Les Blanclrisseuses.
245
If, after one year of instruction, the apprentice fails to prove a good washer, it is not likely she will ever become one ; and there are some branches of the trade requiring a longer period of teaching and of practice. The young girl first learns simply to soap and wash the linen in the river, which operation is called " r u b b i n g " {frotté in Creole) ;—after she can do this pretty well, she is taught the curious art of whipping it (fessé). Y o u can hear the sound of the fessé a great way off, echoing and re-echoing among the mornes : it is not a sharp smacking noise, as the name might seem to imply, but a heavy hollow sound exactly like that of an axe splitting dry timber. In fact, it so closely resembles the latter sound that you are apt on first hearing it to look up at the mornes with the expectation of seeing woodmen there at work. And it is not made by striking the linen with anything, but only by lashing it against the sides of the rocks. . . . After a piece has been well rubbed and rinsed, it is folded up into a peculiar sheaf-shape, and seized by the closely gathered end for the fessé. Then the folding process is repeated on the reverse, and the other end whipped. This process expels suds that rinsing cannot remove : it must be done very dexterously to avoid tearing or damaging the material. By an experienced hand the linen is never torn ; and even pearl and bone buttons are much less often broken than might be supposed. The singular echo is altogether due to the manner of folding the article for the fessé. After this, all the pieces are spread out upon the rocks, in the sun, for the " first bleaching " (pouemiè lablaniè). In the evening they are gathered into large wooden trays or baskets, and carried to what is called the " lye-house " (locate lessive)—overlooking the river from a point on the Fort bank opposite to the higher end of the Savane. Here each blanchisseuse hires a small or a large vat, or even several,—according to the quantity of work done,—