language, “ trade English ” ; it is not only used as a means
of intercommunication between whites and blacks, but between
natives using two distinct languages. On the south-west
Coast you find individuals in villages far from the sea, or a
trading station, who know it, and this is because they have-
picked it up and employ it in their dealings with the coast
tribes and travelling traders. It is by no means an easy
language to pick up— it is not a farrago of bad words and
broken phrases, but is a definite structure, has a great
peculiarity in its verb forms, and employs no genders. There
is no grammar of it out y e t ; and one of the best ways o f
learning it is to listen to a seasoned second mate regulating
the unloading or loading, of cargo, over the hatch of the hold.
No, my Coast friends, I have not forgotten— but though you
did not mean it helpfully, this was one of the best hints you
ever gave me.
Another good way is the careful study of examples which
display the highest style and the most correct diction ; so I
append the letter given by Mr. Hutchinson as being about
the best bit of trade English I know.
“ To Daddy nah Tampin Office,—-
Ha Daddy, do, yah, rtah beg you tell dem people for m e ;;
make dem Sally-own pussin know. Do yah. Berrah well.
Ah lib nah Pademba Road— one bwoy lib dah oberside
lakah dem two Docter lib overside you Tampin office. Berrah
well.
Dah bwoy head big too much— he say nah Militie Ban— he
got one long long ting so so brass, someting lib dah go flip-
flap, dem call am key. Berrah well. Had ! Dah bwoy kin
blow!— she a h !— na marin, o h !— nah sun time, oh ! nah evenin,.
oh ! nah middle night, oh ! all same— no make pussin sleep.
Not ebry bit dat, more lib da ! One Boney bwoy lib oberside
nah he like blow bugle. When dem two woh-woh bwoy blow
dem ting de nize too much too much.
When white man blow dat ting and pussin sleep he kin tap'
wah make dem bwoy earn do so? Dem bwoy kin blow ebry
day eben Sunday dem kin blow. When ah yerry dem blow
Sunday ah wish dah bugle kin go down na dem troat or
dem kin blow them, head-bone’inside.
Do nah beg you yah tell all dem people ’bout dah ting wah
dem two bwoy dah blow. Till am Amtrang Boboh hab febah
bad. Till am titty earn sleep nah night. Dah nize go kill me
two pickin, oh !
Plabba done. Good by Daddy.
Crashey Jane.”
Now for the elementary student we will consider this letter.
The complaint in Crashey Jane’s letter is about two boys who
are torturing her morning, noon, and night, Sunday and
week day, by blowing some “ long long brass ting ” as well as a
bugle, and the way she dwells on their staying power must
bring a sympathetic pang for that black sister into the heart
of many a householder in London who lives next to a ladies’
school, or a family of musical tastes. “ One touch of nature,”
&c. “ Daddy ” is not a term of low familiarity but one of esteem
and respect, and the “ Tampin Office ” is a respectful appellation
for the Office of the.“ New E ra ” in which this letter was once
published. “ Bwoy head big too much,” means that the young
man is swelled with conceit because he is connected with
“ Militie ban.” “ Woh woh ” you will find, among all the natives
in the Bights, to mean extremely bad. I think it is native,
having some connection with the root Wo— meaning power,
& c .; but Mr. Hutchinson may be right, and it may mean “ a
capacity to bring double woe.”
“ Amtrang Boboh” is not the name of some uncivilised
savage, as the uninitiated may think ; far from it. It is Bob
Armstrong— upside down, and slightly altered, and refers
to the Hon. Robert Armstrong, stipendiary magistrate of
Sierra Leone, &c.
“ Berrah well ” is a phrase used whenever the native thinks he
has succeeded in putting his statement well. He sort of
turns round and looks at it, says “ Berrah well,” in admiration
of his own art, and then proceeds.
“ Pickin ” are children.
“ Boney bwoy ” is not a local living skeleton, but a native
from Bonny River.
“ Sally own ” is Sierra Leone.
“ Blow them head-bone inside ” means, blow the top off
their heads.
F F