https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/788e72e2-89e2-48b6-884a-cd9b3899bd79 Help us preserve, scan and post more rare and endangered films on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCddem5RlB3bQe99wyY49g0g/join Website: www.PeriscopeFilm.com This film "Jamaica" (1933) is part of the Vagabond Adventure Series and provides a visual tour and commentary on the island's geography, history, culture, and economy. Written by Russell Spaulding, and narrator, Alois Havrilla. 0:00–1:06 An aerial view of Kingston, the capital. The narrator describes the island as a "sun-kissed land of hills and plains" and a "tropic isle of infinite beauty" located south of Cuba. Queen Victoria is referred to as the "Supreme Lady of Jamaica." 1:07–1:27 A stroll down King Street shows "signs of civilization," noting it's hard to believe the area was a tropical wilderness and pirate hideout three centuries ago. The narrator makes a confusing joke about traffic rules being the same as in London. 1:30–1:45 The inhabitants are descendants of African slaves imported to work on plantations. The film notes that Great Britain abolished slavery 100 years prior, calling the Jamaican Negro a "happy, enlightened, law-abiding citizen, loyal to his government." 1:45–2:10 Saturday is market day. Few people own a donkey to carry produce. The men work the farms, while the women walk to market, carrying all goods on their heads, sometimes walking 10 miles or more. They return home loaded with supplies. 2:11–2:31 Close-ups of food items, specifically coffee beans and sugar , are shown. 2:37–3:30 The "peasant negroes" are described as attached to their clean, sanitary, and pleasant little homes and plots of land. They are said to follow a code where a 4-day work week provides enough money for their needs. The women are shown using plenty of soap to keep the family clean, and the simple diet is cooked over an open-air fire . 3:31–4:28 Children are shown, described as "fascinating." Over 75,000 children attend elementary schools, where they are taught using the "singing method." The teachers are native and well-prepared. The children are well-behaved, reflecting the Jamaican trait of "placid dignity" as they march out of school. 4:32–5:13 An "interesting group" is shown: a young mother of seven breaking stones for road building to add to the family budget. She chants while working, using her hammer to mark time—an "original lullaby." The broken stone is then spread over the roadway to create a "handmade road." 5:15–6:00 Jamaica's ideal soil and climate make it perfect for raising sugar cane . Small plantations use primitive mills. The cane is fed by hand to rollers, and the juice is boiled until it hardens to make raw sugar (sold only to natives). Large modern mills produce the higher-grade sugar for export. 6:08–7:18 Jamaica is also ideal for growing bananas due to rich soil, heat, and moisture. Young trees and full-grown trees ready for picking are shown. Since each tree bears only one crop, the tree is destroyed after the fruit is cut, and new shoots spring up from the roots. Laborers carry the bunches to a loading station where an overseer lops off the stems. 7:19–8:34 The bananas are delivered to the wharves, sometimes using a bullock cart on the handmade roads. At the wharf shed, carriers pass a checker and receive a metal disc for each bunch, which is later exchanged for pay (2 cents for every three bunches). The bananas are picked green and are hard enough to be tossed in handling without damage. 8:35–9:17 The focus shifts to the fishing industry. The men fish from dugout boats made from cottonwood trunks. The women wade out to the boats to bring in the catch, then clean, scale them on shore, and take them to market. 9:18–9:39 A final shot of a dog (a "Jamaican fish hound") and a brief moment with a woman selling fish. The narrator concludes by noting that they've missed their boat but don't mind waiting, as Jamaica is a "pleasant place in which to lope." Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. For almost two decades, we've worked to collect, scan and preserve the world as it was captured on 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have endangered films you'd like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJW8CoCLk1c Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Fri, 19 Jun 2026 15:21:40 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/41a6fee9-7f57-42d0-a5fc-5db4f1af2e31.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/788e72e2-89e2-48b6-884a-cd9b3899bd79 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.