Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 52.djvu/805

Rh that it was the Evil Eye fixed upon them, so that many a good opportunity for a snap shot was lost by the sudden hiding or covering of the face of the picturesque negro. Sometimes they could be persuaded for a penny or two to grant one's request to "wait a minute." In some cases, discovering that they had been "took," they would ask for a penny indemnity. One day, just as I was about to photograph two little children, the angry mother appeared, severely scolding because some one had not bargained for a penny. The small children are scantily clad with a single garment, while the women wear white calico dresses, white aprons, and bright-colored plaid handkerchiefs tied around their heads under straw hats. They may or may not be barefooted. The homes of these people are picturesque, especially in the village of Grantstown, where the little huts, often thatched with palmettos, nestle among luxuriant tropical gardens, and the cocoanut palms wave above bananas, oleanders, datura, and sapodilla trees. The houses have no glass in the windows, but instead have shutters with bars, which are the only means



of closing the windows. There are never chimneys, for the cooking is all done out of doors, a black pot, with legs suspended over a fire of fagots, serving for general use. Men, women, and children speak to travelers, and expect a word of recognition in return. When