Part 4 — CLXXXIV.
Reading edition
Schottische or 4th Figure.
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Them Gar'n Town people them call me follow-line, Them Gar'n Town people them call me follow-line, Them Gar'n Town people them call me follow-line, Somebody dying here ev'ry day. A ten pound order him kill me pardner, A ten pound order him kill me pardner, A ten pound order him kill me pardner For somebody dying here ev'ry day. Den number nine tunnel I would not work dé, Den number nine tunnel I would not work dé, Den number nine tunnel I would not work dé For somebody dying here ev'ry day.
An incident, or perhaps it were better to say an accident, in the making of the road to Newcastle. A man who undertook a piece of contract work for £10 was killed by a falling stone. The so-called tunnels are cuttings. Number nine had a very bad reputation.
Gordon Town is a hamlet nine miles from Kingston. The driving road ends there, and access to the mountain district beyond is obtained only by mule tracks.
Strangers are called "follow-line" because, as they come down from their homes in the higher hills, they walk in strings. No Black man or woman ever goes alone if he can help it. He always hitches on to somebody else, and the string increases in length as it passes along. This walking in Indian file is necessitated by the narrowness of the track, which is seldom wide enough for two to walk abreast.
The tune has the character of a march rather than of a dance, but I am assured it is used for a Schottische, which has a somewhat slower measure than a Polka, and for Fourth Figure. Their cleverness in adapting the same steps to different rhythms has been already commented on.