Interview: 19 July, 2002 Initial Transcript: 17 October, 2002 (X 001- 009) 1 July 2003 (X 009-589) 5 July, 2003/completed Mansion, St. Kitts Lee XXX: (P: prompter) Daisy XXX (R: primary respondant) Carlton XXX, driver (S: secondary respondant) Mr., XXX, Daisy(s husband (S2) G(A): Grunt, affirmation G(N): Grunt, negation G(Q): Grunt, question, (Is that right?(; (You don(t say( G(V) Grunt, seeking verification. (Say what?( U(C): Utterance, cough U(F): Utterance, false start U(H): Utterance, hesitation U(I): Utterance, interruption U(L): Utterance, laughter U(M) Utterance muffled, inaudible. U(S) Utterance of surprise ( ) Deleted phoneme, word, or phrase R: Daisy Matthew P: OK. And how old are you. Or what year were you born. R: Sixty-one. P: Sixty-one. And have you lived here all your life? R: [Nods] P: What(s the name of this community? The village. S: Mansion. R: Mansion. P: Mansion. And what parish is it in. S: Christ Church R: Christ Church P: Come over and sit down here. R: Christ Church P: Christ Church parish S: I got to leave you all the time. I got no (UM). P: OK. OK. Have you worked? R: Domestic. P: OK. Locally around here? R: Tabernacle. P: Tabernacle. Tell me about that. Did you work for different people or UI). R: One person. P: G(A). R: That(s Mister XXX. P: G(A). R: With a big shop. P: I see. What kind of shop is it? R: Upholstery. P: Upholstery? R: Yeah. P: Yeah, I see. Well, what do you do over there? R: I used to wash and work in the shop. P: I see. Did you go to school here? R: I go to Molineux School. P: Oh, Molineux school. And how long did you go to school? R: G(Q)? P: For how many years did you go to school.? R: I think I was fourteen when I quit.. P: G(A). OK. Now can you tell me a little bit about your parents. R: Well, my parents, mother and father, they died. P: Yeah. R: XXX, Richard XXX. P: And where were they borne? R: G(Q)? Hello? P: Do you think they were from a round here? Were they from around here? R: Yes, Mansion, village up there. P: I see. R: And then they come down here. P: And what did your father do? What kind of work did he do? R:He used to work on the line. P: G(A). R: In cane and sugar. P: G(A). What estate was that? R: It(s Phillips. Mansion Estate. P: Mansion Estate. The Mansion Estate, I see. R: Go. Go. [Talking to child] P: U(L). Did you know your grandparents? R: I know one, that s Ada XXX. P: That(s your grandmother? Your mother(s mother? R: Yes. P: Yell me about here, what you remember about her. R: I remember she used to raise some pigs. P: G(A) R: And goats. P: G(A). R: I know she did plant the breadnut tree. P: G(A). R: And now since she die, the breadnut tree is where she(s buried.. P: Is That right? That(s interesting. R: Yes. P: Have you ever been off the island? R: Me? P: Yes. R: Yes, I have been to New York, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Eustasius, St. Martin. P: That(s lot. R: G(A). P: How long were you in New York? R: Just a month. P: Who did yu go to visit in New York? R: My sister. P: Your sister. R: Yeah. P: What does your sister do in New York? R: I think she works. P: G(A). R: Computer business. P: I see. Did you have any other brothers and sisters? R:In England, I have two brothers in England. P: Oh, I see. R: And sister. St. Thomas. P: G(A). R: And one in town, but she kind of cripple. P: I see. How about your husband. R: He is here. P:G(A). R:Working all out. P: What does he do? R: He was working mechanic. P: G(A). R: Oilman for the garage. P: G(A). R: But for two months ago they resign. P: OK. So he(s retired now? R: Retired. P: How many children do you have, Ten [responding to her raised fingers]. Ten? Tell me about them, Your children, please. R: U(L). Well, Right now I have about five of them gone up to the mountain. P: G(A). R: Where we have a fig walk. P: G(A). R: And they have to get away grass and all of them been working it.. P: G(A). I see. R: It(s right up they(re, they(re going now by the fig walk they(re going where they be and what they(re doing. P: What kind of work do they do there? R: Like mowing up the fig trees and put plant, put some young ones.. P: I see. And they harvest the, then? R: G(A). P: Yes? And what do you do after you harvest them? R: Well, they give them then to somebody. P: I see. You own that land. R: Yeah. That ours. P: The land up there where you have the fig trees, that(s nice.. R:G(A). P: What about your other five children? R: One in Tortolla. P: G(A). R: And the others around. P: Like where? Tell me where they R: They [0] working up and down here. P: G(A). OK. R: One in England. Have one in England. P: G(A). R: Have one in Molineux. P: G(A). How far is Molineux from here? R: Here? P: Yeah, how far? About a mile? R: Yeah, about that. P: A mile, OK. What did you think of New York. Tell me what you thought of New York. U(L). R: Well, I never used to work out because. P: U(L). You were afraid to go out. R: G(A). P: I don(t blame you, but do you enjoy traveling? R; I enjoy driving on the train. P: Sure. Which of those places that you visited did you like he best? Do you suppose. R: In New York? P: No, in all those places, of all the islands. R: St. Croix. P: St. Croix. Why. R: I just love it. P:: OK. How long were you in St.. Croix. R: Well, I go just for two weeks. P: G(A). Do you visit your children over there? R: No I aint have no children over there. P: Oh, I see. R: They adopt me. P: Oh, I see. R: They adopt me, you know, and [six?] P: This was really more of a vacation. When you went to St. Croix. R: Yeah.. P: I see. Now I(d like to talk to you a little bit about your childhood, about the school you went to. What was the school? R: Molineux. P: Yeah, tell me what it was like. R: Well, it was very nice, very interesting school. P: G(A). R: Had a lot of fun. Teacher was all right. P: G(A). OK What kinds of things did you do that were fun? R: Played ball, skip.. P: G(A). What kind of ball did you play? R: Windball. P: Windball. Was that rounders? R: Yes, yes. P: You played rounders. Only the boys R: You knock the ball and you run. P: And then what about the skip you were talking about? R: Skipping. P: With a rope, you mean? R: Yeah. P: G(A). Did you say anything when you were jumping rope? R: yeh, we used tosay a lot of things. P: Do you remember any of those. R: U(L). P: See if you remember one. R: Oh, I can(t. Be jumping the rope. P: G(A). R: And slap it between you feet. And you up and say fish. P: Fish, G(A). R: Yeah, U(L). P: How old were you when you used to jump rope, do you remember? R: Twelve, thirteen, I say. P: I see. And how about rounders, the same thing? R: Yeah. P: Can you tell me a little bit how rounders went. You played rounders, how that game was played.. R: Well, they have like the four corners, you have one two, three, four . people, and one in the middle has to knock the ball and you have to foot your foot on the first one, the second one, the third one and you(re running [out?].. P: I see. OK. And those are called bases? R: Yeah. P: OK. So it(s like baseball, something like baseball? R: G(A). P: Girls didn(t play any cricket, G(Q).. R: Yes, man, girls used to play. P: Is that right? Well tell me about that.. R: Well, I could have knocked some good ball. P: U(L) And you played that with a windball too. R: Yeah. P: Yeah, windball cricket. R: I used to play betwen the boys and the girls. Knock me ball. P: G(A). R: I was a good pitcher. P: I(ll bet. U(L). R: G(A). P: That(s great. OK. R: And when they had old sons at the school P: G(A). R: I used to be the first in whipping girls. P: Is that right. R: He used to be first in boys. P: A good marriage. R: U(L). P: Have children who are good athletes. That(s great. R: G(A). P: Was that playing cricket? Boys and girls playing cricket together. R: G(A). P: Playing cricket, boys an girls used to play together? R: Yeah. P: OK. What church do you go to? R: Estridge Moravia. P: OK: What(s that? R: Moravia. P: It(s a Moravian church. R: Yeah, Estridge Moravia. P: What is that like? R: It(s a big church. P: G(A). Can you tell me a little bit about the service? R: The service is very god. Nine o(clock service we have and sometime eleven. P: G(A). R: I(m [in] the choir. P: You(re in the choir, G(Q)? R: Yeah. P: OK. That(s good. R: G(A). And Women(s Fellowship. P: G(A). R: And any little thing in the church the minister want. P: Is that right U(L). Good natured, G(Q)? R: He habe anybody come in from overseas and he wants some lunch or dinner. P: G(A). Does the Women(s Fellowship meet regularly during the week, Do they meet on a certain day. R: Yes, yesterday, they did. P: I see, Thursday, R: Yeah. P: So you meet, on every Thursday you met. R: Not every, every other. P: Every other Thursday. And what kinds of things do you discuss at the Fellowship? R: They discuss all sorts of things, maybe they(re having a function. P: G(A). R: Having a get-togther. P: G(A). R: Having a right now Sunday, they have to go to another church. P: G(A) R: They go to another church to render a item. P: I see. I see. And has your family always gone to that same church. R: Yeah. P: I see. OK. Now I want you ask you a little bit, test your memory on things, Do you remember when you were small, they used to tell jumbie stories. R: Yeah. P: Tell me about that.. Come on. R: Well, one my brother light. P: G(A). R: Was coming from some time ago to the village, right? P: G(A). R: He look and saw a bunch, like people, coming at them. P: G(A). R: U(L). P: But it didn(t do any thing, it just appeared and disappeared? R: Yeah. P: Did you ever hear of jumbies doing things to people. R: No, man. P: Did you ever hear of a jumbie crab? R:Crab? P: Jumbie crab, a black crab. R: I don(t know if he(s jumbie. U(L). P: U(L). R: I don(t if it(s jumbie. Jumbie ain(t have no crab. P: How about jumby fires? R: I heard people speak about it, but I don(t know how. P: Tell me what you heard. R: I heard people talking about, they had a jumbie fire in Cayon. P: G(A) R A jumbie fire somewhere about. P: G(A). R: I really don(t, I don(t put that to my head, I believe in that kind of thing. P: OK. You don(t really believe in the jumbie, G(Q)? R: No. P: OK. U(L). R: A jumbie came to nothing, P: OK. Do you remember when your children were small and they gt colds, they(d have fever or colds and did you ever make any kinds of tea with stuff from bushes and shrubs you(d get outside? R: Yes, I make lemon grass tea. P: OK. What you use U(I). R: That helps a fever. P: It helps the fever, lemon grass tea. R: Sosa bush. P: Sosa bush, what(s that good for?. R: Yeah. P: What(s that good for? R: A baby, you give it t drink and you won(t feel any teeth coming out. P: G(A). Yeah, teething, OK. U(F). Were there any other kinds you used, things you made, kinds of tea? R: Oh, kinds of bush, I made a bitter tamarind, May apple. P: G(A). R: French thicker thyme. P: Yeah, what(s that? R: French thicker thyme? P: Yeah. R: It(s a kind of a bush. I have it out there right now. P: G(A). R: Because I just work my garden. P: G(A). R: And we have some out there. P: OK. R: I have my, one my child(s work in the garden. P: G(A). R: look after the crops and thyme. P: Yeah. Do you grow that French thicker thyme in intentionally. R: Yeah. P: You grow that. You plant it. R: Yeah. P: OK And what(s that used, what(s that good for? R: Concealment and you can make tea. P: Is it regular tea or special. R: Anyone can drink it. P: Not for medicine. R: No. P: OK. Any there kinds for medicine, that you can think of? R: G(N). P: OK. Would you tell me about your garden? Tell em about your garden. Tell me, I(d ike to know first how you go about, how big is it? R: The garden? P: Yes. R: Well, you can see. P: Just describe it. I(ll come look at it after while. R: Well, take my garden with a little thing, I take all this thyme. P: Yeah. R: Tea bush, pepper. P: Yeah. R: then I plant later, pumpkin. P: Yeah, G(A). That(s great. R: Then a cheeny [?] garlic, rosemary. P: Yeah that(s a U(I). R: I have everything here. Every morning I love to go in my garden. P: Is that right? R: Before I do anything. P: Is that right? That(s wonderful. R: I work in the garden before I do anything in the house. P: What do you do out in the garden? When you go out there in the morning. R: I go out, I pick a little bush, and try to weed some. P: G(A). You never have to water your garden, do you? R: Yes. P: You have to water it sometimes because it doesn(t rain enough. R: If no rain, then water. P: Yeah. Do you ever get rain U(I). R: If I ain(t water it, some of the thing would burn down P: G(A). Do you ever get so much rain that it washes it out? R: Oh, the garden? P: Yeah, R: Several times. P: Like Sunday, Sunday morning it rained hard. R: That was good, that was good, rained from Sunday. P: G(A). OK. That wouldn(t. R: That was nice. R: So you go out and weed your garden. Do you just do one crop? How many crops do you do in a year? R: Crops? P: You can plant all year round. G(Q)? R: Plants, whatever I have. P: G(A). R: I have. P: OK. Let(s take something like potatoes. OK. You say you plant potatoes . R: Right now I just plant some. P: OK. You just plant them now, and when wil they be ripe? R: They will ripe around September. I(d say. P: September. R: They aint come in till September.. P: OK. Could you plant some more then in September, if you wanted to? R: Yes. P: You could. And they(d come up in about December. R: yes. P: And you could plant some more in December. R: Yes P: You can have about four crops a year. That(s wonderful. R: U(L). Yes. P: That(s terrific. I see. So have you always done this? Or is this something new, this hobby of gardening. R: Love my gardening. P: Love your garden. OK. That(s great. Are there any other kinds of things you sometimes grow? R: I had a coconut tree. P: G(A). R:Big from so. P: G(A). R: And when it get higher up, hurricane cut it it down and the pear tree. Used to have some big pears. P: G(A). R: Hurricane had them. P: Which hurricane was that? R:Hugo. P: Hugo. Was that about the worst one your remember? R: U(L). I experienced the one a lot. P: G(A): can you tell me which ones were the worst?. R I can(t remember if it(s George or what. P: Yes, Georges was, I think, in about 1998. Yeah, I remember Georges. Did you get a lot of damage over here? R: Yes, man. P: Tell me about it. R: Had to change my house roof. P: G(A). Where do you go, do you take shelter in any particular places in the house? R: yes. P: Where do you go? R: Leave and went over by the other house. P: Oh, I see. They have a place. It(s kind of a block house over there. R: On this side. P: Have to leave your own house, G(Q)? R: G(A). P: Did you lose anything in the house? R: No. P: Nothing was lost. R:Well, the water was coming down, but we didn(t lose nothing. P: G(A). How long did it last? R: What? The hurricane? P: The hurricane. R: (A)bout a week, something like that. P: G(A). Seem like the wind was blowing for a couple days. R: Yeah. P: I see. R: It had strength to lift the house roof in here. P: G(A). R: She went out and get some nails. P: G(A). R: Knock all around. P: U(L). Put it back together for you. R: G(A). P: Well, that(s great; that(s interesting. So you have these slants on the roof. Are these for hurricane protection? I mean the roof. R: Yes. P: Instead of flat. I guess if it(s flat, the wind will get underneath it. R: G(A). P: I just wondered. Do you remember about twenty years ago, thirty years ago, when the ferry, the Nevis ferry sank, and all those people were killed, drowned. R: Yes. P: I think that was in the 1970s. R: G(A). P: Do you remember that? R: When the Christina. P: Yes, yes. R: I had pregnant.[=was pregnant]. P: Is that right, at the same time. R: Yes. The same time my husband was going on the same boat there.. P: Oh, boy. R: I don(t know what happened. P: But he didn(t make it? R: No. P: That(s very fortunate. Did you know anybody R: I was in town when I saw the boat going. P: G(A). R: I see a lot of people going. P: G(A). R: But still, I didn(t know something what happened. P: G)A). In Basseterre. You were in Basseterre there in the morning. R: G(A). You know something, I see the amount of people got on. I hear them say Christina sink. P: G(A). What time of day was that when it left? R: I think it was Saturday. P: Morning or afternoon? R: I think it was morning. P: G(A). I see. Now can you tell me, have the wedding ceremonies changed much. For example, was your wedding ceremony different from your children(s wedding ceremony? R: U(L). P: Was it? R: Mine was different, a small thing. Because now they have limousine. I had thirteen cars to my wedding. P: G(A). R: But nowadays, if you were going to get married, all the cars on the island. P: I see. And they didn(t have limousines then? R: Not in my time. P: Not in your time, no. U(F). But was the ceremony itself pretty much the same? R: No. P: The church? R: No mine was different, mine was different. P: Tell me about it. R: In the church? P: Yes, tell me about it? R:In the church it(s the same. P: G(A). R: The minister respond the same thing he going to respond.. P: G(A), Did you go anyplace after you got married? R: No. P: Didn(t go on a trip or anything? G(Q)? Do tour children do that? R: No. P: No? OK. U(F) What are the holidays now in St. Kitts? R: The holidays? P: Yes. The days when you get off work. R: I notice the school, they used to get eight or nine weeks now I think it(s a bout a month. P: Do you remember when they used to have Empire Day? R: Oh, yes. P: You remember that. When did they stop doing that? R: I don(t know. I was a girl. I had my glasses then from the empire. Used to that was May. P: G(A). R: It happen in may, twenty-fourth of May that was Empire Dasy. P: I see. R: I had my cup then, my coronation cup. P: G(A). R: That was fun. P: G(A). That was Elizabeth(s coronation? R: G(Q)? P: Queen Elizabeth(s coronation. R: Yes, yes. P: But the twenty-fourth, was that Queen Victoria(s birthday? R: Yes. P: Did you do anything special on that day? Any kind of special celebration? R: Like when the school have it. P: G(A). R: They have a get-together. P: G(A). And how about August Monday. R: Well, that(s a fun day. P: OK. Tell me about it. Tell me about that. R: Well I church, my church, going to have a picnic. P: G(A). R: I would bake some carrots, johnny cake and chickens. P: G(A). R: Everybody would want to come and eat. P: G(A). So, like have a picnic. R: Yeah. P: I see. How do you make johnny cakes? How do you prepare them? R: Yu get a flour, you get a baking powder, you get a carrots, you get some salt and butter.. P: G(A). R: Then you get it in a bowl and you mix it. P: G(A). R: Until your hand can feel it. P: G(A). R: Bread. P: You always put carrots in? R: Not always. When they told me to put in. P: How much carrots do you put in. R: About three or four, depends on how much flour. P: Three or four. That would be a big U(I). R: That(s my husband. P: How do you do, sir. Talking to your wife here about old days in St, Kitts. U(L). Do you ever make johnny cakes with onins? R: Onions? P: Yeah. R: Sometime I grate the onion and I grate some nutmeg. P: G(A). Do you ever put pepper in? R: No. I don(t like pepper. P: You don(t grow peppers in your garden? R: Yes, have them, hot one. P: U(L). What kind of hot ones do you grow. R:I have some red hot ones and the red pepper. P: Is that right? R: The red hot pepper. P: Like the banana pepper? R: They aint long; they(re round., litle length. P: Well, maybe I will go out there with you and you can give me one I can taste. R: Do you? P: I love peppers, I love hot peppers. R: G(A). P: But maybe so hot it(ll blow the top of my head off U(L). R: No. P: U(L). R: No, they don(t hard to touch them at all. P: OK Another thing I(d like to ask you a little bit about is carnival. R: Hot peppers [to husband] S2: Hot peppers.. P: Carnival. R: Carnival? P: Yeah, do you remember how the carnival used to be when you were small and then it changed? R: Yeah. P: And they used to call it sport. R: The carnival was the same as now. P: The same way. You don(t remember when they(d do these little, like David and Goliath. R: Yeah, I remember those things. P: Yeah. R: David and Goliath. P: Kind of a pageant. They(d do these, travel around the island. R: Yes P: Doing these things. R: Yes. Be cold.. P: A jumbie cold. U(L). R: We needed the cold. P: Yeah. Do you remember some of those? Did you ever do any of that stuff? R: No, no, no, no. P: OK. Well, how do you remember them. Describe the carnival for me as you remember it, the kind of carnival there is now. R: It isn(t the carnival is now. P: G(A). R: They haven(t Daddy. They haven(t, what they used to call, I can(t remember. It was Daddy. P: Tell me what was that. What that was. R: Kind of a sport. P: G(A). R: When you go round the island P: G(A). R: With your music and song. P: G(A). R: And you have [inaud]. P: G(A). R: Boil corn, just throw it, pour hot water over the mackerel. P: G(A). R: Then they have it in a tinsel. P: G(A). R: Then they have a party. P: Yeah. R: Then it led to a a certain song. P: G(A). R: Going to eat it out the pot. P: Going to eat the mackerel? R: And the corn. P: How(s the corn? Is the corn U(I). R: It(s cooked. P: Is it cooked on the cob? R: Yes. P: Corn on the cob. R: No. P: Oh, no, it(s cut off the cob. R: No, the turn corn [=ground corn]. P: Oh, I see. R: The chop corn. P: Like ground, kind of ground corn? R: The corn like the flour, yes.. P: Yeah. Like corn meal. OK, I got you. R: Yeah. P: I understand, so you(d go around and sing something. R: And the music and the dance around with their face blacken. P: G(A). R: And go by the party and eat the corn and dance out. P: Do you remember any of the kinds of costumes they(d wear? Kind of costumes they(d dress up? R: No, there never used to be a costume. P: G(A). R: In my time. S2: Here, we have it. P: Boy, those look dangerous. [peppers] U(L). R: They(re hot to you. P: Let(s see. R: They hot! P: I know. S2 You want to have it? [water] P: That(s OK. Can I have these? S2: Sure. P: I(ll have them with my lunch.. S2: U(L). R: Yeah? P: Yeah, have a ham sandwich and hot peppers. I eat hot peppers everyday. Not this hot.. R: They burning you?. P: That(s OK. U(L). That(s great. Thanks a lot. They(re good. R: Good? P: Yeah. Absolutely. You grow good peppers. Excellent. R: Aint burning you? P: What(s that? R: Aint burn anymore? P: No. A little hot. It(s fine. R: Yeah. P: I eat peppers all the time. Those are kind of like Scotch bonnets. Did you ever hear that term? R: Scotch bonnets? P: Scotch bonnets. S: Never heard of that. P: Well, you just call them red peppers. R: Yeah. P: OK. Are there any other kind of peppers? R: The season pepper. P: G(A). R: The season pepper. The crop for them gone about now. . P: Are there any other kind of hot peppers? R: No. P: Just those, OK. All right. Have you ever ben to the carnival in Basseterre? Have ou ever gone down thee? R: In Basseterre? P: Yeah. R: Carnival. Is that what you said? P: Yeah. R: To look on. P: Yeah. Right. When was the last time you did that? R: No, I did the last time. I was sick. P: Do you remember when you did it? R: It was a long time. P: G(A). Well, what was it like? R: Was good. P: G(A). R: Was real good. P: G(A). OK. I wanted ask you if you noticed any important changes in life in St. Kitts., R: Yes, man. Everything is change a lot.. P: Tell me about it. R: A lot. Well, you can see people from all over is coming in. Right? P: G(A). R: Costume of every age, a new set of costume. P: How about the children? The children? Are the children about the same? Do they behave about the same as they did? R: My children? P: Well, just children in the village. R: All over. They behave bad sometimes. P: G(A). Tell me about that. R: And they behave bad and every little function some of them goes to, they make a fight. P: G(A). Yeah. R: And you know, it my time, it was just fighting, but now they shoot. P: G(A). They shot, G(Q)? R: Yes. P: Is there a lot of that going on now? R: In St. Kitts. P: In St. Kitts, yeah. I haven(t seen that much. It loks pretty peaceful to me. R: It peaceful enough, only someone again you take one out, fellows coming i with this foolishness.. P: G(A). R: But St. Kitts is very nice, you won(t see. P: G(A). R: It(s not the typical around here. P: G(A). R I prove it. P: G(A). R: And a lot of people come inside and talk about St. Kitts. P: G(A). Sure. And you(ve some other places to compare it with. R: Yes. P: These other islands. R: I notice some of them come and say [inaud (me-ah(]] look nice and then I come back home. P: G(A). R: It(s the same. P: Can you remember, tell me anything at all of your memories of New York City, when you were visiting here. R: U(L). P: Tell me anything you can remember. R: I can(t remember anything because I work, go on the train, they stop, I never used to work. Just did a little shopping and that. P: G(A). OK. Now I want to ask you a little bit about the sugar. I know haven(t done this work in the sugar, but you have heard about it, about how they U(F) cultivate and process the cane. Can you tell me a little about that? R: Well, now, I notice a little better than when I was growing up. P: G(A). R: All right? They carry it now, they had the young men there in my time. P G(A). R: They used to take the cane off the ground: P: G(A). R: And have to load it in the tractor. But now they hire everything to the work. Right. Right. P: So after. U(I). R: I remember when the cattle cart and the horse cart used to take the cane from the cane field. P:G(A). R: And take it to the line. P: G(A). R: Right, you them out and bring in with truck. P: And this is the mansion U(I). R: Mansion. P: Estate. Mansion Estate. R: Yeah. P: Does that include Molineux too? R: Yes. P: Molineux(s in the Mansion Estate. And how about U(I). R: Estridge? P: Tabernacle. R:Well, Estridge. P: That(s another estate? R: Yes. Just behind us. P: G(A). All right. That(s the one your husband worked at? Did yu say? R: My husband worked with Public Works. P: Oh, yeah. Didn(t you say someone worked on that estate? R: My father used to work Estridge. P: Yes, your father. Yes, I se. R: On the line, cut cane. P: What did he do mainly?. R: G(Q)? P: What did he do? R: Well he die now. He used to cut cane and fill them up in the truck. P: G(A). R: And when the engine come, took it. P: G(A). OK. Now could you tell me a little bit about the kinds of birdss there are on St. Kitts? R: Birds? P: Birds. Yeah R: Well, right now they had a little out there yesterday and they aint caught the mother, it jump out the tree and he couldn(t. P: G(A). R: And he couldn(t fly. And they had a [inaud] out there two days feeding it with some water. P: Yeah. R: Watch it and put it in the mango to get something to eat. UI(L). P: U(L). R: I come up this morning and ask them where the bird. They didn(t know where the bird. P: It was gone. R: Maybe the mother gone with it. P: G(A). R: You see that was hard. You see the mother was coming all the time Picking all about [inaud]. P: It was gone. R: Gone. P: What kind of bird was that? R: What do the call them? Chilliwinkles? P: G(A). R: Some kind of small bird. P: What other kinds of birds are around? R: They have yellow, yellow thing. P: What(s the yellow thing called? R:Yellow-breast bird. P: G(A). R: It(s a black. P: G(A). R: Up the back and down to the belly. P: OK. R: I hear one when I wake up in the morning, going coo-ing and coo-ing. P: G(A). The doves. R: Doves. P: Dove. G(A). Different kinds of doves? R: Just the one kind. P: G(A). R: One kind of dove. P: OK. What about the sea birds. R: Well, I don(t remember them here P: Well, you remember what they call that one with the great big bill? R: G(Q)? P: The one with the great big bill. R: Bird? P: Yeah. R: Oh P: Some people call them. R: The can bird. P: What? R: Can bird. P: Well, maybe, but I was thinking of, you know, the pelican. R: Pelican. P: And the pelican(s called what? R: Pelican bird? P Do they ever call that the booby. R: Yeah, I see them swimming in water. P: What(s that? R: The booby. P: The booby, OK. R: G(A). P: And what about egrets? The long legs. The kind that go and pick the tics from the cow(s back. R: Oh, yeah, they(re right out here. P: Yeah and you see them on the cow(s backs. What do you call those birds? R: Palm bird. P: OK. All right. Tell me about the kind of fish they catch. R: Well, them I don(t know them name. P: But don(t you know some you cook? R: Yeah, but sometimes I just have to ask what kind of fish is this? They will tell me is Tom fish. or Welshman. P: G(A). OK. R: I wouldn(t know of my own. P: OK. U(F). What kind of animals are there around? R: Pigs. P: G(A). R: Goat. P: G(A). R: Sheep. P: Right. How about monkeys? R: I don(t deal with them a lot. Had one here. P: G(A). R: And every time I let it go, it come and take up anything. P: G(A). R: It come and take up a tooth brush; rub his mouth like people. P: U(L). R: It(ll come and look in a looking glass. P: U(L). Is that right. R: They enjoy a lot of thing that we have. I remember afterward it was just grabbing at the children. P: It was in the house? R: Yeah. P: Was it big? R: Yeah, man, it was good. P: What kind of monkey was it? R: A woman monkey. P: G(A). Were they green ones? The green ones? R: No, the green is when they are young, young babies. P: Oh, the green when they(re young. R: G(A). P: But they stand about this tall, don(t they? R: Yeah. P: Pretty big, two, two and a half feet tall. R: have a lot over there. P: G(A). Did you ever eat monkey? R: Yeah. P: How is that to eat? Did you ever cook it? R: Yes. P: Tell me how you cook, prepare monkey. R: Just like how you prepare any other food. You clean it up and you(re doing it. P: G(A). R: I remember one time I cook monkey and when I done cook it, it had the rice in the hand, like hand. P: Is that right? U(F). Is most of the meat on the legs? R: Like a rib like [?] P: G(Q)? R: The rib. P: G(A). Did you buy the monkey already dressed? R: No, my brother used to have a trap. P: G(A). R: And catch the monkey on the ground. P: I see. R G(A). P: Then when he killed the monkeys, he(d slaughter them? R: Yeah, he(d kill it afterward. The guy would break his foot. P: G(A). R: The trap would break his foot. P: G(A). R: Then afterward, he(d bring it, we(d kill it and prepare it. P:You(d break the foot so they can(t run away/ R: The monkey. P: G(A). R: Trap in the trap have something there to leg on, break the foot. P: G(A). OK. And then you take the monkey and U(I). R: Bring home the monkey and..look after it. P: G(A). Then you. R: Squindge it. P: U(L). Tell me about that. R: U(L). P: What does that mean? R: Squindge it over fire so. P: G(Q). You singe off the hair. R: G(A). P: And then peel it and skin it. R: Yeah. P: Skin it too? Do you skin it too? R: Yeah. P: Do you soak it in water or do you boil it? R: Yeah. P: Boil it in water, like a hog. R: Yes. P: Then you skin it. R: G(A). P: OK. Now you(ve skinned the monkey and then you cut off the legs and the ribs, how would you peprare it then for eating? R: Well, we season up, we clean it up and season it as do boil [the water?]. P: G(A). R: Right, until you(re ready P: G(A). R: You boil. P: G(A). R: You get water and the seasoning and everything and you boil it down there, and you wouldn(t, you can(t tell the difference that from a piece of mutton. P: Is that what it tastes like, lamb? R: G(A). P: Tastes like mutton. U(F). It(s not tough. R: No. P: I heard it was tough. R: You go in bone, it(s fine. P: G(Q)? R: The bone. P: Small bones, G(Q)? R: G(A). P: Do you eat that a lot? R: Before time, not now, aint going to eat it now. U(L). P: U(L). Not now. R: Before time. P: Why did you quit eating it. R: G(Q)? I think about it all them time. P: When things were hard. R: Yeah. P: When times were hard, you(d eat the monkey? R: Yes. P: OK. Well, that makes sense. Tell me about the way you prepare some other, like the hog.. Did you ever raise hogs? R: Yeah, I have. P: You have hogs? OK, tel me about that. R: When you went prepare hog? P: Yes. But first, let(s talk about rasing them. Do start out, do you buy a little pig somewhere and then raise it? How long would you keep the pig before you slaughtered it? R: Well, it depends. I have then over there right now. P: G(A). OK. R: U(L). P: Is that right? R:But nowadays, I can(t slaughter them because the children don(t want the meat. P: G(A). I see. G(A). How big are they? R: Big enough. P: How old, you know. R: (A)bout two, three years. P: G(A). But you usually kill them younger than that? R: G(A). P: If you(re going to eat them Do you share the meat with your neighbors? R: Sometimes. Yeah. P: Sometimes you do that, and they share it with you when you they slaughter a hog. R: Yeah. P: Tell me about that process. Do you participate in the killing of the hog? The slaughtering of the hog and the dressing of the hog. R: G(A). I carry it to the [inaud] and they look after it. P: G(A). R: You want pick it up, if you want use it. P: G(A). R: You have to, well, I wash all my [inaud] with soap. P: G)A). R: If. I have fish, I wash, and if I have pig I use soap and wash and soak them in some salt water. P: G(A). R: Then got [inaud] now, I got the seasoning, season it up. P: Yeah R: With it season up, I know it going, I got it the oven. P: That(s like a ham or something like that. R: Yeah. P: Or a shoulder or ribs. What do you do with the rest of the hog? It sounds like you pick it up at the butcher and they(ve done all that work for you. R: G(A). P: How do you pay them for that? R: Well, twenty dollars. P: Twenty dollars. OK. What do you do with the hog? Do you have a freezer? R: Yes. No, I have a fridge. P: A refrigerator. R: Yes, it depends on what I can hold or I share around. P: OK. Do you salt them sometimes and preserve them that way? R: G(A). P: How long can you preserve them in salt? R: Just fifteen minutes or so. P: G(A). It takes fifteen minutes to salt them. R: Yes and how you have the salt. P: Right. How long will they stay, remain good to eat? I mean, after you salt it and store it away someplace. R: Yes. P: OK, how long will that, will that be still good in six months? R: No, man. P: No, man. U(L). How long. R: Six months too long. P: One month, about one month. OK. So it(s really best to U(F) divide it up with your neighbors. R: Yeah, so some of them just give me the pig food. P: Right. R: When they cook and peel food, they give it to me so I share the meat. P: G(A). Share it back and forth, that(s nice. That(s very nice. R: Rangie [to child]. Go out in the back, some garbage thing.. P: So you have ten now? R: Yeah. P: You have a pretty big lot? R: Children? P: No, lot, hogs. R: Pig? P: You have a pretty big hog lot. Do you have a shelter in there for them too? R: Yeah. P: How far away is that? R: Good way. P: G(A). I see. And do you go over there everyday? R: Yeah, like it. P: So you have no plans to slaughter any of them right now. R: No. P: And keep them. And your kids don(t like the meat? R: Don(t like the meat. P: I never heard of that. U(L). R: No. P: They don(t like hog meat U(Q)? I(m surprised. I thought everybody liked pork. R. U(L). P: No? That(s a shame. Did you ever raise goats? R: Yes. P: And how about U(I). R: I got twelve goats. P: Twelve goats. How do you process them? R: Well, they carry them out every morning and bring them in at night. P: G(A). Take them out in the U(I). R: Yeah. P: And they tether them up there? Tie them. R: On the mountainside. P: G(A). R: And bring them down in the afternoon. P: Do they tie them up out there? R: G(Q)? P: Do they tie them up out there? R: Yes, they tie. P: U(F). Who doe this for you? R: My son, one of my sons. P: Oh, you sons do it. R: He(s not my son. P: All right, OK. But one of your sons. R: Yeah. P: One of your sons takes them in the mountain and brings them back at night. R: yeah. P: And where do you keep them at night? R: G(Q)? P: Where do you keep them at night? Do you have a [end of tape] SIDE B P: Do you have cattle, cows? R: Well, a long time my father had this cow. I used to have to go in mountain and help him. P: G(A). R: Feed them, give them water, and move them out. P: G(A). R: He will milk and bring down the milk to sell. P: I see, and you kept them up there. You walked all the way up in those mountains? R: Yeah. P: That(s a long way, isn(t it? R: It might look long, but it aint long. P: It isn(t? It looks long from the road. U(L). OK. What(s your last name again? R: XXX. P: With one (t( or two (t(s( R: Two (t(s.( P: XXX R: XXX P: No (s.( R: G(N). P: OK. And the community is called. The town here. R:Mansion P: Mansion. And the parish? R: Christ Church Parish. P: OK. Now there(s just one more thing I(d like you to do for me, an then I(m going to go a way and leave you alone. R: U(L). P: I want you to do one thing for me. I want you to pronounce some words for me. You see, this is to compare the way you say words to people in Molineux and people in St. Paul(s and people in Sandy Point, see what I mean? R: G(A). R: Yeah. P: Speak loudly now, if you can. I(d like you to count from one to fourteen. R: From one to fourteen? P: Yeah. Take you hand away from your mouth. Yeah, right. R: One. P: Yeah, go ahead. R: Two, three, four five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve thirteen, fourteen. P: Now what I(d like you to do is say the days of the week. R: The days of the week is Sunday. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday P: OK.. And then the months of the year. R: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, Novemnber, December. P: OK And now the number after nineteen is what? R: Twenty. P: And the number after twenty-nine? R: Thirty. P: Number after thirty-nine. R: Forty. P: Number after sixty-nine. R: Seventy. P: The number after ninety-nine. R: Hundred. P: Number after nine hundred ninety-nine. Nine nine nine. R: Two thousand. P: OK. Good. The last thing. This is the last thing. Now today is the nineteenth. The nineteenth of July. The beginning of the month was the what of July? R: The beginning?: P: Yeah, when the month began. That was the. That was the first. R: First of July? P: First. See what I mean? The first? R: After that? P: No, first. You know, like nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty--third; twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, I(d like you to begin at the beginning with one, first, second, third, fourth, fifth. Just those first ten days of the month. R:First? P: Right. R: Second P: Right. R: Third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, ten. P: Ok. Great. Now is there anything you can think .of that you thought I might ask you but I didn(t? Can you think of anything else about life in St. Kitts that I probably should have asked you about and didn(t? We talked about food and w talked about games and school and church and sports. R: You axed me about a lot of things there. P: Yeah. R: And what I know about. P: Yeah. Is there anything you know a lot about that I forgot to ask you? R: G(Q)? P: Anything I did not ask you? R: You ax me. NB P: About everything, G(Q)? R: G(A). P: U(L). Well, thank you very much, Mrs. XXX. R: OK. END OF INTERVIEW . . 54