_February 17th._
... Yzore is a _calendeuse._
The calendeuses are the women who make up the beautiful Madras turbans
and color them; for the amazingly 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 experience to do this well.... After the Madras has been
"calendered" (_calendé_) 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 disarrangement, 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" (_marré 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 one:
it is two or three days' work to calendar a single Madras well...
But Yzore does not depend upon calendering alone for a living: she earns
much more by the manufacture of moresques and of chinoises than by
painting Madras turbans.... Everybody in Martinique who can afford it
wears moresques and chinoises. The moresques are large loose comfortable
pantaloons of thin printed calico (_indienne_),--having colored designs
representing birds, frogs, leaves, lizards, flowers, butterflies, or
kittens,--or perhaps representing nothing in particular, being simply
arabesques. The chinoise is a loose body-garment, very much like the
real Chinese blouse, but always of brightly colored calico with
fantastic designs. These things are worn at home during siestas, after
office-hours, and at night. To take a nap during the day with one's
ordinary clothing on means always a terrible drenching from
perspiration, and an after-feeling of exhaustion almost
indescribable--best expressed, perhaps, by the local term: _corps
écrasé._ Therefore, on entering one's room for the siesta, one strips,
puts on the light moresques and the chinoise, and dozes in comfort. A
suit of this sort is very neat, often quite pretty, and very cheap
(costing only about six francs);--the colors do not fade out in washing,
and two good suits will last a year.... Yzore can make two pair of
moresques and two chinoises in a single day upon her machine.
... I have observed there is a prejudice here against treadle
machines;--the creole girls are persuaded they injure the health. Most
of the sewing-machines I have seen among this people are operated by
hand,--with a sort of little crank....