2l6
Martinique Sketches.
of many hundred boy-voices all rising together,—a re-
treating storm of rhythmic song, wafted to the ear in
gusts, in rafales of contralto. . . .
XI.
F'ebruary 17th.
. . . Yzore is a calendeuse.
The calendeuses are the women who make up the
beautiful Madras turbans and color them ; for the amaz-
ingly brilliant yellow of these head-dresses is not the
result of any dyeing process : they are all painted by
hand. When purchased the Madras is simply a great
oblong handkerchief, having a pale green or pale pink
ground, and checkered or plaided by intersecting bands
of dark blue, purple, crimson, or maroon. The calendeuse
lays the Madras upon a broad board placed across her
knees ,—then, taking a camel's-hair brush, she begins to
fill in the spaces between the bands with a sulphur-
yellow paint, which is always mixed with gum-arabic.
It requires a sure eye, very steady fingers, and long ex-
perience to do this well. . . . After the Madras has been
" calendered " (calendê) and has become quite stiff and
dry, it is folded about the head of the purchaser after the
comely Martinique fashion,—which varies considerably
from the modes popular in Guadeloupe or Cayenne,—is
fixed into the form thus obtained; and can thereafter
be taken off or put on without arrangement or disar-
rangement, like a cap. The price for calendering a
Madras is now two francs and fifteen sous ;—and for
making-up the turban, six sous additional, except in
Carnival-time, or upon holiday occasions, when the price
rises to twenty-five sous. . . . The making-up of the
Madras into a turban is called " tying a head " (marri
yon tête); and a prettily folded turban is spoken of as "a
head well tied" (yon tête bien marré). . . . However, the
profession of calendeuse is far from being a lucrative