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CHRISTMAS WAITS.
to do this, they purchase a few raisins to treat their friends with. “ Christmas day " is ushered in with the sound of fiddles and drums ; parties of negroes going round the town about four o'clock in the morning, playing upon these instruments for the purpose of breaking people's rest, (for I am sure it cannot amuse ;) and then they have the assurance to call at the different houses during the day for payment. At the conclusion of this serenade, or waits, or whatever else they choose to term it, the musicians generally raise their voices to the highest pitch, and call out, “ Good morning to you, massa ; good morning to you, missis ; good morning to you, ladies and gentlemen all ! " a flourish is then given with fiddle and drum, and they march off to disturb another quiet household. The next point to be considered is the dwellings of the negroes. The generality of negro houses upon estates contain two apartments, and are built of stone, cemented by a rough mortar. The roofs are composed of trash (the dry leaves of the sugar-cane), loosely piled on, which gives them an untidy appearance. Some of the industrious people, however, greatly add to the look of the interior, by neatly ceiling them with the split boughs of the cocoa-nut, formed into a kind of basket-work. The best huts have the hall, or sitting-room, paved with bricks, or a kind of smooth cement, and the sleeping-apartment boarded. Among the articles of furniture may be found sofas, sideboards of manchineel, (or some other species of native wood,) mahogany and deal tables, and a large cedar chest. Besides these articles, some of them possess decanters, tumblers, wineglasses, and a large bowl to make their punch in, with plates and dishes, tea-cups, and various other kinds of gaudy crockeryware. These are the residences of the head negroes ; the next kind have their stone-houses unceiled, and only the bare earth for their floor ; they contain but little furniture, two or three chairs of the country make, a deal table, and a wooden box or two being their principal