16. 1/07/03 Cayon. Peter Nathaniel Benjamin XXX. M. 73. POB: L. Ed. 8th grade. Occ. cane labor/cutter/tractor driver. YA: 0/travel only to Nevis. Ancestry: L. Unmarried (14 children) Interview: 7 January, 2003 Initial Transcript: 26 July, 2003/18 October, 2003 Cayon, St. Kitts Lee XXX: (P: prompter) Peter Nathaniel Benjamin XXX (R: primary respondent) Lovette XXX, R’s daughter (S: secondary respondent) 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 P: Your name? R: Peter XXX. P: Peter XXX… And how old are you? R: I’m seventy-three. P: Seventy-three, and where were you born? R: Right down, right here. P: G(A). R: Down on the estate here. P: G(A). What’s your occupation? R: My occupation from a laborer, come up to a tractor driver. P: I see. Are you still doing that? R: No. I resign.. P: Retired, G(Q)? OK. How about your education. Did you go to school here in Cayon. R Yes, but not. I just school until nineteen forty-five. P: Forty-five, so you were about fifteen. R: Yeah. P: You’re the same age as me. R: Yeah. P: Yeah, I’m seventy-two. R: Seventy-two. P: Yeah. Now, where are most of your friends from around here? R: Well, (of) course. P: What do they do? R: So far, my schoolmate. P: Yeah. R: My schoolmate, most of them die out. P: Yeah. R: But we start on the estate. P: G(A). R: The first work I do on my farm. P: That was on the estate? R: Yeah. P: Which estate was that? R: Cunningham, right here. P: Cunningham Estate. And that’s what this is right here. R: Right here. P: G(A). What kind of work did you do. R: Me? P: Yeah, as a laborer. R: As a laborer, I start in cane first. P: G(A). R: On my farm first. P: Yes. R: Then I started milking cow for the manager. P: G(A). R: From then I went to work with a gang to pick up cane. P: G(A) R: And drop soda and U(I). P: Yeah. R: Worked along with U(I). P: So you worked with a gang. R: Yeah, that was in forty-seven. P: When you were about seventeen. R: From nineteen fifty-one, I start to work on cane. P: G(A). What kind of work did you do? R: I hand the cane. P: G(A). R: Hand it. P: Hand it? R: Yes, we used to work we had a cart, a mule cart, P: Yeah. R: Then hand the cane, one man pack it. P: G(A). R: Carry it to the line. P: G(A). R: To get to factory. P: Did you cut it or U(I). R: No, no, no, no. Men cut it, P: They cut and then you picked it up and handed it to the U(I). R: Yeah. P: I see. That’s hard work G(Q). R: Yeah, P: I’ll bet. R: And then after that, after they finished with they shuttle them down the road. P: Yeah. R: And then the tractor come in. P: Yeah. R: And drive, all kind of tractor, I do myself then. P: That’s great. How old were you when you started driving a tractor. R: U(H). P: Do you remember the year, about? R: I was, when I start driving the tractor, it was nineteen sixty. P: Nineteen sixty. OK. R: Sixty, I got a license in nineteen fifty-nine. P: G(A). I see. R: The fourth of January. P: G(A). R: Then I get promote. P: G(A). R: And they give me tractor to drive, P: Right. Did things change much in the U(I).. R: A lot. P: Tell me about it. In which ways? R: When I started in the cane field here. 048 P: Yes. R: The animal then. The men cut the cane. We take it from the field. P: Yes. R: Carry it to the line. P: G(A). R: After that time in the fifties, they didn’t let the animal in. Then they get the tractor. P: G(A). R: So the tractor load the cane in the field. P: G(A). R: We hand it. P: G(A). R: Carry it to the line. Man pack it. P: G(A). R: On the truck, and U(F) then the engine take it to the factory. P: Right. R: But now they have bringing in this grab, sometime in the sixties. P: G(A). That’s a grab. R: Grab. To pick up the cane. P: So you don’t need to hand it anymore. R: No, no more. P: So, I see, then it’s U(I). R: So then the whole Cayon island... That the men will cut it. P: G(A). R: Most men cut it; some go someday. P: Yeah. R: Some cut it, and the grab pick it up. P: The grab puts it on the train; were they using trains then? R: Yeah. P: Using the railroad. R: Using it now. P: The railroad, yeah. R: G(A). P: But what U(F) would the tractor do? Where did the tractor fit into that process? R: Well, the tractor had trailer. P: Oh, R: To hook up on the tractor. P: Yeah. Now that was before the railroad? R: Yeah. P: Before the trains. R: Yeah. P: But now they don’t use tractors at all. R: Yes, they use tractor. P: For what? R: They use tractor here to grab-load it in. P: G(A). R: In the tractor. And carry it to the line. P: To the line. I see. R: And they clear it and pick it up. P: Sure. Of course. Right, I see. R: U(F) Another us [‘some others of us] had to go to something else. P: Yeah, they cut the labor, they cut down, use fewer people, right. R: Yeah. P: Laid a lot of people off. R: Yeah, they never lurk above the midlands. Some of them, sometime, some went to the Virgin Island. P: Yeah. R: You know and some type deal with the animal. P: G(A). R: And work the land. P: Yeah. R: And provision. P: Right. R: And do that many things. P: G(A). But you worked on the estate right U(I). R: Yes. I worked right until I resign. P: Resigned, yeah. And how long ago was that. R: Well, U(F) five years now since I resign. P: You were about sixty-eight or sixty-seven. R: Yeah. P: Yeah. R: Sixty-seven. P: Yeah. G(A). And that’s when you had to resign. R: G(A). P: And that wasn’t a choice you had. You had to resign? R: No. But they resign me. P: You couldn’t stay; I got you. Could you tell me a little bit about your parents? Where was your mother born? R: G(Q)? P: Your mother. R: Me mother? What year was she born? P: No, not the year. Where? R: Where? P: Yeah. R: Oh, my mother born in, right here. P: G(A). In Cayon. R: Yeah. P: OK. U(I). R: But my father. P: Yeah. R: My father born in Nevis. He had to leave. P: Yeah, that happens a lot. A lot of people came from Nevis, didn’t they. R: Yeah, my father. P: Was he a sugar worker too? R: Yes. P: G(A). R: He used to drive the animal cart. P: I see. R: But he I don’t know since father, he die. P: Did you know your grandparents? R: No, no. P: You didn’t know any of them? Your mother’s or father’s ancestry. Are you married? R: No. P: Were you ever married? R: No. P: You have any children? R: Yes. P: How many. R: I got fourteen. P: Fourteen, Is that right? Can you tell me about them? Tell me about all of them. R: G(Q)? P: Tell me about all of them. R: U(L). P: Really. As much as you can remember. R: All of us live here. We live together. P: Yeah. The fellow I met in the hall with the orange shirt on? R: No. P: OK. R: No. he’s a stranger. P: He’s a stranger. OK. U(L). R: But he live here with us. P: G(A). R: He’s from Guinea. P: OK. I see. R: G(A). P: G(A). R: My first boy. P: Yeah. R: My first boy he’s U(F) he work in the wholesale business in Conaree. P: G(A). R: The second one have died. P: G(A). R: But third one is a minister. P: Is that right. Where does he preach? R: In St. Thomas. P: In St. Thomas. R: G(A). He be there in small church. P: Is that right. R: G(A). But my first child I got U(I). P: G(A). R: She got here. P: How old is she? R: She ran off. P: She ran off? . R: She work now. P: She’s at work? R: Yeah. P: She still works in the cane. R: Yeah. P: G(A). R: You know they got the whole crop in so they going to clean the cane. P: I see. How old is she now? R: She fifty-nine. P: Oh, fifty-nine. R: Yeah. P: OK. Now how about some more. Tell me about some more of them. R: Say? P: Yeah, the younger ones. R: U(F) Six girls work in the factory. P: Six girls work at the sugar factory? R: No, they don’t. A factory they doing things in. P: Oh, fabrication. Do you know the name of the factory? R: The name, I’ll call them. P: If you just tell me the kind of stuff they… [turn off machine] P: Now tell me about the time you spent off the island. Where have you traveled to? R: Oh, I never travel. P: G(A). R: I never travel. P: Never at all. R: No. P: You’ve never been off the island? R: Just from here to Nevis. P: That’s it? R: That’s it. P: You’ve never been to St. Thomas to see your son. R: No, no, no, no, no, no, no.. P: We forgot about the last. How many time so been to Nevis? Often R: When I was smaller. P: Yeah. R: When the most time I travel to Nevis. P: Yeah. R: When I going to school.. P: G(A). R: And I got ninety days. P: G(A). R: I don’t know, I don’t want to knock the jungle knees, I had to walk to get in a store. P: That’s great. R: So I went to Nevis the year before. P: G(A). R: August. Culturama. P: I see. Culturama. R: Then come back U(F) at night. P: I see. So you really have spent your whole life here on the island. That’s great. Can you remember when you were a child, some of the games you played? R: Oh. P: As a small child. R: Well, the games, we have? P: Yeah. R: Me play cricket. P: Yeah. R: Me am, the easy pattern that I had I working on. P: Yeah. R: They also used to have some of us to play cricket. P: G(A). R: Back in East End. P: Who did you play against? R: Hermitage. P: Hermitage. R: Cunningham against Hermitage. P: Oh, I see. It was plantation, estates playing. R: Yes. P: I see. Estate playing against estate. R: G(A). P: Were there any other games you recall? And what kind of cricket did you play. Did you play regular cricket or did you play windball cricket. R: Windball cricket. P: Now, windball cricket. R: Windball. P: U(F) Going back to your work, could you tell me the processing of cane. Do you know anything about what they do in the factory with cane? After they put it on those trains and take it the factory. R: What I know, they carry it to the factory. P: Yeah. R: Going to make sugar. P: Yeah. R: U(F) I was an estate worker. I wouldn’t be able to tell you much about the factory. P: G(A). Do you know about mud and bagasse? R: Yes. P: Tell me about that. R: What I know, they come in the truck, right.. P: Yes, R: Right? They send them to every estate. We have to take them out. P: Yeah. R: They had a factory up here, just over here in Spooner.. P: Yeah. R: Where they make sweet oil, grind corn, and make soap. P: G(A). R: So we used to cart in the yard. P: G(A). R: Up there to burn to put in the fire hole. P: Oh, I see. R: To make steam. P: G(A). R: See? P: Use bagasse as fuel? R: Yes, you see instead of coals, we using bagasse. P: I see. R: To make fire. P: Right, in the soap factory. R: Yes. P: I see. What about mud? R: Well, mud we turn the mud in the cane fields. P: G(A). R: To make manure. P: I see. You use that for fertilizer. R: Yes. It make good fertilizer. P: How do you carry it back? How did you cart it back? R: Well, we take shovel and arm. P: I see. R: We back the cart to the truck. P: G(A). R: Take out the soot and the bagasse in the yards. P: Yeah. R: When we go up, when we carting it from Cunningham, we do it down there. P: Yeah. R: We had to pack them in the trailer. P: OK. R: But with mud we had to take shovel. P: Yeah. R: And take half the mud and throw it in the cart. P: But the mud. R: Middle of cart, you can’t fill them up. P: Yeah. But that wasn’t mud produced in the processing. R: The mud way down in the truck. P: OK. The mud was left over after the cane is ground. R: Yes, the mud come from the cane. P: OK. So that mud, what I am trying to get at, that I don’t understand. Mud is in the sugar factory? The mud has to be taken out of the sugar factory. R: Yes. P: So they take it out of the sugar factory. R: Factory. P: On the car or train. Do they use the same cars, the railway cars? R: No. P: No? R: No, no, no. different. The factory have their own. P: OK. R: They take the one truck , the highland truck. P: OK. R: They take them out and take them back to the factory. P: G(A). R: But we use the arm and a trailer. We cart them.. P: OK. I see. All of your experience has been in the field. R: G(A). P: What did you do after the cane was harvested? R: Well, after the cane… we had mud to put in the cane field. P: G(A). R: When in that we clean, dig grass, come out in the cane field.. P: G(A). R: Weed them up and get them clean until we finish up. P: G(A). R: Then they have a spray to kill the grass. P: G(A). R: They get the spray and they pump it on. P: Oh, they spray it. R: Yes. Spray the cane field. P: G(A). I see. R: OK. That was me work. P: How late in year would you continue that spraying? R: You finish when the cane come up to a certain height. P: Until the cane U(I). R: Yes, in January, no spraying unless you have young cane to plant. P: .G(A). Do you ever use the expression lay by? Lay by time. In cotton planting that lay by time is when the cotton gets so high, you can’t do anything with it any more. You don’t cultivate it any more, you just let it sit. I wonder because it looks like you have several months here when you can’t. R: We used to plant cotton. P: G(A). R: But the cotton plant February. P: G(A). R: And reap in August. P: G(A). R: By the end of November to December, they ready to plant the cane. P: G(A) R: But when you plant them, there was one sitting down at there, two center, three planted, and two on the cotton road, then back to the center. P: Yeah. R: So when they come, you got to pick them. P: Yeah. R: You pick them and bend them be half [‘in half].. P: I see. R: Then we pull them up. P: G(A). R: We pull them. 211 P: G(A). R: Then heap them up P: Yes. R: And burn them. P: Yeah. The cotton plants. R: Yes, burn the cotton, you burn the bush. P: Yeah, burn the cotton bush, yeah. R: The whole tree. P: Yeah, right. OK. So what you’re telling me that when you weren’t working in the cane, you turned the cotton. So you worked cotton and cane the same? R: Same year. P: Same year, G(A). R: When the cotton is to reap. P: Yeah. R: The crop done. The cane crop done. P: G(A) Yeah. I see. So that kept you busy all year round. R: Yeah. P: Yeah. R: When one come up, one in. P: So you worked in the cotton fields through the whole process. R: Yes. P: Where did they grow cotton. Where were the cotton fields? They don’t have cotton here anymore, do they? R: No, no, no, no, no. P: Where did they used to grow cotton. R: In the estate. P: Right there. R: In the same cane field. P: The same can field. R: Yes. P: Oh, they grew cotton on the same. R: You see, this what they used to do. When the cane gave an amount of crop. P: G(A). R: Every year that you’re out and plant cotton. P: G(A). R: After the cotton you put back in the cane. P: So it was every other year? R: Yes, every year,. P: G(A). R: So the field, the cane field, every cane field. P: G(A). R: They have one field might be in three crop, four crop, five crop. P: G(A). R: And when they reach that. Four crop, they come to a year. P: G(A). R: They cut that first, then plant cotton. P: And the cotton really helps refreshes the land. R: Yes, yes. P: G(A). That’s interesting. But in the cane, what hours did you work and how many days a week did you work when you were working in the field? R: Me? P: Yeah, when you were young, when you were a hander. R: Six days a week. P: Six days a week. R: G(A). P: For how many hours? R: From morning to night. P: Early morning. R: Early morning to night. P: And what were you paid? R: Well, when I was in the cane, you got paid by the ton. P: By the ton? R: Yeah, by the ton. The more cane you cut, the more. P: How much did you get? R: The most I get working on the cane U(H) when I used to hand it. P: Yeah R: Before driving.. The most maybe a hundred and twenty dollars. P: I see. R: A hundred and twenty-two twenty-five. P: And that was for that six-day week, right? R: G(A). Six-day week. P: U(F). Did they give you advances during that time until the crop was weighed and they knew the amount? U(F) You have to have something to live on. While you’re working in the cane, before they know how much you produced. R: No. When the crop’s done. P: Yeah. R: When the crop started. P: Yeah. R: When the crop started, after the crop. P: Yeah. R: After the crop. P: After the crop. R: You get paid by the day. P: G(A). R: Work eight hours daily. P: Yeah. R: But after the crop. P: Yeah. R: Is by the hand you do the job work, so they pay you by the ton. P: Oh, I see. R: So you work as long as you like.. P: So you’re getting paid all the time. R: G(A). P: Where was Belmont Estate? R: Belmont Estate is U(H) in St. Paul. P: St. Paul. R: G(A). In St. Paul area. P: In St. Paul, OK. That’s good. Now, I want you to tell me what you remember about hearing about jumbies, when you were little. R: U(L). P: Tell me some jumby stories. Can you think of any? R: I never see one yet. P: U(L). Never saw a jumbie G(Q)? R: I hear about them. P: Tell me what you heard. R: I hear the old people say when you want to see a jumbie. P: G(A). R: You cannot shoot far. P: Yeah, straight, yeah. R: They mash your heels. P: Mash your heels U(L). Yes, I’ve heard that. R: G(A). P: Mash your heels and there it is? R: You can see; it won’t hit you. P: G(A). And there’s a jumbie, G(Q)? R: Yeah. P: But you’ve never seen one. R: No. I never seen one. P: OK, how about U(I). R: I hear lady say she come in a bus. P: G(A). R: She was going [-to] come church. P: G(A).. R: In the bus.. When she coming from country, coming away to here. P: G(A). R: She see a man at the bus. P: G(A). R: Bus man stop. P: G(A). R: There’s nobody. P: G(A). R: Right? P: Right. R: When she finish where she going, the man in the bus. P: G(A). R: He came in the bus and sit down. P: Is that right. U(L). R: A lady seen that. P: So that’s a jumbie. Have you heard of other things like that? Other stories? R: Yeah, the arm, the dead one don’t touch that, but they look like everything and they come on. [?] P: Is that right. Yeah. How about jumbie fires? Have you ever heard of a jumby fire? R: G(N). P: A fire, somebody steals something. R: Oh, yes, I heard people talk about that. P: G(A). R: I see a big hole burn but not the whole thing. P: G(A) R: The nabber were oldie, in Conaree. P: Was that in Conaree? R: No, right here, Right here. P: I see, In Cayon. R: You see burn, burn. burn, burn jumby fire in Conaree. P: Yes, I heard about that one. That’s inetersting. R: The jumby fire, you know, I don’t know about. U(L). P: G(A). How about the jack-o-lantern? R: G(Q)? P: Do you know about the jack-o-lantern? R: I hear about that. P: What did you hear? What do you hear about them? R: G(Q)? P: What do you hear about the jack-o-lantern? R: But I hear they bright. P: G(A). R: They play off here. P: G(A). R: Up in the mountain. P: Yeah. R: Great big branch of fire. P: G(A). R: Big branch, a fire. P: G(A). OK, they’re dangerous? R: Well, so far, I hear, so far. P: G(A). I heard they are. Now could you tell me a little bit about, remember when you were small, things your mother used to make, preparations your mother would make when you had a cold or you had boils or you had sores? Things she’d make with weeds and berries and things. R: What she used to do, when we have a fresh cold, she used to have a thing U(F) you hang up in the house, this little bowl of it, like a fat. P: G(A). R: They call it “Wakal”. They burn it, like a fat, and hang it up. P: G(A). R: When you have fever. P: Yeah. R: She boil that for you. P: G(A). R: And your marina [?] so you won’t sweat, boil that thing along with some other bushes. P: G(A). Marina is that a bush? R: No. P: What marina? R: That’s your underwear [‘marino]. P: What? R: Your underwear. P: Your underwear, OK. R: Yeah. That’s some of your perspiration. P: I see. But you call it a marina? R: Underwear. A white shirt. P: A marina. Ok. OK. I’ve never heard that. That’s interesting. Go ahead. R. I just boil tea. P: Yeah. R: I just boil tea. P: What kind of tea. R: For janders and different ones. P: Have you had janders? R: G(Q)? P: Have you had janders? R: No. But put it on some people. P: G(A). R: I boil the guava bush. P: G(A) R: The breadfruit bush. P: G(A). R: The bamboo cane, the yellow-dad [love vine]. P: What’s that last one, the yellow? R: The yellow-dad, some red thing. They have beads, red ones on it. P: Yellow-dad? R: The name of it. The yellow-dad. The yellow thing with branches. P: OK. R: Yellow, like the sheep. P: G(A). So how do you prepare it then? R: G(Q)? P: After you gather that stuff, how do you prepare it? R: I go look it. P: Like the guava. R: I go look it. P: G(A). R: The bush around here. P: G(A). R: Just pick them up. P: Pick them up. What do you do with the guava then? Do you grind it up or ? U(I).. R: No. The guava, we eat them. P: G(A). Just eat them. R: Just eat them like apple. P: G(A). R: Like you pick apple. P: G(A). OK. R: Guava, pick them and eat them. P: How about the bamboo? R: The bamboo. P: Yeah. R: The bamboo just a tree. P: Yeah. Right, and how do you prepare that? R: G(Q)? Well, they don’t do nothing. It’s a tree. P: Yeah. R: And I cut the leaf of the bamboo. P: Yes. That’s what I wanted to know. R: And boil it. P: And boil it. I see. R: Yeah. P: Kind of make a tea. R: Tea. P: G(A). I see. R: Different part of the bush. P: G(A). R: The youngest part of the bush. P: I see. R: You boil it and then you put it in the cold you put it up. P: You do that a lot? R: G(Q)? P: You still do that? R: Yeah. P: G(A). When’s the last time you did that? R: Last Monday night, a fellow come in for tea. P: What was it? R: Tea. P: A tea made of what? R: Made up all by the bush. P: G(A). I see. R: Good for gas too. P: G(A). R: We have another bush they use of it. P: G(A). R: They pull it up and wash it off. P: G(A). R: And you boil it. P: G(A). R: Along with the bamboo and the guava and the breadfruit. P: You just use breadfruit, the fruit itself, the same? U(I). R: No. The leaf. P: Oh, the leaf. R: The leaf. P: The leaf, I see. R: Yeah, the leaf. P: The leaf, OK, I see. That’s good. Tell me what you remember about the carnival, the St. Kitts carnival, when you were young. I’m not talking about the way it is now, but I’m talking about when you were young. R: When I was young, didn’t have no carnival. P: No? R: No. P: None at all. R:No, had no carnival. We had people used to play sport at Christmas. P: What kind of sports? R: U(F) [jumb- probably macajumby] The clown, the masquerade, and had a play they call the giant and the spear, and the mummies. P: What was that joint as? R: Giant And Spear. P: Joint is? R: Giant And Spear. P: What? R: I think they say is in the Bible.. P: G(A). R: They play they come up from Bible. P: What happens in that? R: Well, they U(I). P: What does that involve? R: They have the giant P: G(A). R: And they have the other people. P: The Giant and the Spear? R: Yeah. P: Oh, that’s, they had things like David and Goliath. R: Goliath, yeah. P: OK. How about the bull? Remember that? R: Yeah, I see them up the last Christmas here. Some fellows playing bull. P: G(A). But when you say they didn’t have a carnival, you meant they didn’t have like the beauty pageants and stuff. R: They didn’t have no carnival, around Christmas, the people play sport and that. P: The sports, when they did the sport. R: Yeah. P: When they did. R: After that, the carnival start. P: G(A). R: In the fifties, The sixties. P: Didn’t Bradshaw say that was a waste of money to have all those costumes. Instead they turned it into this beauty pageant. R: U(F) I don’t know who start it. P: G(A). Do you like Bradshaw? R: Yes. P: Tell me why. R: He make poor people make more money. P: G(A). Well, that’s great. R: Yeah. P: OK. When they did the sport, did they used to go all the way around the island? R: Yeah. Here. P: They came right up the road here. R: Yeah. P: And they stop in Cayon. R: Yeah. The sport, when the sport, when the farmer play, “hamma” [?] go to play. P: Yeah. R: They play in every village. P: G(A). I see. R: Right through the land. P: G(A). R: And when they reach U(H) Station B, they stay there. P: G(A). R: They stay there until the morning. P: They sleep outside. They have tents? R: Yeah. No transport take them around. P: I see. R: So two small boys have their clothes in a bundle over the back. P: Did you do that. R: No. P: You never traveled around, huh. R: No. P: Did they have some from Cayon though? R: You from town, you play all the way that you want it. P: Yeah. R: When they reach Cayon. P: Yeah. R: They sleep by the police station or somebody might catch one or two. P: I see. I see. Yeah. R: But the most people that do that are Nevis people. 383 P: G(A). R: Usually come down here. 384 P: Oh, yeah, Nevis people like the carnival. R: Yeah. P: The sport. R: It was Nevis people used to come down here. P: G(A). R: And do that thing. P: The sport. R: Then join them, take part. P: G(A). That’s interesting. R: Right? P: Yeah. R: Nevis people do when Christmas come. P: Yeah. R: Not carnival. They used to come here in the boat. P: G(A). R: By the boatload. P: G(A). R: And they start playing. P: G(A). R: You know? And those people hadn’t been down to St. Kitts when they was young. P: G(A). R: The majority. P: G(A). R: Be Nevis people. P: G(A). R: And they come down to village and nobody there. No family. P: Yeah. R: Stay by police station. P: G(A). R: Till tomorrow morning. P: G(A). R: Tomorrow morning they be gone again. P: Is that right? In what year was that? R: That year was, had to be in the forties. P: G(A). R: Or in the fifties. P: The forties and fifties, G(Q)? R: Yeah. P: I see. U(F) Do you remember the kinds of dress they wore, the kinds of things, the macajumbies wore? Remember the macajumbies? R: Yeah. The makojumbie, what did they used to call the suit? They be up on high stick. P: Yeah. Stilts. R: Stilt. Yeah, some of them on the thing, and dressed up like a woman with skirt, have them strip down wearing all pretty. P: Colorful, yeah. G(A). R: Had a kerchief. P: G(A). Colorful. R: Put on different. P: I see. Very colorful. Did you used to travel into basseterre or did you see them when they came through. R: I go Basseterre. P: G(A). R: Whenever I ride down, something right under the country. P: How far is it from here to Basseterre. R: Five mile. P: Five miles. R: G(A). From Cayon. P: Yeah. R: OK. P: Then to Sadler’s, about five miles that way. R: G(A). Five. P: Right so Cayon is right between. And Lodge Village is back. R: Yeah, yeah. P: Back that way. R: Yeah. P: OK. U(F). Can you think of any other words, sugar words, in sugar production that we haven’t talked about? Do they have different names for the cane as it is growing? R: Different? P: Any terms. You talked about all the vehicles. What did you use to cut the cane with? When they cut it by hand. R: First they used something they call “Bill”, that was old steel, iron, flat iron. P: Yeah. R: But that was too heavy, so they change it and use machete. P: OK. Machete, that’s the smaller R: The smaller one. P: G(A). R: Take board and make the handle. P: OK. R: You want to see one? P: Yes. Do you have one. Yes. R: Yes. It’s here. R: This one here, this first. P: OK. This is the bill? R: No. P: This is the machete? R: The machete. P: G(A). R: This a different one. P: They’re both machetes. R: Yeah, they’re both machetes. P: What do you call that one? R: Machete. P: Yeah, but how do you distinguish? R: This is a big machete, like a bill. P: G(A). R: This one cut the cane. P: G(A). R: And this one held back the trash. P: That’s the bill? R: Yes. P: That little thing that comes out there. R: Yeah. P: Yeah. But you’d still call that a machete because it’s small. R: Yeah. P: The old bill was bigger. R: Bigger. P: G(A). R: Iron. P: Iron, I see. R: G(A). P: Those are interesting. Custom made aren’t they? Who makes these? They have a guy. R: Yeah, all of them. P: And this is double edged, G(Q)? R: Yeah P: Both edges. You can go this way or that way. R: Yeah. P: That’s great. That is just wonderful. R: And that one is my daughter. P: Oh, hi. S: Hello. P: It’s nice to meet you. S: Nice to meet you too. P: Well, I think we have covered everything about the sugar cane. R: Sugar cane. P: Short swords and trash. Does trash involve everything or is it U(I)? R: The trash… On the cane grow. P: Yeah. R: The trash right at the blade. P: G(A). R: Right? The top of the blade.as the cane go up. P: G(A). R: The first stack dry, right?. P: OK R: And they shoot up, make more cutting. P: G(A). R: So, then you go cut the cane. P: G(A). R: Then you go clean out the trash. P: So the trash is everything but the actual cane. R: Yes. P: The cane is where the sugar is and all the other stuff is the trash. R: Yeah, the trash. P: All the leaves and U(I). R: The trash. P: So all the beautiful foliage you see when flying over St. Kitts. R: Yes. P: That’s all trash U(L). R: Yes, trash. U(L). P: That’s interesting. You talked to me about some of the things you use for medicine. What kinds of grasses grow in the cane field? R: Well, they have the guinea grass. P: G(A). R: They have a next grass, can [kaan] grass [?] P: G(A). R: And another one they got, pear grass. P: G(A). R: They are the one that are mostly in the cane field. P: G(A). OK. R: But the guinea grass. P: G(A). R: Mostly damage the cane because it grow right in the root. P: I see. R: If it grow right into the root, then the cane can’t grow. P: Oh, I see. That’s a parasite like. So you have to keep that cleared out. R: G(A). P: What do you call clearing that out? S: Weeding. R: Yeah, weeding. P: Weeding. OK. R: Yeah. S: Or digging grass.. P: Or digging grass; use that term? S: Yes. P: OK. That’s good. What’s your name? S: Me? S: Lovette. P: Yeah. Your first name and your last name, I just need. S: XXX. Lovette XXX. 469 P: Lovette XXX, OK. I put you down in the interview because you said some things I want to use. S: OK. P: L-O-V-E-T-T? S: E. P: E. L-O-V-E-T-T-E. S: L-O-V-E-T-T-E. P: XXX. Great. I’ll get that. Thank you. Now tell me the kinds of trees that you’re familiar with around here in the neighborhood. R: Trees. P: Yeah. R: Around here in the neighborhood? P: Yes. S: Rain forest. R: Rain forest tree [green friar]?. P: G(A). R: We have orange tree. P: G(A). R: We have breadfruit tree.. P: Yeah. S: Papay(a.). R: Papay(a). P: G(A). S: Mangos. R: Mangos. P: G(A). S: Lime R: Lime. And we have a thing we make juice, passion. S: Passion fruit. P: Passion fruit. R: We have S: Pear trees. R: Pear trees. Then we have a grass. P: G(A). R: That we grow to make tea. P: G(A). R We call that lemon grass. P: Yeah, I saw some of that this morning. P: It comes in a little. R: Yeah. P: And it really does smell like lemon. R: Yes. P: That’s interesting. What about the tree that has all the bright flowers on it? It blooms a couple times a year. R: What tree is that. S: That blooms couple times a year? R: Yeah. S: Hibiscus. No. R: Flourish tree, flourish tree, I don’t know many. P: Do you call it cock and hen. S: Yeah, yeah. R: Oh, yeah. Cock and hen, cock and hen. S: Yeah. P Did you ever call that flamboyant? S: Yes, yes, yes. Flamboyant. R: Cock and hen, flamboyant. P: But you never call it poinciana. R: No. S: I read it in books. P: OK. It’s a book word. S: Yes. P: That’s good. That’s interesting S: G(A). P: That’s terrific. How about bushes. Tell me some bushes. R: Well, bushes we have goat tree [weed?: NB bread and cheese called goat weed] P: G(A) R: We have a bread and cheese tree. P: G(A).. R: We have sage. P: G(A). S: Yes. R: Sage. We have cattle tongue. P: What’s that like? R: Tree right here. P: G(A). R: We have, that’s what you make teas with. P: G(A). R: We have U(I). P: You made tea with the cattle tongue? R: Yeah. P: G(A). The leaves. R: The yellow tree right there. [inaud] S: [she brings a sprig of cattle tongue] P: Oh, thank you. R: Go, smell it. P: That’s nice. And that’s called cattle tongue? R: Yes. P: I’ll be darned. I never heard of that.. S: U(L). P: But it sure is pretty. Really soft, soft leaves. R: Yes. P: G(A). That’s great. Thank you. OK now, I want you to tell me about the birds on St. Kitts. That you can think of, land birds and sea birds. R: Well, sea birds one am boobie. P: U(L). OK Yeah. R: Garland. P: Garland, that’s the one that picks the ticks off the animals’ backs. R: Yeah, yeah.. P: The white R:White. P: White, long skinny legs?. S: Yeah.. R: Yeah. P: Garland. R: One is toward them. One be out in the night. P: G(A). R: And one be out in the day. P: G(A). R: The next one that’s out, hawk. P: G(A). You have hawks here. R: G(A). We have one’s a ground owl. P: G(A). R: Mountain dove. P: G(A). R: Mountain pigeon. P: G(A). R: We have hummingbird. P: G(A). R: We have next one called U(I). S: Through-the-week.. R:: Yeah P: Chitterwink? R: Through-the-week,. Another ground land duck. S: Yeah, yeah. P: What’s that? R: Some ducks. P: Yeah, I’ve seen some ducks. All right. R: And then turkey. P: You have turkeys on St.. Kitts? R: Yeah. P: No kidding. R: Yeah. P: I didn’t know that. R: Guinea bird. P: Yeah. G(A). Wild turkeys? R: Yeah, have those and guinea bird. P: Oh, I know what a guinea is. They make that funny noise. “Eh eh eh”. R:Yeah. P: G(A). U(L). Sound like squeaking bedsprings. R: Yeah, that noise. P: Really funny, first time I heard one of those it really amused me. But what about the big birds? Do you use the term seagull? Or do you have word for those big birds? I don’t mean the boobies, but the ones with the pelt. R: Well, we have the one is the boobie. S: The boobie is the biggest one. P: G(A). R: That’s the one we have. P: But you don’t have one like you call seagulls. R: No. P: Well, that’s fine. How about fish now? Tell me about the different kinds of fish that there are. R: Well, we have shark. We have U(F) cobbler. P: What’s a cobbler? R: That’s a big flat fish. P: Is that a good fish to eat? R: G(A). We have doctor fish. P: G(A). R: He have a Welshman. P: A vengeman? R: That’s a brown fish. P: G(A). R: We have goat fish. P: G(A). R: They fish they call Spanish mackerel. P: Yeah. R: Then…. S: Cowallee P: G(A) R: Couvallie [cavalli]. We have gar. P: G(A). R: Small one we call sprat. P: Sprat, yeah. R: Another one we call ballyhoo. P: Ballyhoo. Yeah. What about old wife? Do you know U(I). R: Old wife, yes. P: How big is the old wife? R: Well, old wife big, some of them. About from here to there. P: About that big. Yeah, are they good to eat? R: Yeah, but all these fish have different skin. P: Yeah. The old wife has a lot of bone. R: Yeah, and skin. P: And a lot of bones. I had that for supper last night. R: Yes. P: That’s nice. Well, I think you named all the fish. Now how about animals? R: Animals? P: Yeah. R: Well, we have cattle here. P: G(A). R: We have sheep. Goat. P: G(A). R: We have donkey. P: G(A). R: Pigs. P: G(A), R: Horse. P: G(A). R: Donkey. P: How about monkeys? R: Oh, monkeys, many of them. Monkeys up in the bush. P: Do you ever see monkeys around here? S: Yeah. R: Yeah, every so often, they up there. P: G(A). P: What’s the name of the ghut here. R: Ruby Ghut. P: Ruby Ghut. OK. But do the monkeys ever come into U(F) your neighborhood here. R: Yes, but not here, but to the back. P: G(A). R: Did you ever see one, G(Q)? P: Oh, yes, when I stayed at Timothy’s. R: G(A). P: There on Frigate Bay. R: G(A). P: Every morning when I got up and I’d walk out the back door. R: Yeah. P: They were just covered with monkeys. R:U(L). P: But then, by nine ten o;clock in the morning and people started showing up, they disappeared. But I was amazed. They’re really tame. The come right up to you, just about. That’s excellent. Let me see if there’s anything else. Did you name all the weeds? [END SIDE A] R: We have a horse rubdown. P: OK. R: We have a man to man, call bush called man to man. P: G(A). R: We have parsley. P: G(A). R: In beads. We have two kind of fern. The white fern tree and the black fern tree. P: G(A). R: We have a bush that’s a herringbone. P: G(A) What’s that like. R: That one is flat. P: G(A). Flat on the ground.? R: Yeah, on the ground. P: G(A), but it has a herringbone pattern. R: Yeah, it goes from here over to this building. You touch it up. P: G(A). R: Take island bush, make tea. P: What about this horse rubdown. R: Horse rubdown. P: Hash rubdown or horse? R: G(Q)? Horse yeah. P: Why, what is that? R: That little weed that grow in the sugar cane. P: G(A) Oh, that’s another one that grows in the cane. R: G(A). P: And that’s not something you use for anything. R: Yes, tea. P: Oh, tea. R: Yeah. P: But you don’t rub down horses with it. R: G(Q)? No. No. P: No. R: No. No. P: That’s what I was wondering. OK. R: Some people use for catch cold. P: G(A). I see. R: They run it with barley. P: G(A). R: Let alone and drink it. P: Just regular tea, not a medicinal tea. Just an ordnary tea. R: Most people use bush tea in the night mostly. P: G(A). R: In the night. S: For when you sick. P: Well, that’s interesting; that’s great. No the last thing I want you to do for me. This just for pronunciation, to see if you pronounce things like people pronounce them Lodge Village or St. Paul’s. So I’m going to U(I). R: Oh. P: All I’m asking you to do is some simple pronunciations. OK? R: U(L). P: What I want you to do is count from one to fourteen. R: One, two three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen. P: Right. And the number after nineteen. R: Twenty. P: After sixty-nine. R: Seventy. P: The number after ninety-nine. R: Hundred. P: Number after nine hundred ninety-nine, R: A thousand. P: Now, you can count one, two, three, four, five, or you can count another way. First, second., you know. Like the days of the month, first, second, third, you know what I mean? Can you do that up to ten? First, second. R: First, second, third. P: Yeah, keep going. R: Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. P: Yeah, ok, fine, what I want you to do is name the days of the week. R: Oh, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. P: Great. And now the months of the year. R January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.. P: We’re done. That’s it. 1