Bequia Sweet Sweet!

On Bequia we stayed at a quaint little place called the Gingerbread House facing Admiralty Bay. Each morning Mary and I were awakened by the chirping of birds. One bird in particular always had a special message for us. The Carib called it a “Grackel” and the early explorer and naturalist Frederick Ober in his book Camps in the Caribbes, written in 1880, described it thusly:

On Bequia…is a blackbird, a new species named the Quiscalus Luminosus, which makes the air respond with a joyous cry:

“Bequia, Sweet Sweet, Bequia Sweet!”

Annoying to some people, sweet music to others, including Mary and me, and certainly a haunting reminder of home for the early Caribs who, as told by Ober, were cruelly exiled to captivity on the small barren island of Ballicaux within sight of Bequia and St. Vincent, without the possibility of reaching either, while all about them the blackbird sang praises of their beautiful and fertile home, “Bequia, sweet, sweet, Bequia Sweet.” What torture that must have been.

Try as I might I was unable to record the Grackel but found a video on YouTube taken by Sheilatequilla55 that you might enjoy. Listen and see if you hear “Bequia sweet sweet.”