Times of the Islands Summer 2017

One popular song includes the lines, “Bonefish bite
me, nobody knows, every married man has his own
bonefish. Throw out your line and catch your bonefish.”
This song deals with the sacredness of having a wife,
and when you do see a female, likened to a bonefish,
that attracts your attention deeply, you should approach
her and express your interest in her. The bonefish is a
delicacy, and a beautiful female is described in delicate
terms, and is treated kindly and respectfully. So the wife
becomes a bonefish, with all the niceties. The song is
played with musical instruments such as the drum, guitar
and accordion, the latter locally referred to as “music
box.” It is a song of joy.
And there are songs of justice. One named, “I Call the
River,” is about a family where a sibling took food from
the cooking pot and won’t admit it. The nearby river was
seen as nature’s way of dispensing justice, or setting a
person free. The mother took her three sons down to the
river, where each had to wade in, stop when the water
reached his waistline, and sing, ‘‘I call the river, I call the
river, I call the river no more, and if I eat my mother’s
rice, I call the river to swallow me.’’ The first two boys
went in and sang, but the river did not rise. The last boy
approached the river crying while he sang the song, his
voice trembling as he did so. And as he sang, the river
kept rising until it covered his neck, which brought a
quick admission and an apology. Justice was about to be
served, but was kind. The lesson is not to steal and if you
do, admit it and apologize, or the river will decide your
fate.
The sea plays an important role in the lives of residents
of South Caicos. There is a traditional fishing
sector, and “jumping turtles” was a strategy to capture
this food source. The fishermen would go out in their
fishing vessels with eyes trained on the sea for turtles
that might come to the surface. When one did, a fisherman
would quickly jump from the boat on the back of the
turtle and turn it over, so that its underside was on top.
In this state, the turtle is helpless. It was then carried to
the boat and lifted in with the aid of the other fishermen.
This was not as easy as it appeared, since a large turtle
could put up a fight, and escape.
A South Caicos song called “The Kaiser” came from
these experiences, which described really huge tur-
RAMONA SETTLE
Religion is an important element of life on South Caicos and the Anglican church here is the country’s third oldest building.
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