CUT HIM WIFE rROAT OUT Sus,—I am grateful for Mr.
MacLeavy's linguistic corrections to my rendering of Jamaican conversa- tion, and shall certainly buy a copy of Professor Cassidy's book. 'Pickneys' is certainly right for 'children' although it does happen that 'massa' is used on this particular property, though it may well be `boas' everywhere else.
This little point illustrates Mr. MacLeavy's whole trouble. He should not be so ready to generalise. My article was simply a tdmoignage, and, as one who has watched the progress of Jamaica towards independence with eager pleasure, I am slightly saddened that it should have aroused the full fury of Mr. MacLeavy's impeccably liberal sentiments. Mature political societies (among which I certainly count Jamaica) do not need to be sensitive to every minor criticism, and such sensitivity is itself a sign of immaturity. I certainly did not intend to imply that all Jamaica is as described in my article, but a little part of it still is, and it is just because that little part is so extraordinary that it is so interesting.
A. F. B. CRAWSHAW
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