_February 15th._
... Ash-Wednesday. The last masquerade will appear this afternoon,
notwithstanding; for the Carnival lasts in Martinique a day longer than
elsewhere.
All through the country districts since the first week of January there
have been wild festivities every Sunday--dancing on the public highways
to the pattering of tamtams,--African dancing, too, such as is never
seen in St. Pierre. In the city, however, there has been less merriment
than in previous years;--the natural gaiety of the population has been
visibly affected by the advent of a terrible and unfamiliar visitor to
the island,--_La Vérette_: she came by steamer from Colon.
... It was in September. Only two cases had been reported when every
neighboring British colony quarantined against Martinique. Then other
West Indian colonies did likewise. Only two cases of small-pox. "But
there may be two thousand in another month," answered the governors and
the consuls to many indignant protests. Among West Indian populations
the malady has a signification unknown in Europe or the United States:
it means an exterminating plague.
Two months later the little capital of Fort-de-France was swept by the
pestilence as by a wind of death. Then the evil began to spread. It
entered St. Pierre in December, about Christmas time. Last week 173
cases were reported; and a serious epidemic is almost certain. There
were only 8500 inhabitants in Fort-de-France; there are 28,000 in the
three quarters of St. Pierre proper, not including her suburbs; and
there is no saying what ravages the disease may make here.