products including salt fish, salt beef, and salt pork. Salt goods shops were sometimes called provision shops in the old days because among other things they sold ground provisions.

For workers not likely to find employment in banks and insurance companies, department stores and big retail outlets, the third layer of employment was the salt goods and rum shops, restaurants, cook shops and the like.

Several of my ancestors owned and/or worked in salt goods and rum shops in colonial British Guiana. In the 19th and 20th centuries, a number of Portuguese, Chinese and East Indians owned and/or worked in salt goods and rum shops in town and country, but the Portuguese shops predominated in the early days. This reportedly led to riots and attacks on Portuguese shops, people and houses by the creoles. The most well known were the Angel Gabriel Riots in 1856 in Georgetown and the Cent Bread Riots of 1889.

The salt goods shops sold many local and imported groceries like Red Rose Tea, Carnation Milk, Nescafe and ground coffee, milk, sugar, flour, rice, potatoes, onions, imported biscuits, soft drinks like Ju-C, Pepsi, Cream Soda, cooking oils, lard, butter, ham, bacon, cheese, sweets, toffees, ginger, an assortment of curries and spices, garlic, salt fish, and barrels with salt meat, salt pork and pig tail. Kerosene oil was always in great demand as it was used as fuel for kerosene stoves and for oil lamps and lanterns. Rum - "the staff of life" - and Madeira wines were also available in these shops.

 

Many folks shopped almost on a daily basis for staples and fresh food as they did not have refrigerators. The shop itself would usually have a deep freeze (freezer) and refrigerator. Besides patrons, the salt goods shops attracted many "limers" and local street characters. The "limers" had no regular employment so they visited shops to pass the time, catch up on gossip and local news and see if they could get any "freeness". The owner of a shop may have a sign "No Loitering" prominently displayed in the shop but this did not deter the "limers".

Another sign sometimes displayed was "In God we Trust, in man we Bust" to deter patrons from asking for credit. Working class folks often ran short of funds and asked stores and shops for credit. If the shop owner trusted you and took pity on you, he might give you credit on a weekly or monthly basis, making a record of items bought in a little black book. Some customers tried to convert the black book into an "ice book" hoping the account would melt away over time.

Most items could be bought and carried away by hand in a paper bag or plastic shopping bag. If the order was too big, quite often at Christmas time and special occasions, the items would be delivered to your house by the carrier boy on his carrier bike. The carrier bike had a place up front with a basket to put the groceries in. This was not an easy bike to maneuvre and ride especially if it was full. If the carrier bike hit a pot hole on the road - not uncommon in the Caribbean - the bike and the carrier boy could flip over spilling all the contents! This could lead to instant firing by the shop owner.
Placed prominently on the wide counter of the shop were the scales and weights. For heavier items, there may be a mid-size scale, and a sturdy floor scale for big bags and the like. Although most shop owners were scrupulous, the government sent inspectors around on a regular basis to check the scales. The dishonest shop owner may clandestinely put his hand on the scales, jiggle the weights, have false weights and measures, or put the scales on the wrong calibrations.

The shop owner usually worked on his own or with the help of family members. He generally lived above or behind his shop. The Portuguese shop owner was often called Josie or Mannie. Sometimes he would employ a helper, whom he might call "Manniezing". The Portuguese shop owner was well known for his bacelhau (salt fish) and his alpargatas – leather soled slippers.

Only the owner or a trusted family member handled the cash transactions. The owner literally worked seven days a week at odd hours, day and night. On Sundays, although the shops were officially closed, the owner worked at stocking the shelves, taking inventories, making a list of orders or trying to keep the shop clean.

Besides "limers" and "gaffers" (talkers) who wasted your time, other unwelcome visitors were break and enter bandits, armed robbers and Government inspectors. Cockroaches, usually of the hard back variety, the friendly house flies, the occasional "money fly" (a lucky sign), and rodents (rats and mice) were never far from the scene. All creatures, great and small wanted a piece of the provisions.

The owner or server was quite often subject to insults and criticisms from customers. Even when the shop was supposed to be closed patrons came knocking, asking for an item or two that they had run out of at home. The shop helper's salary was a pittance and he was totally at the mercy of the boss. The work was back breaking, the hours of work brutal. Try to lift a bag of rice, flour or sugar on a regular basis!

Young lads with poor prospects, barely out of primary school, went to work in these shops to support themselves and their families. Many of them were put to work by their parents at a very young age to make ends meet. Although some shops were prosperous, the work and responsibilities could literally kill an owner or worker as it did an uncle of mine.

Probably the only thing worse than working in a salt goods shop was a rum shop, pissy-pissy bar, or restaurant. The domination of Portuguese proprietorship in rum shops in British Guiana was such that in 1890, 227 rum shops were noted and 54 out of 55 in Georgetown were owned by Portuguese.
Although hours of doing business were regulated and rum shops officially closed on Sundays, both proprietor and patron often found ways to bend the law. In the villages and country districts, more rum were reportedly sold on Sunday than on any other day of the week.
No gambling, no characters of ill-repute, and no bad language were permitted in a rum shop but you could not tell that if you visited one. It was common knowledge that if the police wanted a character on the run, the first place they would check was a rum shop or dance hall.
Fridays and Saturdays were the peak days for drinking and socializing in a rum shop. Behind the swinging doors, business was brisk. The din of conversation was steady and the clatter of glasses and bottles was music to the ears of the owners. Many a week's wages disappeared right after work on weekends, even before it could reach the desperate housewife and children at home! Women were not generally seen in rum shops, except when an angry wife came to drag her drunken spouse home and give him a beating for drinking his wages away.

The owner ran his business diligently assisted by a strong foreman who could box, wrestle, blend and sell rum. He also doubled as a bouncer. The sign, "Welcome Friends", greeted patrons. The more you drank, the friendlier folks seemed. Hanging outside a shop was a colourful painted sign such as "The Fighting Cock in Georgetown". In the old days, there was virtually a rum shop on every street corner of the commercial sector of Georgetown.
The owner blended his own brand of rum from casks of high wine with each rum shop having its own secret formula. This could include anything from old shoes to methylated spirits. The rum was bottled and labeled at the rum shop, the top fitted with a cork and sealed with sealing wax. Potent rums included Life Preserver and Puncheron – so called because the drinker punched and ran.

Some rumshops were popular with sailors and ladies of the night. Some had backrooms for private deals and gambling. A barman had to be tough and versatile – a good talker and listener, an expert at opening a rum bottle with one blow on the right spot which sent the cork flying, and deft with the hands so as to break ice with an ice pick in the middle of his palm! Don't try that trick and especially not after a few drinks. Outside the rum shop you could sometimes find the black pudding vendor with "cutters" – black pudding and souse.
The grog shop has had its day and a profitable day for some. For owner and worker, it was a tough job. Replaced by bars today, the scene is quite different. Even the old fashioned pub has gone into decline.

And so I have come to the end of my trilogy. Many of us who grew up in the colonial Caribbean have had personal experience or knew a friend or relative who worked in one or other of the three sectors of employment that I have described. Many have passed away. The old time salt goods shop, rum shop, department store and colonial banking have disappeared or changed radically. The only things remaining are memories. If the creeks don't rise and the sun still shines, I'll be talking to you.