There is a brown
girl in the ring tra la la la la la, brown girl in the ring tra la la la la and
she looks like a sugar in a plum, plum, plum…Screeching at the top of our
lungs, skipping along. I guess screeching would be the only way to describe
Ava’s and my singing. Neither of us could carry a
tune if we were paid million dollars. The sun beating down our backs bare
feet, tattered dresses straw hats, crocus sacks over our shoulders armed with a
dull knife to cut sisal.
We rarely wore shoes other than church or school. There
was a specific order and progression of how clothing was worn. New shoes were
worn at church and special events. Old church shoes was then passed on to
school, the school shoes if it still fits would be for the yard play. The same
order was applied to clothing. The new and best clothing was always kept for
Sunday-go -to- meeting. For adults church clothing was worn until new one was
could be afforded. Everyone was always well turned out”. No matter how old faded,
or patched the clothing, it was washed, starched and ironed within until it
could practically stand on its own.
I would be remiss if
I did not briefly describe interesting fashion statement the older men
settlement made. At church the men always wore jackets and ties, no matter how
old the clothing with a hat that was respectfully, removed at the church’s
door. For farming and fishing and day to day activity it was usually the old
graduated church clothing, where the shirt was missing practically every button
and the pants all it hooks, buttons and zipper. The shirts were causally pinned
together with safety pins, the pants waist was skillfully pull together where each end was loop over at the front
where it miraculously stayed securely in place no matter the activity, this was
referred to as the “John Newton hitch”. Shoes were made from old tires cut to
fit, holes punched in to string sisal rope through then tied to the feet,
completing the look would be a straw hat finishing look was a clay pipe that
had seen better days having lost most of the stem and the bowl being so close
to the face the eyes were squinted to avoid the smoke. Comical! However, no matter
the hard ship everyone took great care of what they had and was most grateful
for their blessings.
Well back to gathering
sisal. Going to collect sisal was an all-day event. Ava and I would set out at
sunrise going to the North shore the opposite side of the island. We refer to this beach as
the North side because all the settlements were built on opposite south side of
the island where there were long stretches of beautiful beaches, no reef
hazards and the sea was calmer.
Though the sisal industry is
no longer a major industrial product of the Bahamian economy it is still used in
small quantities to produce rope, handbags, hats and other items for sale at
the straw market. It takes a long process to make the sisal into useful items
for sale in the Bahamas. The younger tender leaves are removed stripped chained
together then anchored into the salt water pond until the surface of the leaves
begin to disintegrate exposing the fiber inside. The fiber is washed left out
to be bleached and dried by the sun. Then rolled into small useable strips to
be braided and sewn into products for the straw market. This long drawn out
process antiquated production method was the major reason only a few of the
women worked with the sisal. Most of the ladies prefer to work with the native
palms to produce for the straw market. So usually Ava and I would be the only
ones headed to the North side to gather the leaves of the sisal, Saturdays or school
breaks.
Naturally there would be a
few detours. Since we never carried anything to eat, we would stop to find ripe
bananas, mangoes, sapodilla, tamarind, sugar cane and picked coconuts. No one
could climb a coconut tree like Ava. Dress fold between her legs arm and legs wrapped
around the trunk she would scurry up the tree nearly as fast as a gecko. Being
a little timid of heights I would stay on the ground nearby and watch to see
where the green jelly coconuts fell then gather them up for our feast. We would
find a shady tree and a smooth rock where we pounded the coconuts to split the
outer shell to get the water and soft coconut jelly inside. Nothing is as
refreshing as coconut water and jelly on a hot summer’s day. Once we had our
fill we would rest a bit taking the rest with us to eat later.
As we approach the North side the
waves could always be heard from miles away, the boom, and boom sound
echoing, as the waves pounded against the reefs. These rough seas made the
north side beach a treasure trove of unusual discoveries that washed ashore. We
love scouring the beach as we suck the sweet juice from the sugar cane the
juice running down our arms and faces. Warm summer breeze tugging at the hats
on our head one hand on top preventing it from blowing into the sea. Our
dresses twirling and tangling around our bare legs not a care in the world.
Our usual finds were canned
powdered milk, cheese and other food items, cigarette lighters, shoes, hats,
sunglasses etc. Anything we were unfamiliar with, we made a game of guessing
what it was and what it could be used for. It was great fun. I was an avid
reader and I a wonderful imagination.
Collecting sisal was always last on
our list of things to do. But it had to be done we would move back in land searching
among fragments of the old sisal farms harvesting the most desirable leaves.
Once our bags were filled to capacity, bags on our, under the afternoon shadows
of the overhanging trees we would head back, with me anticipating my evening
meal. No skipping, no singing, correction screeching just tired bare feet placed
one in front on the other.
Sisal is a member of the cactus family. For
a brief period sisal played an important role in the economic development of
the Bahamas. The plant was introduced into the
Bahamas in 1845, but was not produced in large quantities until the 1880s.Today countries such as Angola, Brazil, China, Cuba, Haiti, Indonesia,
Kenya manufacture sisal in large quantities for a wide variety of uses
Let Smiling Pat Eco Tours help you
to make your acquaintance with some very fascinating aspects of Cat Island’s
past. View the remaining frame work of an old plantation home, remnants of old
sisal, and sugar cane fields etc.
If you want to learn more about the
sisal & sugar cane and the historical perspectives of agriculture in the
Bahamas, read Agriculture in the Bahamas:
Historical Development 1941-992 by J. Godfrey Eneas, Abaco the History of an Out Island and its Cays by Steve Dodge.
Also a great read about childhood exploits similar to those of Tinkerwee’s on
Cat Island pick up Sir Sidney Poitier’s
book The Measure of a Man, he is Cat Island’s most treasured son on the
soil.
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