ABSTRACT
The late nineteenth century was crucial for the development of the Trinidad Carnival. The period opened with carnival taken over almost entirely by the jamettes, the underclass of Port of Spain. The attitude of the upper and middle classes was one of disgust, fear, and hostility, with some exceptions. Between 1879 and 1884 a determined effort was made by the authorities to purge all the features which they considered objectionable, by force if necessary. The climax was reached with the riots at the carnivals of 1881 and 1884. The government succeeded in eliminating the organized band warfare and in suppressing some, though not all, of the obviously obscene masks. Canboulay became illegal. The decade or so after 1884 was a time when many people confidently predicted that carnival would die a natural death, and good riddance too. Finally in the 1890s there appeared signs, small though they were, that carnival was on its way to becoming a festival acceptable to most sectors of the society, including the upper and middle classes.
