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SILVERTORCH   
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THE FIRST MONTSERRAT
Before there was Montserrat in the West Indies, there was Montserrat in
northeastern Spain. The name means "serrated mountain." (monte
surredo in Spanish). It is noted for its rock formation and for the
ancient monastery of Montserrat on its eastern side.
NOTES ON MONTSERRAT
(Excerpts from The
High Price of Sugar by Susan Miller
Slave Gardens
On most plantations slaves managed to carve out a degree of autonomy by
insisting on certain rights, such as a weekly day off and the right to
sell, at Sunday market, food they had grown in their own gardens.
"One of the forms of both accommodation and resistance, especially on
Montserrat, was through these slave gardens up in the hills," says
Goodwin. "Because they could escape white eyes, these gardens had
connotations of freedom and self-worth. But the gardens were also
advantageous to slave owners because they relieved them of some of the
responsibility of supplying food to slaves."
Wealth on Galways
In excavating Galways Plantation on Montserrat, Pulsipher and Goodwin
unearthed an unusual abundance of artifacts from the plantation's slave
village, including imported porcelain dishes, clay pipes, buttons,
clothing fasteners, beads and coins. "These people were into a
material culture," says Pulsipher. "Our theory is that their
wealth was a result of their gardens up on the hillsides." Judging by
the artifacts, Goodwin suspects slaves on Galways Plantation possessed
maybe twice the material wealth of slaves on typical plantations in the
southern Unite
To see the whole article, click
here.
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Words, mostly
political in intent, written in 1997 to be sung to Christmas tunes.
To be sung to the tune of
"O Little Town of Bethlehem."
O little isle of Montserrat
We hardly see thee lie,
A plume or two obscures our view
As all your ash flows by.
Yet Britain reassures us
What's needed you'll receive,
Clare Short will pay till they can say,
"Now all of you must leave."
As long as you are viable
Assistance still will come,
Why, total what's been spent and vowed,
It's quite a tidy sum.
Clare's iffy on an airport,
It costs more than you're worth.
But wait a while, there's still a chance
They might exclude the north.
This season all us islanders
Should revel as before,
For Christmas and our carnival
Are precious island lore.
So what if life's uncertain,
We're here, so let's not grieve,
Clare Short must pay till they can say,
"Now all of you must leave."
To be sung to the tune of "Oh Come All
Ye Faithful"
Oh come all ye cynics
Displaced and resentful,
Oh come ye, oh come ye
From Ram's Emdee.
Come and confront him
Newly named our governor.
Oh come let us implore him,
Oh come let us implore him,
Oh come let us implore him
Hopelessly!
Just look what we've done now
Voicing our displeasure
By marching indignantly,
Unarmed but loud.
What does he tell us?
"Think of law and order."
Oh come let him implore us,
Oh come let him implore us,
Oh come let him implore us
Piously!
Now comes the committee
In the House of Commons
All eager to underplay
Clare Short's contempt,
Read their conclusions,
See how they hold Montserrat,
Prepare to clear the island,
Prepare to clear the island,
Prepare to clear the island
Stealthily!
Now come Montserratians
Tell them how determined
We are to remain here though
They wish us gone.
What's the volcano
Next to British subterfuge?
So come let us refute them,
So come let us refute them,
So come let us refute them
Adamantly!
To be sung to the tune of "I Saw Three
Ships"
I saw three ships come sailing in
To Little Bay, to Little Bay,
I saw three ships come sailing in
To Little Bay in the morning.
The ships came in but couldn't dock
At Little Bay, at Little Bay,
The ships came in but couldn't dock,
And one of them was the ferry.
So how would we evacuate
From Little Bay, from Little Bay,
So how would we evacuate
If Britain got what it's hoping?
It looks as though we'll have to stay
On Montserrat, on Montserrat,
It looks as though we'll have to stay,
And that's what we've all been saying.
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