•
Early next morning, the captain of the caïque whose departure for Constantinople I had been awaiting for two weeks suddenly decided to set sail. There was no time to go and say good-bye to Berthe so I wrote a hasty letter of farewell at a café on the waterfront and sent a little bootblack pattering off with it over the cobbles. I went on board with my luggage, and settled in the bows.
Several hitches held up the caïque’s departure, but the engines started at last, the mainsail was hoisted, the anchor was hauled on board. Turning her nose towards Turkey, the caïque sailed every moment faster through the anchored labyrinth of vessels. All at once we heard a shout from the quay. It was Phrosoula, running barefoot along the water’s edge and frantically waving. The Captain cut off the engine, but the sail still kept the vessel in motion.
‘This is from Kyria Mpertha!’ Phrosoula shouted and threw a small parcel which I managed to catch. Phrosoula’s waving figure grew smaller as the caïque turned to the open sea again and the Anatolian Hills.
The parcel contained a spoon of elaborate design. Round it was wrapped a letter in Berthe’s firm clear handwriting. In haste [it began]. I wonder if you would like this, it is rather a curious present. Do you remember that I told you I found I was still holding a spoon when I fell over the armadillo? I must have tucked it into the front of my dress because when I went to bed in Victoria’s hut (the kind old negress who took care of me in Dominica), there it was, with Josephine’s crumpled letters, which you saw. They were all that remained of Saint-Jacques. I have kept it ever since and now I’d like you to have it.
The long slender spoon was made of heavy silver. The stem was slightly bent, and where it expanded to form the handle, there was a scroll on which the word Terpsichore was incised. Still higher up, a small silver statuette in swaying draperies advanced at a dancing step and her tiptoes rested on either end of the scroll. A silver garland flew in a final curve between her upheld and elegantly twisted arms. It was an object at the same time both charming and engagingly comic. The spoon [Berthe’s letter went on], was one of a set of nine and the figurines were copied from sketches my cousin made of the statues placed along the wall of the terrace at Plessis. I hope I didn’t tire you last night with my long rigmarole. It must be over fifty years since I inflicted it on anybody and I do not expect that I shall ever do so again. I am so grateful for what you told me about the violins and the ball for the Count’s beautiful daughter. I have been thinking about it ever since and for some reason it has made me absurdly happy. It seems to make amends for much past unhappiness and it will never seem quite the same now; so I would like to send this small present in return.
I am so glad, too, that there are no dates and names assigned to the violins and, above all, no link with the eruption. I hope Phrosoula catches you before your boat leaves and that you have a happy journey. Yours ever. Berthe.
[1] De Rebus Insularum Indiarum Occidentis quae Charaeibae vel Karaibi Dicuntur. Rev P. Heiron. Zancarolus, O.S.F., 7 Vols. Venice, 1723.
[2] The same phenomenon occurred in Haiti.
[3] The French Wilberforce.
[4] West Indian volcanic hills.
[5] Bel air.
[6] White man.
[7] ‘Everybody has somebody to love,’ a rough translation would go, ‘everybody has somebody to cherish, everybody has a sweetheart of their own, I alone can’t have one, I alone.’
[8] La Desirade – the Deseada of the first Spanish Conquistadores – is the rocky coffin-shaped island some miles to the east of Guadeloupe and due north of Saint-Jacques. It is the principal leper colony of the French West Indies.
[9] The port of Guadeloupe.
[10] Carriacou is the largest of the Grenadine Islands, an archipelago o$$$ small islands lying between Grenada and St. Vincent in the British Windward Islands, far to the south of Saint-Jacques. The inhabitants are of mixed Scottish and negro descent and they formerly talked with a noticeably Scottish accent.
NOTES
The people of Saint-Jacques, like those of Martinique, spoke French, sometimes with an accent that turned the tongue’s characteristic rrr into a w: hence grande robe becomes “gwand wobe.” The text is peppered with French words, phrases, songs, and brief exchanges, not all of which are made clear to the non-French speaker by the context. Some readers might find a basic crib helpful. I have not included every last word—items of dress and food are mostly overlooked—only those which seem to present a minor stumbling block. My thanks go to Viviane Blanchard for lending a native eye to the list.
J. C.
cousins à la mode de Bretagne: those we refer to as cousins though there is no blood relation
lavallière: a tie or cravat tied in two large knots
droit de jambage: cf. droit de seigneur, or the right to take his pick from among the island’s young women
ce qui donnait un vrai air de famille à toute la maisonnée: which gave a family resemblance to all concerned
Ils ne savent pas s’y mettre: They don’t know how to go about it
qu’est qu’on va fai’ de ce tewible cheval? C’est un vwai monstwe! . . . Ma petite Be’the chéwie, je n’appwendwai jamais la twigonométwie: what are we to do with this awful horse? It is truly a monster! . . . My dear little Berthe, I will never learn trigonometry
fô dimandé ça à Messié le Comte: it’s necessary to ask the Count
ces cwapules de métwopolitains: these city bastards
Enfin! Qu’ils viennent!: All right! Let them come!
Ga’dez Salpetwière! . . . li pas faché, li fait bomba pou’ Ma’di Gwas, comme nous: Keep an eye on Salpêtrière! . . . he isn’t angry, he’s getting ready for Mardi Gras, like us
Goutez ça, Messié le Comte. . . . Ou ka volé au pawadis!: Taste this, Count. . . . It is stolen from paradise!
quelle épouvantable chaleur! . . . Mais quelle splendeur chez vous, mon cher comte: what frightful heat! . . . But what a splendid place you have, my dear count
C’est Vénus toute entière à sa proie attachée!: The Captain is quoting Racine from Phédre (act 1, scene 3): “It is Venus herself fastened to her prey.”
rastaquouère: fishy character
Vos Excellences . . . nous allons vous wévéler le woi du Carnaval: Your Excellencies . . . we are going to reveal to you the king of the Carnival
Beauté supwême et toute puissante . . .: The words of the song translate roughly as:
Beauty supreme and all-powerful,
Majestic being of the carnival,
In the sweltering shadows,
Come out of the palace and direct the ball!
Sors: Come out
fer de lance: refers to the snake in erect posture
rentre: get back in
fort interessant, ma foi! Personne ne sait danser comme les nègres!: very interesting, by jove! No one knows how to dance like the niggers!
nègre / noir: nigger / black
Mais ils sont impayables, ces gens là: But they are hilarious, these people
quelle incroyable désinvolture!: what an incredible cheek!
vite, vite: quickly, quickly
Ce n’était vraiment pas la peine de l’abattre deux fois. . . . C’est fouetter un chat mort, comme qui dirait: It is really not worth the trouble to kill him twice. . . . It’s to flog a dead cat, as they would say
v-voilà une p-p-p-plaisantewie que je ne g-goute que m-m-médiocwement: that is a joke which I take rather badly
P-p-parceque v-vous êtes une s-sale b-b-bête: Because you are a dirty rat
à demain: until tomorrow
spadassin: literally, a hired killer; the adjectival use here suggests “vicious”
un homme très rancunier: a very bitter man
Toi et moi aussi, et la pauvre Mathilde et les enfants et le Capitaine et Gentilien et tous les invités et tous les noirs!: You and me too, and the poor Mathilde and the children and the Captain and Gentilien and all the guests and all the blacks!
Quand l�
�amour revient: When love returns
chaudières: volcanic cavities in the process of eruption
Je n’aime pas ça: I don’t like that
on y va!: let’s go!
The Violins of Saint-Jacques Page 12