* The brightly colored douillettes are classified by the people according to the designs of the printed calico:—robe-à-bambou,—robe-à-bouquet,—robe-arc-en-ciel,—robe-à-carreau,—etc., according as the pattern is in stripes, flower-designs, “rainbow” bands of different tints, or plaidings. Ronde-en-ronde means a stuff printed with disk-patterns, or link-patterns of different colors,—each joined with the other. A robe of one color only is called a robe-uni.
The general laws of contrasts observed in the costume require the silk foulard, or shoulder-kerchief, to make a sharp relief with the color of the robe, thus:—
Robe.
Foulard.
Yellow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Blue.
Dark blue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Yellow.
Pink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Green.
Violet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bright red.
Red . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Violet.
Chocolate (cacoa) . . . . . . . . . . . .
Pale blue.
Sky blue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Pale rose.
These refer, of course, to dominant or ground colors, as there are usually several tints in the foulard as well as the robe. The painted Madras should always be bright yellow. According to popular ideas of good dressing, the different tints of skin should be relieved by special choice of color in the robe, as follows:—
Capresse (a clear red skin) should wear—Pale yellow.
Mulatresse (according to shade)—Rose, Blue, Green.
Négresse —White, Scarlet, or any violent color.
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† . . . “Vouèla Cendrillon evec yon bel ròbe velou grande lakhè. . . . Ça té ka bail ou mal ziè. Li té tini bel zanneau dans zòreill li, quate-tou-chou, bouoche, bracelet, tremblant,—toutt sòte bel baggaïe conm ça.”. . .—[Conte Cendrillon,—d’après Turiault.] |
—“There was Cendrillon with a beautiful long trailing robe of velvet on her! . . . It was enough to hurt one’s eyes to look at her. She had beautiful rings in her ears, and a collier-choux of four rows, brooches, tremblants, bracelets,—everything fine of that sort.”—[Story of Cinderella in Turiault’s Creole Grammar.] |
‡ It is quite possible, however, that the slaves of Dutertre’s time belonged for the most part to the uglier African tribes; and that later supplies may have been procured from other parts of the slave coast. Writing half a century later, Père Labat declares having seen freshly disembarked blacks handsome enough to inspire an artist:—“J’en ai vu des deux sexes faits à peindre, et beaux par merveille” (vol. iv., chap. vii.). He adds that their skin was extremely fine, and of velvety softness;—“le velours n’est pas plus doux.” . . . Among the 30,000 blacks yearly shipped to the French colonies, there were doubtless many representatives of the finer African races.
§ “Leur sueur n’est pas fétide comme celle des nègres de la Guinée,” writes the traveller Dauxion-Lavaysse, in 1813.
¶ Dr. E. Rufz: “Études historiques et statistiques sur la population de la Martinique.” St. Pierre: 1850. Vol. i., pp. 148–50.
It has been generally imagined that the physical constitution of the black race was proof against the deadly climate of the West Indies. The truth is that the freshly imported Africans died of fever by thousands and tens-of-thousands;—the creole-negro race, now so prolific, represents only the fittest survivors in the long and terrible struggle of the slave element to adapt itself to the new environment. Thirty thousand negroes a year were long needed to supply the French colonies. Between 1700 and 1789 no less than 900,000 slaves were imported by San Domingo alone;—yet there were less than half that number left in 1789. (See Placide Justin’s history of Santo Domingo, p. 147.) The entire slave population of Barbadoes had to be renewed every sixteen years, according to estimates: the loss to planters by deaths of slaves (reckoning the value of a slave at only £20 sterling) during the same period was £1,600,000 ($8,000,000). (Burck’s “History of European Colonies,” vol. ii., p. 141; French edition of 1767.)
** Rufz: “Études,” vol. i., p. 236.
†† I am assured it has now fallen to a figure not exceeding 5000.
‡‡ Rufz: “Études,” vol. ii., pp. 311, 312.
§§ Rufz: “Études,” vol. i., p. 237.
¶¶ La race de sang-mêlé, issue des blancs et des noirs, est éminement civilizable. Comme types physiques, elle fournit dans beaucoup d’individus, dans ses femmes en général, les plus beaux specimens de la race humaine.—“Le Préjugé de Race aux Antilles Françaises.” Par G. Souquet-Basiège. St. Pierre, Martinique: 1883. pp. 661–62.
*** Turiault: “Étude sur le langage Créole de la Martinique.” Brest: 1874. . . . On page 136 he cites the following pretty verses in speaking of the fille-de-couleur:—
L’Amour prit soin de la former
Faite pour plaire, encore plus pour aimer,
††† A sort of land-crab;—the female is selected for food, and, properly cooked, makes a delicious dish;—the male is almost worthless.
‡‡‡ “Voyage à la Martinique.” Par J. R., Général de Brigade. Paris: An. XII., 1804. Page 106.