The ball opens with a set of Quadrilles:--
When I go home I will tell me mumma, When I go home I will tell me mumma, When I go home I will tell me mumma That the gals in Jamaica won't leave me alone.]
This is the production of a white musician to whom the black girls were especially attentive.
Guava root a medicine, Guava root a medicine, Guava root a medicine fe go cure all the young gal fever.]
A decoction of the root of the Guava is used in cases of fever.
"Medicine" is pronounced so as to rhyme with Edison.
Crahss-lookin' dog up'tairs, Crahss-lookin' dog up'tairs; I lift up me foot an' I hit him a kick an' him roll up him tail an' run. What you fe do with that? What you fe do with that? I meet him up'tairs an' I hit him a kick an' he roll up him tail an' run.]
See note to "Parson Puss and Parson Dog" (p. 93), also Author's Preface.
Goatridge have some set a gal So-so shirt them can't wash. Give me back me soap an' blue, Give me back me soap an' blue, Give me back me soap an' 'tarch, So-so shirt them can't wash.]
Goatridge is the name of a neighbouring hamlet. When a boy "gives out his shirts to wash" he also provides the girl with soap, blue and starch.
So-so means even. It also means only, as:--"I get so-so potato fe nyam," I only got potatoes to eat.
Me carry me akee a Linstead market, Not a quatty worth sell. Oh what a losses! Not a quatty worth sell. Me carry me akee a Linstead market. Not a quatty worth sell. Oh not a light, not a bite! Not a quatty worth sell.]
The Akee (_Cupania edulis_), pronounced _acky_, is a handsome tree producing something which one hardly knows whether to call a fruit or a vegetable. Besides the edible part, the beautiful scarlet capsule contains a substance which is poisonous. Deaths by misadventure through carelessness in its preparation for table occur every year.
The time of these Quadrille tunes will be pretty accurately judged. They would all come under _Allegro_ except the First, which is slower than the others, and it might be headed _Allegretto_ or even _Andantino_. The Third figure is not much used, and many dancers do not know the step. Its place is generally supplied by one of the other figures. The most popular of all is the Fifth, of which we have many examples to give. The step is regulated by two beats in the bar of six, so we find that they dance it also to 2/4 time, as for instance:--