for all the soldiers on the island are black,—with their white officers, filed in a long procession while performing certain military evolutions, and then marched off to the music of a quiet march.
A novel feature of all this was the quaint and picturesque Zouave costume of the soldiers, which has within a few months been adopted,—the bright red embroidered jacket, white sleeves, full blue Turkish trousers, caught just below the knee into a leathern leggin which half conceals the shoe; the pretty red cap, with a white turban twisted gracefully around the crown, from which hangs a huge yellow silk tassel,—all this entire wild and oriental dress harmonizes so completely with these black, well-formed, often handsome faces and stately forms, and with this gorgeous sunlight and tropical brightness of coloring everywhere, that these soldiers seem things wholly unique and original, beings born just as they are from the burning maternal heart of this bounteous nature. How mean and modern these Parisian-dressed men looked beside them! Never were stove-pipe hats so high and stiff—mathematical tailoring so prim and prosaic and square cut![A]
In every thing we constantly see the complete dissimilarity of the islands of Cuba and New Providence, and in nothing more than in the recognition of Sunday. A few hours’ sail floats you down through centuries; from much poetry, it is true, alas! to much prose, but nevertheless from the dark ages to one of civilization, and from a chain of weeks linked together by no golden clasp into a country where one seventh of the time the Presence comes so near that you can hear—if you have ears to hear—the trailing of its robes down the dismal steps of all the following week.
Monday, 16th.—Last evening we commenced a twilight ramble which terminated at the kirk.
As our walk had been a little long, we sat down to rest, before arriving, on a little retired rock, commanding bay, city, and clouds of perfumes from neighboring gardens. Presently a tremendous explosive sound took place just behind us, and continued on in a perpetual thundering till we came near being as much petrified as the rock under us. I had only sense enough left to discover that it was undoubtedly the church-bell inviting to the house of quiet. But why so tremendous a summons? Is it to ring out the piety of the entire island? or to break into shivering fragments the after-dinner naps of the church-goers? or to deafen them in defence of the stupid sermon to come? or perchance it may be to call the mermaids and respectable shell-conchs, and other residents of the surrounding vasty deep? With my questions still unanswered, we arose to go, and on turning the first corner found that close behind the wall where we had been sitting, in a little low shelter for the purpose, situated in the remotest corner of the church grounds, was the ordinary-sized bell, that had seemed terrifically loud, not from its size, but from its proximity. Why this wretched attempt at a campanile is preferred to our method of enthroning the bell on the pinnacle of the temple, I cannot divine.
The kirk we found even plainer and less tasteful than the established church of the morning. The noble-faced but prosy clergyman, a Presbyterian in gown and scarf of the Episcopal clergy; the excellent though a little shrill-voiced choir, composed entirely of mulattoes. Just before services began, a handsome lady, well dressed, and whiter than myself, walked into one of the central pews, followed by a tall, equally well dressed and perfectly black husband. This is the only negation of races I have seen, and I cannot tell if it is often paralleled.
Monday evening.—I impart to you a private piece of misery. My windows overlook, and, still worse, overlisten the poultry yard, where med-lays and mÊlÈes and sound-lays make the “nights hideous,” as well as the mornings. The reason is, these West Indian chickens have no respect for almanacs. They not only ignore the comings and goings of the sun, but they have no shadow of respect for his definite intentions that everybody should sleep in his absence. In short, which means in long, very long, they crow all night, insisting on waking at eleven o’clock to inform me that the daylight has gone, just as conscientiously as at one to assert that it is coming, and at four to suggest that it has just arrived. The geese, the turkeys, the guinea-hens, and, most vociferous of all, the ducks, are equally assiduous in performing their vocal responsibilities. No wonder they turn to universal lungs and come on the table pathetic carcasses, painful relics, poultryitic proof that bipeds fare best when sound is sacrificed to substance.
A drive this evening on the “Western Road,” which, like all the other roads, is of smooth solid rock. It lies along the sea shore, where shells are said to abound; but my enthusiasm, as well as feet, was sadly dampened by fruitless searchings on the sharp wave-riddled rocks, and the equally infertile sand-beach.
A little way out of town stand the curious ruins of a fort, built by the Spaniards when they possessed this island; for you must know, it was handed about from one government to another, changing hands half a dozen times or more before England could get a secure hold. Victoria now finds it a constant drain on her treasury, but, good mother that she is! her feeble children are nourished and supported with no less fidelity than that with which the strong ones sustain her.
The fort is circular, with a curious pointed, perfectly solid wing on one side, the design of which nobody can now discover. Another fort, built by the Spaniards on the hill opposite my window, has the same singular appendage, which is, however, well preserved and appropriated to some military use.
The ruined fort which we passed possesses a subterranean passage, leading to the government house, in which are numerous mysterious apartments, having the always-attractive reputation of being haunted. At various times, various ladies and gentlemen have undertaken to penetrate them, but these irreverent pursuers of spirits under difficulties are always summarily dismissed by the inhospitable ghost.
Farther on, we found numerous desolated plantations, presided over by dilapidated country houses. It is universally found, that since the emancipation of the slaves, some thirty years since, the impoverished owners are obliged to abandon their estates.
The negroes now cannot be coaxed or hired or driven to work more than is absolutely necessary to keep soul and body from a divorce. No public improvements have been built since the emancipation. It is doubtless true that the wrecking trade, which of late years is become so flourishing, has, in its speculating, I may say gambling, influences, had a tendency to destroy legitimate industry. What is the use of working their black fingers to the bone, when any day an ill wind may blow them enough good or goods to make everybody rich? when any wind that is good for anything, and knows what it is about, comes to them dressed in silks and satins of the latest fashion, sometimes with a Paris bonnet on its head, sometimes loaded with jewelry which it lays at their feet, and begs they will be good enough to accept as a present.
April 17th.—The town library is well filled with books, excellently bound, none of them in paper or muslin. It has also a respectable number of curiosities; there we pass a pleasant early morning hour.
To-day my first shopping excursion in Havana. We heard enticing accounts of the great bargains to be made here, not only in wrecked goods, but in English importations free of duty. I found, however, nothing of the sort; on the contrary, heaps of wrecked and damaged goods lying about the doors of the shops, or strewn upon the sidewalks; mostly sell as high as the same thing uninjured in New York.
These merchants are constantly in the practice of wetting and wilting their superannuated goods in salt water and then displaying them as wrecked articles, thus imposing on foreigners and ignorant customers, who suppose that, as a matter of course, they are making “stunning bargains.”
After dinner, like everybody else, we drove to hear the Zouave band. On Tuesday and Friday afternoons they find themselves the centre of a large admiring carriage audience. On benches ranged immediately around them, are seated crowds of colored nurses with English infants, while older children are running and playing everywhere with the sweet inexhaustible happiness which children find in every clime under the sun.
These Africans play operatic music with expression as well as precision. Like all the negroes of these English islands, they are taught reading, writing, and the elements of an ordinary school education. The surgeon of the army tells me that their ready emotional nature and quickness for time and tune, nearly atone for the, to them, unattainable intellectual and artistic culture ordinarily necessary to the full expression of these musical compositions.
We everywhere find coolness the thing most sought by these adopted children of the sun. Witness their universal white linen umbrellas to whose blinding glare no coolness could ever reconcile me. Witness also the prevailing thick, white flannel coats, vests, and trousers worn by the gentlemen as a morning and business dress. In a country where dust and mud are matters of merely books and faith, and where perspiration is a matter for draughts of air to manufacture fevers of, this soft, cool, non-conducting dress has its advantages.
As we were coming out from tea this evening, General P—— called over the bannisters to know if we were ready for the usual game of whist. We found him in the upper parlor, seated opposite the rocking-chair, which nobody will occupy at whist but myself. I find in him qualities not often combined in a whist-player,—scientific skill, and what I am far more capable of appreciating, patience and kind encouragement for the mistakes of his partner.
Wednesday evening, April 17th.—This morning the General knocked at our door to say that the United States Consul would be here at half-past three, with his carriage, to carry us up to the Government House, this being the reception day of Mrs. B——, its mistress. We went, accordingly, to find the walks and house filled with coming and going guests. On sending in cards we were at once ushered into the drawing-room, where was her ladyship seated in one corner of a sofa, without crinoline, which she has never worn. There is character for you! Her dress and cap were of some gauzy material tinctured with purple; the same color looked from the underside of her point lace collar and cuffs, and after my turn was over for commonplaces, I had leisure, or seized it from the stupid conversation of Doctor somebody on the other side of me, to discover that the lady’s face was full of culture and spirit, and that her high-toned guests perfectly agreed with me in the opinion. A grand piano occupied one side of the octagon room, its polished feet, like those of its mistress, standing upon a bare, shining oak floor; the wide open windows commanded a triple view of sea, valley, and forest. As we came out Mr.——, the graceful bachelor consul, registered our names in a book kept for the purpose and then brought us home.
Friday, April 20th.—A boat ride yesterday morning, followed by a long exhausting walk on the bare beach of Hog Island, which lies stretched out in front of Nassau for the apparent purpose of making a harbor. All this fatigued out of me every writing possibility. But to-day we sailed delightfully over to Silver Key, one of the many uninhabited little islands that lie within a few hours’ sail of Nassau. The gentlemen were obliged to wade from the boat to the shore; the ladies were curiously carried in the arms of the sailors. But we soon forgot the awkwardness of this novel locomotion in the exciting pleasure of collecting the pretty shells, corals, sea-fans, and sea-stars, with which we loaded our pockets, pocket-handkerchiefs, and the arms of the sailors and gentlemen.
Our sailors insist that all these little islands still contain gold and silver, buried long ago by the pirates, who first of all discovered and inhabited them. It is true that a fruitless expedition from the United States once came to make search.
As we passed down the bay, we had a new view of the two or three “slavers” that lie at anchor. One of them was years ago tossed on the shore and nearly wrecked by a tornado. The others are noble ships left deserted to waste and decay in the storms and sunshine. They are fair but doomed and desolate monuments of a foul traffic, and of a silent wrath which corrodes their falling masts and haunts like black ghosts their misery-memoried cells.
April 21st.—This afternoon looking for shell-work, for which Nassau is famous. Among other manufactures, we found two maiden sisters living alone in a little rose-vined cottage. The room was full of natural curiosities, drawings, and a variety of handiwork discoursing decided taste and talent. They sold me some very curious sponges and sea-fans, and kindly gave me a spirited drawing in water colors, representing a native woman carrying her baby in a bag on her back, according to a very general custom here. We found these maidens truly intelligent and polite. Since our return we learn that their mother was a perfectly black negro, their father formerly a governor of the island.
We ended our drive by visiting a famous banyan-tree, and by an attempt to stretch it, which hordes of provokingly critical mosquitoes frustrated. This tree most commonly grows as a parasite on the Pride of India, a fine native tree, which is often at last hugged to death by its soi-distant friend.
Returned home after dark, past cottages and country-houses in which not a single light was burning, a precautionary defence against mosquitoes.
May 7th.—All these languid days a constant south wind, bringing intense incapacity for every effort. My pen, a seldom skipping grasshopper, is indeed become a burden; it refuses to help me “lift the weight of the superincumbent hour,” even for you.
Our second week here made to us the fatal revelation that Nassau had exhausted its claims to interest. Since that time the heat alone has been enough to legitimize its claim to being a mild Purgatory, from which no prayers, penances, or even money could release us, there being no escape except by the monthly steamer.
A few pleasant events, it is true, have medicated this ennui. Amongst them was a musical soiree, for which General P—— procured us tickets, an amateur affair for benevolent purposes. It had a charming duett or two on the harp and piano, one on the cornet, extremely graceful. Then there was an evening out to tea; then there were a few kindly lent books. But the crowning event was the welcome advent of the steamer on its way to Havana, once more establishing us in a world from which we seem to have been vanished a century. It brought fresh news, fresh letters, fresh promises of home.
Floods of rain came too, at last, drowning out the heat, baptizing these air-gormandizing trees, filling the drained wells with assurances that we will not just now
“Die of thirst with all the waters near.”
It is a curious fact that the tide rises and falls regularly every day in these wells. With the exception of one or two small lakes in the interior, no other water is found on the island, which may help to explain the fact that it had no indigenous animals.
Thursday night, May 10th.—I sit alone by the waxen taper in my room to write my parting with Nassau—to end for the present my pen-peregrinations. But I fear I cannot muster one decorous sigh for the occasion. Everybody is going; there will be many partings but few farewells. I will leave with you and with memory those tropical experiences, knowing that, whatever you may do with them, memory is like all other sextons—he buries more than he exhumes. The full-packed trunks, carpet-bags, and boxes of curiosities around me, are welcome reminders that early to-morrow morning the good ship Karnak will breathe a welcome breath through her two great red nostrils and will wind and puff her way around the lighthouse in search of us.
THE END.
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A Catalogue of BOOKS ISSUED BY CARLETON, New York. Madison Square, corner of 5th Avenue and Broadway. 1870.
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“There is a kind of physiognomy in the titles
of books no less than in the faces of
men, by which a skilful observer
will know as well what to expect
from the one as the
other.”—Butler.
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NEW BOOKS
And New Editions Recently Issued by
CARLETON, Publisher, New York,
[Madison Square, corner Fifth Av. and Broadway.]
N. B.—The Publishers, upon receipt of the price in advance, will send any of the following Books by mail, POSTAGE FREE, to any part of the United States. This convenient and very safe mode may be adopted when the neighboring Booksellers are not supplied with the desired work. State name and address in full.
Marion Harland’s Works.
| ALONE.— | A novel | 12mo. cloth, | $1.50 |
| HIDDEN PATH.— | do. | do. | $1.50 |
| MOSS SIDE.— | do. | do. | $1.50 |
| NEMESIS.— | do. | do. | $1.50 |
| MIRIAM.— | do. | do. | $1.50 |
| THE EMPTY HEART.— | do. | do. | $1.50 |
| HELEN GARDNER’S WEDDING-DAY.— | do. | $1.50 |
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| PHEMIE’S TEMPTATION.—Just Published. | do. | $1.50 |
Miss Muloch.
| JOHN HALIFAX.—A novel. | With illustration. | 12mo. | cloth, | $1.75 |
| A LIFE FOR A LIFE.— | do. | do. | $1.75 |
Charlotte Bronte (Currer Bell).
| JANE EYRE.— | A novel. | With illustration. | 12mo. cloth, | $1.75 |
| THE PROFESSOR. - | do. | do. | do. | $1.75 |
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THE ART OF CONVERSATION.—A sensible and instructive work,
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How to Make Money
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J. Cordy Jeaffreson.
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Fred. Saunders.
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| THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH.—A magnificent new novel—the best this author ever wrote. | 8vo. cloth, | $2.00 |
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By the Author of “Rutledge.”
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| Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: |
| makes everbody walk=> makes everybody walk {pg 12} |
| she maried Serrano=> she married Serrano {pg 22} |
| Whatever chance leads your steps=> Wherever chance leads your steps {pg 27} |
| a Nothern mother=> a Northern mother {pg 35} |
| acceped our invitation=> accepted our invitation {pg 38} |
| for his amibility=> for his amiability {pg 47} |
| she purshased her freedom=> she purchased her freedom {pg 57} |
| when an appreciative seÑor find a pretty=> when an appreciative seÑor finds a pretty {pg 57} |
| with permissien from the major domo=> with permission from the major domo {pg 61} |
| trees of the the country=> trees of the country {pg 61} |
| the sweetnes of their welcome=> the sweetness of their welcome {pg 62} |
| have occured on this plantation=> have occurred on this plantation {pg 63} |
| tremor is forgetten=> tremor is forgotten {pg 65} |
| not to dissappoint=> not to disappoint {pg 75} |
| under ones eyelids=> under one’s eyelids {pg 68} |
| jolly priest posesses=> jolly priest possesses {pg 74} |
| image some mothers’s soul=> image some mother’s soul {pg 77} |
| our enthusiam=> our enthusiasm {pg 77} |
| and several overseeers=> and several overseers {pg 80} |
| carressed by the soft=> caressed by the soft {pg 83} |
| vertigo or apolexy=> vertigo or apoplexy {pg 91} |
| the major dome=> the major domo {pg 94} |
| To Matanazs=> To Matanazas {pg 97} |
| entirely a feminine accomplisment=> entirely a feminine accomplishment {pg 102} |
| lady aquaintance=> lady acquaintance {pg 103} |
| occurence in Cuban families=> occurrence in Cuban families {pg 116} |
| measuring, as it does, only fourteen feet in length and eight in width=> measuring, as it does, only fourteen miles in length and eight in width {pg 120} |
| sincerly honor her=> sincerely honor her {pg 122} |
| an ameteur affair=> an amateur affair {pg 134} |
