Martinique Sketches.
236
The tint is a cinnamon or chocolate color ;—the skin is naturally clear, smooth, glossy : it is of the capresse especially that the term " sapota-skin " {peau-chapotï) is used,—coupled with all curious Creole adjectives to express what is comely,—-jojoll, beaujoll* etc. The hair is long, but bushy ; the limbs light and strong, and admirably shaped. . . . I am told that when transported to a colder climate, the capre or capresse partly loses this ruddy tint. Here, under the tropic sun, it has a beauty only possible to imitate in metal. . . . And because photography cannot convey any idea of this singular color, the capresse hates a p h o t o g r a p h . — " M a i n pas none," she says ; — " moin ouôuge:
ou fai
moin
noué
nans pbtrait-à."
(I am not b l a c k :
I am red : — y o u make me black in that portrait.) It is difficult to make her pose before the camera : she is red, as she avers, beautifully red ; but the malicious instrument makes her gray or b l a c k — n o u é conm poule-zo-noue (" black as a black-boned hen !") . . . And this red race is disappearing from St. Pierre —doubtless also from other plague-stricken centres. * I m a y cite in this relation o n e stanza of a C r e o l e s o n g — v e r y p o p ular in St. P i e r r e — c e l e b r a t i n g the charms of a little c a p r e s s e : — " M o i n toutt j e i n e , G o u ô s , g o u â s , vaillant, Peau di chapoti K a fai plaisi ; — Lapeau moin Li bien poli ; E t m o i n ka plai M ê n m toutt n h o m m e g r a v e ! " — W h i c h might b e freely r e n d e r e d thus : — " I am dimpled, young, R o u n d - l i m b e d , and strong, W i t h sapota-skin T h a t is g o o d to see : All glossy-smooth I s this skin of m i n e ; A n d the gravest m e n L i k e to l o o k at m e ! "