OBEAH BY MIAD HOYORA KORAHON

 

 

CHAPTER 1

 

The West India black men, whose grand-parents were recruited from nearly every tribe living on or near the West Coast of Africa, have inherited from them, along with various grades of color and cast s of feature, an al most unvarying belief in a variety of queer things of the kind known to the vulgar as ‘superstitious.’

 

These are for the most part comprehended under the word “Obeah;” and while they are generally talked of as mere superstitions, it is evident that they are really regarded as something more tangible, and occasionally harmful in some of their ways, from the fact that in nearly every part of the West Indies there are in force special laws for the suppression and punishment of Obeah practitioners. This goes far to account for the difficulty I have experienced during my residence of almost five years in the West Indies in getting much real information on the point, and to that maybe added the great unwillingness of the black men to speak to a white man on such a subject.

 

The word ‘Obeah’ has been said to be derived from the Hebrew Ob = a bottle, “and is applied in diver s places in Scripture t o magicians, because t hey being possessed of an evil spirit, spoke with a hollow voice as from a bottle;” but it is not easy to see how this Semitic derivation applies to this (presumably) Hametic word; or how it is borne out by any of the examples of Obeah practices which I a m going to relate.

 

However, as the words Obeah and Voodoo often go together, it is necessary to point out that they are by no means synonymous, though they may be, and probably are, connected; in so far that the latter, —from the little I have been able to learn of it— seems to be a well developed phase of ceremonial Black Magic of a barbarous description, (including human sacrifice of the Ri-thlen type), and may include a knowledge of the former, while the ordinary Obeahman is totally ignorant of Voodoo. Any how, the word Obeah really means killing.

 

When a black man dies, on the night succeeding his funeral, the friends of the deceased meet in his house to “wake him and to prevent the return of his Jumbi or Duppy (ghost) to trouble the living, or to facilitate its departure to other regions, spend the whole night with music, (!) ringing and clapping of hands, alternated with periods of eating and drinking, and telling nonsense stories. These stories always have for their hero “Nancy” or “Anansi,” who in them occupies the position of “Brer Rabbit” in the nonsense stories of the American black man.

 

Nurses tell Anansi stories to the children, and the children to one another, and they each and all turn on the cunning, and wonderful feats and powers of Anansi.

 

Who is Anansi?

 

That is a question t hat took me a long while to get answered. It now turns out that it is the name applied to a large and very long-legged black spider, very common here, who is generally to be seen lugging about with him a large flat white bag, in which it is supposed his family are carried about. I am told too that Anansi is the pure Ashanti word for spider. This long, legged black spider, with his rapid movements, his venomous bite (to other insects), and his big medicine bag, is the prototype of the Obeahman, and Anansi stories are tales which keep alive the faith in Obeah and Obism, relating as they do to what may, in comparison, be called the bright side of Obeah, — such as it is. They invest Anansi with a halo of preternatural power s, cleverness, and luck.

 

Obism for the most part is based upon t he inflict ion of diseases and death, and the cure of disease. It also includes a means of communicating wit h supposed departed “spirits” in a species of mantic phrensy, the protection of fields bearing crops by the use of either or both glamona (Maya) and elementals: the means of securing buried treasures by the propitiation of guardian elementals, or elementaries, etc., etc.; all by the use of very much degraded, and more than half-forgotten, ceremonial, and in some instances psychical, methods, which have been supplemented by a knowledge of vegetable drugs, especially poisons.

 

And, in short, there is no reason to doubt that in West Indian Obeah we are face to face with the still active remains of a real, and not very incomplete as far as it goes, system of Magic, — mostly Black.

 

To begin at the beginning, — by initiation.  The following story of an initiation, —which did not come off— is told me by a black man school­master of some education.

 

“On e Sunday in 1878, I was riding down to P___, and on the way met with an African called Pebu, finding he was going t o P___ too, we agreed to ride on together. This Pebu was a man who had no visible means of livelihood, but al ways went about well dressed, and rode a good pony. He was said to be a great Obeahman, and I felt a good deal afraid of him; but being very curious to know about Obeah, I asked him to teach me some of it. He refused at first, but after a great deal of per suasion, he consented to do so

 

He directed me to meet him at a certain place on the banks of the P___ river, at 12 o’clock on the following Wednesday night. There he was to take me to a certain large stone which he knew of in the bed of the river, at that season nearly dry. Under this stone I was to put my hand, which would there be grasped hold of by another hand. That hand would pull mine, and I was to haul against it sometime with all my strength. However much it might hurt me, I was not to give in. The seventh, haul was to be the last, and so strong as to nearly pull my arm out of the socket, but it was to leave in my hand a small white stone, and a little of some slimy substance, both of which I was to put into a clean little bottle (which I was to bring ready with me) and to cork up securely. This bottle I was to take great care of, and “the fellow” who held my hand under the stone was to be always at my service when I shook up the bottle, and would do, or get me anything I wanted. But, when the time came, I was too much afraid and did not keep the appointment.”

 

This, it will be seen, is part of some method of obtaining command over an elemental, — a “familiar.” But it is a great pity my informant can tell no more about it. It appears not a little curious that he was not instructed to prepare himself by any particular diet or otherwise, for a set and certain time prior to the event. The bottle and its contents would have more or less taken the place of Aladdin’s “Wonderful Lamp.”

 

A Ballade, Bella-bella, or Jumbi dance is a way of finding out the grievances of restless departed “spirits,” or of communicating with deceased friends. These dances are forbidden by law, and are therefore conducted in secret. This is how one came about:

 

A man was killed last year by a falling tree; some months after that event a woman habiting the same village as the deceased had done, said his jumbi (ghost) which she had seen, was coming and disturbing her, making noises at night, and so on. So she concluded to find out what it wanted, and invited a select company of friends to meet in her house one night to hold a Jumbi-dance for the purpose of interviewing that jumbi.

 

The preparations for the dance partly consisted in killing some fowls, a pig, and a goat, a portion of their blood being sprinkled round the house; and the meat was dressed for the consumption of the company, who were also to be regaled with some rum.

 

On the arrival of the guests, they arranged themselves in a circle round the apartment, the band consisting of a fiddle, a drum and three tambourines; forming part of the circle. The hostess began the function by solemnly oblating about half a bottle of rum in the centre of the floor to the jumbi, the bottle being also freely passed round amongst the guests. The band then struck up a monotonous sort of tune, consisting of six or seven notes repeated over and over, beginning very slowly and gradually getting quicker, the company keeping time by clapping their hands. When the music attained a certain pitch, five, or seven of the guests of both sexes, stepped into the middle of the floor, and began dancing to the music which was now very quick. Then the circle still clapping away, began to sing the ‘Ballade,’ —a particular set of words used only on such occasions-— when the singing had lasted about twenty minutes, one of the dancers suddenly gave a loud shout, and executing a frantic pironette, bounded up so as almost to touch the rafters of the house with his head, then fell on the floor, frothing at the mouth, and convulsed as if in a fit.

 

Immediately on this, the music fell to the slowest time, and that of the ‘Ballade’ and clapping followed. A man tied a handkerchief very quickly and tightly round the waist of the convulsed one, and this was no sooner done than the latter got on to his feet and began to reel about.

 

Then the hostess asked him, “Who are you?”

 

He replied, in the exact voice and accent of the deceased, “I am ______” (naming the deceased.)  After this, the questions proceeded and were uniformly replied to in the voice and gestures of the deceased. The music, clapping and singing continuing all the while; and the interview terminated by the hostess being instructed to visit the grave of the deceased on a certain day, and there to kill a black cock, and to, sprinkle the grave, with its blood and the contents of a rum bottle.

 

I am informed that at some of these dances as many as seven or more, dancers become possessed, each by a separate jumbi, at one time, and that the possessed play all manner of strange antics. On one occasion, a man being possessed by the jumbi of a person who had committed suicide after going mad, sprung at one leap up on to the rafters of the house, where he remained for some minutes moving up and down in time to the music, and from thence shot out of the open window, and down a precipice behind the house, when he was found dead, with his neck broken.

 

The possessed frequently speak in Spanish, French, and other languages, often in ones unknown to their hearer. I hear also that care is taken to arrange the sexes in the circle alternately, and that the music, etc., must continue until the jumbi quits the possessed, or if it stops before, it does so at great peril to their life and sanity. The possessed while under the influence answer all sorts of queries, and, it is said, can tell what is going on in distant places.

 

The words of the ‘Ballade’ and the tune used on these occasions are kept very secret; but should I hereafter manage to secure them, I hope to include them in a future chapter, first, because they will be of interest for comparison with certain Mantras and Runes; and second, for the edification of our spiritualistic friends, who in the above cannot fail to be reminded of the universality of their brotherhood, and its chosen phase of the occult. I can assure them, too, that by using the said ‘ballade’ and tune, and exhibiting at the same time some fresh pig’s blood and alcohol, one of their circles would obtain some very striking manifestations from their departed friends, —and perhaps others— and that if any one in that circle should happen to be clairvoyant at the time, they would ‘see wonders!!’

 

I need hardly say that the development of phrensy, in a similar manner and for like purposes; is by no means confined to the black race, but is to be found in use among various races, from the Laps and Siberians in the north, to the Maories (New Zealanders) in the south.

 

The next department of Obism which claims attention is that known as “dressing a field,” of sugar-cane, cocoa or other crop, to prevent stealing. There seems to be at least two modes of doing this: one by getting “Obeah” from a practitioner to put into the field, and another by the performance of a prescribed ceremony in the field by one learned in the art.

 

Of the first, I am told by an eye-witness, that in 1872, a man called C___, wanted to have his cane field “dressed,” to prevent the canes being stolen. He accordingly sought the assistance of a noted Obeah doctor who lived at M___. Witness met C___ returning from the doctor’s, and asked him what luck he had had.

 

For reply, C___ produced two little rods about 18 inches long, saying ‘he gave me these two snakes to put into the field, and on throwing one of them down on the road, it at once turned into a black snake, which again assumed the form of a piece of stick as C___ picked it up.

 

C___ places them in his field, and carefully told every one of the neighbors he had done so, and many people attempting to steal canes from it were pursued by a black snake, among others, witness himself. He says, too, that C___ used to put a cup of milk down in the field every morning, which he said was for the snakes to drink, and that when the crop was reaped the snakes disappeared. I am referred to several other people who saw these snakes.

 

It would appear from this, that the Egyptian magician’s feat of turning their rods into snakes, is not yet an extinct art, nor confined alone to their comer of Africa. An enterprising Obeah doctor might do a good business in this line, in protecting crops from depredation, in various parts of the world.

 

Here is an instance of a second method. J.L. states thus:

 

“In 1868 I became a Metager on C___ estate.  Early one morning, being in my field among the canes, I heard voices in the field adjoining mine, belonging to J.  C___ looking through the canes, I saw C___ and a man called McS___ with him. They could not see me, as I was quite concealed from them by the canes. They had with them a three-forked pole about 6 feet long, a bottle, and a wisp of dry plantain leaves.

 

Being anxious to learn what they were after, I listened, and watched them carefully. After some preparation, they planted the pole m the ground, fork up. In the fork they placed a pad made of the dry plantain leaves, and on it seated the bottle, which was full of something; by the side of the bottle they put a hen’s egg, with its small end up.  McS___ then said to C___  ‘What is it you have to say?’

 

Then, placing his hand on the bottle, C___ talked to it in a low voice for about ten minutes, and then in a loud tone, said, ‘No one but (so and so, meaning a number of his friends and the members of his family) will I allow to come into this field, and if any one else comes, you mast fly after them, and bite them to death.’  Then they left the field.”

 

At this time I was living in C___’s house with him, and I was not well pleased that my name was left out of the list of those allowed to go into that cane-field, so I determined to keep a close eye on what should follow.

 

In about 28 days, or a month after the above took place, a black ring had appeared by some means a short way from the top of the egg. After a second period of similar duration, I observed a hole in it, such as might be made by a chicken when it first breaks the egg-shell; and, in a few days after that, nothing but a few fragments of the egg-shell remained beside the bottle.  About that time people began to say there was a snake in that field, and became afraid to go there, because some of them said they were chased by it. I myself often saw a snake there after that, and believe it was put there by that operation.”

 

Still another way of protecting a field or garden, is to send for an Obeah doctor and promise him so much to protect the garden until the crop is reaped. In a case of this sort which came under my notice, the Obeah Doctor began by going to the field, and there hanging to one of the trees:

 

1.   A bottle containing (apparently) dirty water.

2.   A triangular piece of board, on which a similarly shaped scrap of black cloth was glued, both point downwards.

3.   A little skin bag containing an egg, some nails, beans of various kinds, and rags of different colors.

 

After hanging these up, he walked round the tree several times, and then, from these different points, spoke to it, muttering — presumably reciting-spells. Returning to the house, he had all the laborers called, and informed them that the owner had given that field into his charge, because there had been so much stealing going on; and that he wished them to understand from that day onwards that, if there was so much as one grain of plantains missed, ho would know within twelve hours after who the thief was, but there would be no use for that man to send for him to cure the pains in the belly he would most certainly die of.

 

I believe very little of that crop was stolen!

 

The black men believe that when, as in J.L.___’s case, the egg and bottle business is performed, that a snake is hatched from the hen’s egg, and that the contents of the bottle, whatever they may be, are to feed the snake while it is very young.  Another favorite article used for the protection of fields, is a miniature coffin; sometimes empty, but usually filled with bits of bone, feathers and generally an assortment of things such as above mentioned as filling the skin bag. But with the exception of the first case of “dressing,” in which the stick was turned into a snake, I believe that these bottles, eggs, triangles, and so on, are the exoteric dregs of a more than half forgotten magical ritual; and are to the average Obeahman very much what the symbols of masonry are to the average freemason, — pro-forma symbols for certain purposes, the complete details of whose use is forgotten or unknown, and have about as much “ Serpent” left in them as remains in the sloughed off skin, of a snake. Most Obeah men are, as far as these things are concerned, like a child with a stopped watch, which he is confident, gives correct time, while he is quite ignorant of the proper way to wind it up, and even unconscious of the fact that it requires to be wound.

 

That this prevailing ignorance is not universal, is proved, I think, by the following little experiment. One old “doctor” laid claim to about half an acre of my land on which are growing some half dozen cocoanut trees. To prevent others —including my servants— from gathering the nuts, he erected a post there, on which were fastened a triangle like that above described, a bottle, and some other things.

 

Going there one day, I found this erection and was promptly informed of its purpose. In order to test whether the old rascal knew anything beyond a mere belief in the efficacy of things so placed, I drew a circle round his post on the sand, and inscribed therein a certain figure, with an intention, and left it. He very soon discovered what I had done, and since that has left that place and my cocoanuts severely alone; with the result that I am now credited by him and his friends with being a much bigger Obeahman than he is, and dangerous to meddle with: which, on the whole, if not a complimentary, is at least a useful reputation.

 

When an Obeahman is consulted about buried treasure, —which is not an unfrequent event in several of the islands— he generally describes the place where the treasure is, and all about it, but usually concludes by saying: There is a Duppy (ghost) of such and such a description who lives there in charge of it (or a big snake, as the case may be), and he won’t let you take the treasure unless you “give him a soul.”

 

That phrase means now, whatever it may originally have meant, that the place has to be sprinkled with the blood of some animal, which must be sacrificed there, together with rum or some other spirit. The meat of the animal, and some of the liquor became the perquisites of the Obeahman; and, as may be supposed, the Obeah fraternity do not neglect such a magnificent chance of imposture when it comes their way. Of course one does not hear of the successful cases in which treasure is secured, though, they no doubt occasionally occur; but unsuccessful ones, in which no one but the cunning Obeahman is benefited, are frequently talked of.

 

One such case occurred quite recently, in which it is reported that a black man, the owner of some 300 acres of land and all that goes to comprise a small sugar estate, has been treasure hunting under the guidance of one of the fraternity for the last two years or more; with the result, that he has from time to time sacrificed over twenty-five head of cattle, besides a large number of smaller animal?, and a quantity of liquor, ho has also .sold over 100 acres of his land at a ruinous rate to raise funds for his purpose, and he has had excavated four or five large holes 24 feet deep by 10 feet square, in which no treasure or anything of value has been found.  Finally, he has absconded, leaving behind him a duly registered deed of gift conveying the remainder of his property to the Obeahman, his chief adviser.

 

This looks much as if the Obeahmen could give some points in the art of hypnotic (or other) suggestion, to M.M. Charcot, Luys et Cie.

 

However, there is a distinct indication that the Obeahmen really have some idea of a propitiatory ceremony in such cases, where there happens to be an actual treasure under protection of elementals on elementaries, of which in a future chapter I may be able to cite an example.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 2

 

One branch of Obeah extensively practiced, —especially by women— is the art of exciting “ love” and enforcing fidelity in one person, by another of the opposite sex.  The means about to be related as made use of for those purposes are such as the Obeah practitioners prescribe on being applied to for advice in such cases.

 

However, in some of their prescriptions vegetable drugs are the means depended on, but these I propose to treat of on some future occasion when Obeah drugs and their uses can be more fully gone into, the data on the subject which I have succeeded in collecting being at present very meagre.

 

To establish and act on a psychic rapport is of course what is aimed at in the use of:

 

1)   Hair: The exciter burns and rubs to powder a portion of his or her own hair, which is sprinkled in the food or drink of the person to be excited. Said to require at least three repetitions before the effect is produced.

2)   Perspiration: The exciter mingles a few drops of his or her own perspiration in the food or drink as above.

3)   Blood: The food of the person to be excited is steamed in a cloth by the exciter, on which cloth a little of the cook’s own blood is dropped. Fresh blood (menstrual), if possible; this way being almost exclusively used by women.

 

This third method is said to have by far the most powerful effect, and, according to one man, who says he has experienced its effects, it produced a semi-madness, and reduces the excitee to perfect slavery to the excitor, from which there is no escape till the excitor performs some ceremony of renunciation, details of which I have yet to learn.

 

As an instance of the working of the other means: the late J.L. (a white man) had as mistress a far from beautiful Mulatto woman called “Angelique.” She was of a very violent temper, and behaved very badly to him, but retained her influence over him for many years, — till his death.

 

A relative of hers explains her power over him by saying that “she took the precaution from time to time, as she thought it necessary, to mix a few drops of her sweat in his chocolate.”

 

These methods savor not a little of the witchcraft of old, and if they really have any effect, —there being no doubt that they are frequently tried— it presupposes a considerable amount of concentrative power on the part of the users. But that same power is one that in every day matters the average black man is decidedly deficient in.

 

It is quite probable that a person by thus establishing a strong rapport with another, might obtain a strong influence over him for good or evil; but, should the latter become aware of the operation before the influence is confirmed, and resist it, it does not appear that the operator would have much chance of success.

 

While, if the person operated on, on becoming aware of the attempt, proved a person who knew how to use his will, it is more than likely that the relative positions of the two actors might be completely reversed, so that the original operator would find that she had “given herself away.” And cases of that are not altogether unknown.

 

The use by magnetic patients of magnetized water, etc., is but another, —and a much more cleanly— method of effecting a powerful psychic rapport, forming a basis or “line,” through which influence can act. And it would be of great interest to have the effect of magnetized water at the time of drinking observed by a clairvoyant as to what result it produced on the aura of the patient.

 

Another operation in which the above procedure is reversed, is an Obeah method of causing intense sleep in a person, and it is similarly susceptible of being used for good as well as evil purposes.

 

To effect this, it is usually performed in the evening, — the operator takes a small piece of a garment recently worn by the person to be acted on, and of course more or less impregnated by his or her perspiration; and after folding it into a small flat bundle, which must be fastened with two pins X wise, secretly places it under, or into, the pillow, the latter is going to sleep on.

 

During the whole of the folding process the operator is, of course, willing the bundle to cause sleep. I am assured that this is a very effective process, but I have not been able to ascertain the particular part played by the two crossed pins in the matter. But, be that as it may, the X cross, whether written or otherwise, appears to be a frequently used and potent symbol in Obeisin. This Obeah sleep bundle appears to be somewhat analogous in its effect to that credited to the celebrated “Hand of Glory” of the English witch-lore.

 

There is another performance in which clothes soiled with perspiration, and ipso facto impregnated with aura, play a very curious and interesting part. It is, as far as I am aware, a process-entirely the possession of West India Obism, and I think it may be considered as one of its distinctive ceremonies.

 

It is this: Immediately after the funeral of any one who is supposed to have been killed by Obeah (influence or drugs); or, who is supposed to have left money buried, and no directions where to find it; or who has left property, and no directions for its division and bestowal; the relatives and friends of the deceased assemble in the house, and procuring a board about five or six feet along, appoint four relatives of the deceased to carry it on their heads. On the board is placed a bundle composed of the still unwashed garments the deceased died in.

 

This being done, the board-bearers are directed to march round the house with it, and then to come in. Then, if the necessary power is present, it manifests itself by the bearers being unable to speak, and reeling about with the board on their heads as if intoxicated. Then questions are addressed to the board by the name of the deceased, which are answered by the board, —through its bearers— bowing towards the questioner, or by the board and its bearers hunting out any person or thing like a thought-reader after a pin.

 

This oracle works in this way:

 

“In 1849 I lived at C___ with my grandmother, and while there she became ill and died. She was known to have some money buried, but she died without telling anyone where to find it. So, after the funeral we got her clothes, —the ones she had on when she died— and made them into a bundle, which we put on to a board carried on the heads of four men of our family.

 

When they had gone round the house and come in, my uncle got up, and asked the board, “Old lady, are you there?” The two bearers at the end of the board nearest him bent, so that it bowed towards him.

 

Then he asked, “You left some money buried, will you tell us where it is, and who is to get it?” Another bow from the board. “Is it for so and so, or so and so?” (naming in succession each of the persons present). It bowed at the name of ____, who was a little boy, and a great grandson of the old woman’s.  In answer to the question of where the money was, after all the parts of the house had been named ineffectually, the board was asked to show where it was to be found.

 

On this the bearers turned and went out of the house, to the foot of a large tree which was close by, where the board was bowed so as to knock against a big stone there. The stone was removed, and after digging a little on the spot where it had been, a jar was found in which was the money.”

 

But the principal use of this dirty clothes oracle is to indicate the person, if any, who killed the deceased by Obeah, and on a person being named as the killer, means are usually promptly taken to return the favor, if possible, and to this can be traced many of the feuds between the black man families here, I am told that on one of these occasions, on which I was present, “a man who could see spirits” said he could see the jumbi of the deceased sitting on top of the bundle like a frog, with its knees up to its chin

 

 

When the board indicates that the deceased has been killed by some one practicing Obeah on him, if vengeance is determined on, the next thing to be done is to “set his (the deceased’s) jumbi on” the killer. That is an operation which needs the assistance of an Obeahman, to whom for that purpose is given some part of the deceased’s unwashed clothes which was in the bundle on the board. Through this, it is said, the Obeahman can cause the jumbi of the deceased to haunt, frighten, drive mad, or kill the person it is “set” upon.

 

It would appear that the Obeahman makes the ‘shell’ of the deceased do the haunting, either by invigorating it by some of his own psychic power, or by fixing an elemental in it for the purpose. There are other modes of “setting on” jumbies at the command of the Obeahman, used when no part of the clothes can be given them. And there are also other ways of “setting on” a jumbi, without the use of the dirty clothes oracle at all, but by aid of some ceremony of the “scycomantic” kind, through which the “shell” is likewise made use of.

 

Here is a sample of the latter:

 

“In 1870, in the village of B___, there occurred a quarrel between a man called L___ on the one part, and two men called respectively D___ and Y___ on the other part. The quarrel culminated in D___ and Y___ seeking the aid of an Obeahman.

 

“L___ had a pony on which he used daily to ride to his work, and this animal was fixed upon by D___ and Y___ as their weapon of attack. They accordingly, with the aid of their advisee, ‘tricked’ it in some fashion, with the result that one morning L___ having sharpened his cutlass (a sort of chopper used by all West India black men), put it into his bag that hung over his shoulder, in such a way that the point stuck out behind him.  He then saddled and mounted his pony, which immediately began to plunge and kick, finally rearing up and falling back on top of him, the point of the cutlass being driven nearly through him from behind.

 

L___ died from the effects of this wound within a few hours, expressing his opinion that some of his enemies had ‘tricked’ his pony so as to make it throw and kill him.

 

L___’s family included an Obeahman, and by his advice L___’s body was put into the coffin without any of the customary burial preparations in his clothes just as he had died. Before the funeral, some of L___’s family, including the last mentioned Obeahman, went through some ceremony in which some of L___’s blood was used (further details of which I have not been able to get at) in presence of the corpse: which ceremony concluded later, before the funeral party, by their putting into the left hand of the corpse, —he had been a left-handed man— a sharp knife, and telling it to show them within nine days who had killed him. Then the lid of the coffin was nailed down.

 

“Within the nine days Y___ disappeared; and D___ went mad, going about raving that L___ was chasing him with a knife in his hand.

 

He subsequently refused all food, but gnawed with his teeth his left arm; from the biceps nearly to the wrist, in a horrible way. Flies got to the arm thus wounded, and it soon became a mass of corruption, and D___ died in frightful agony, calling out the whole time to the bystanders to save him from L___.

 

A few days after D___’s death, Y___’s hat and some of his clothes were found on a rock at the sea-side, where it was supposed he had gone to bathe, and been drowned?”

 

A friend of D___’s gave me these particulars, and another man has since corroborated them.

 

With regard to the “tricking” of L___’s pony, Obeahmen are said to kill and otherwise affect cattle and horses through obtaining possession of a portion of their hair, or a little of their urine. These things being made use of to affect the animals through their astral forms, and L___’s pony may have been “tricked” in that way. But other means are made use of by Obeahmen for “tricking or influencing animals, principally spells or “mantras,” the uses of which will be referred to in a later chapter.

 

The infliction of disease, being one of the most important effects of Obism, I will now relate an instance which came under my own notice of how a serious illness was supposed to be produced; I say “supposed, because though the wish to produce illness doubtless existed, I believe, the visible steps taken by the parties credited with its production were by them considered per se sufficient to produce the effect, example of the defective inherited knowledge limiting the performers to only the outward and visible part of the operation!

 

About the end of 1888, a young woman, aged about 20, called C____ was brought to me by her mother to ask for medicine for some internal pain the girl was suffering from. On examination, displacement of the womb turned out to be what was wrong, and as I was not prepared to treat a surgical case of so grave a nature, I referred her to the District doctor.

 

After being under his treatment for some six weeks the girl came to me and told me that she was not feeling better, and that she bad made up her mind to go to T___ to a doctor there.

 

In about two months she returned from T___ and said she was all right again. Almost simultaneously with her return there occurred a squabble in the village between her family and another family called ____. The two families all along had been on anything but friendly terms. Then the following particulars came out.

 

It appeared that some weeks prior to her visit to me in search of medicine (but not, I believe, prior to the commencement of her illness), that the girl C____ had one day gone to the river with a bundle of dirty clothes to wash.

 

She had nearly finished her washing, when she saw the mother and a daughter of the M___ family approaching on a similar errand. Not wishing to meet them, she made a bundle of (as she thought, all) her clothes, and putting them on her head, went towards the village. Before she had gone very far, she heard the M___s laughing, and turning round to find out the cause of their laughter, saw the girl M___ with a cloth in her hand which she recognized as one of hers; she had laid it on one side, and had forgotten either to wash or pick it up: oh it were some drops of her (menstrual) blood. Thinking it of no consequence she did not claim it, but went home giving it no further thought.

 

During her visit to T___ it turned out that Miss C___ thought it necessary to consult not only an ordinary physician, but an Obeah doctor also; the latter as to the cause of her illness.  She paid him a dollar, in return for which fee he — after looking attentively for some time into a glass of water, — informed her first of what is related in the last paragraph, and secondly, that when the M___s went home, they took a portion of her cloth and roasted it over a fire, by which operation he said her illness was caused.

 

They then buried the remainder of the cloth under a large flagstone in the door-way of their house. He advised her to get that cloth back into her own possession as soon as possible if she meant to get well.

 

About two or three days after her return from T___ one night Rome of her brothers went to the M___’s house and secretly raised the flag stone.  There they found the cloth, which they carried off, leaving the stone out of place. When the M___s discovered what had occurred, they charged the brothers C___ with robbing them of some valuables which they said they had hidden under the stone for security, and that charge was the basis of the squabble already mentioned.

 

I heard some of these particulars from friends of the girl C___, and she herself finally, —by dint of a little “moral suasion” in the Bhape of threats— corroborated the whole, and added the information as to how she had consulted the Obeah doctor in T___.

 

This story, like many of these Obeah ones, has a remarkable resemblance to some of the witchcraft cases of the Middle Ages in Europe. And if I am not mistaken, the Obeah of today is not unlikely to illustrate some of the most obscure points in the old legends of witchcraft. A modern writer referring to them, says, “There is one way...of keeping in check not only ghosts, etc., but living men as well. If you possess an object belonging to your enemy, you are able to charm and bewitch him with it. For a portion of his spirit or personality is inherent in it, and by means of this portion you have become master of all his actions. Hence a lock of the victim’s hair, or a nail paring, is of great use in witchcraft to give you power over the person bewitched.”

 

I do not believe that the M___s operation produced the illness that the girl C___ suffered from, because, in the first place, I have good reason for thinking it began before the operation came off. And in the second place, although the knowledge of the ceremonial part of the operation had been inherited by the M___s, I have a very strong suspicion the knowledge of the use of the will in conjunction therewith was wanting in the M___s, as it undoubtedly is in many of the living practitioners of Obeah, — a fact on which the population at large hero may congratulate themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 3

 

We now come to some examples of Obeah of a character which admits no doubt of the fact that the performers of the feats had received instructions in the art of using their wills; but as yet I have not been able to find out any sort of organization either of the Guru and Chela type, or between Obeahman and Obeahman. In fact rather the reverse of the latter, is most frequently the case, as most Obeahmen who get into trouble under the law, are denounced by their own brothers-in-obeah. In confirmation of my theory that Obeah is the disintegrating, but as yet undissipated relic of a real system of magic, it is somewhat important to note that the reason assigned by the black men themselves for the present wide-spread belief in it, is that down to a comparatively recent date, —since the emancipation of the slaves— the knowledge and practice has been kept up by the occasional introduction of batches of “liberated Africans,” who were slaves captured by H.M. Cruisers from slave ships.

 

But there is another and yet more recent source of such knowledge apparently, for while the most distinguished performer in this locality, was from description and appearance a Moor, or of Moorish descent, more recent ones only became noted for their feats, —here duly recognized as Obeah feats— after they had been in communication with, and had opportunities of learning from, Moorish, Arabic, Algerian forcats in Cayenne; who are rightly or wrongly credited by all the black men in these islands with being passed masters of (Black) arts.

 

To account for the knowledge of such things among the Moors, it is said, and I believe with truth, that some twenty days’ march west of Souss in Morocco, on the banks of a certain river (Wadi), there is an old established, but still large and active school, from which most of such learning spreads amongst the Moors of the present day. No doubt too, the Musalman propaganda at present making such great headway south, towards the centre and west of Africa, carries with it some who are both capable of teaching what they know, and assimilating what they find.

 

On the other band, it seems clear that there is already in existence, through more or less all the African tribes, a certain amount of arcane knowledge, which among the Julus of the south-east, includes the use of Glamour (Maya), induced clairvoyance, and conscious projection of the double: while in the west, it is not long since I read a strikingly graphic account of a black woman “Doctress” in the Cameroon Mountain country, who (if that account is to be trusted), seems to be a female ‘black’ adept.

 

Here, in the following examples, we have the Semitic ’ilm of the present day Moors of the north, recognized as Obeah by black men who are the sons and grandsons of those who brought Hametic Obeah here with them from West Africa, and from places there that in most instances are separated from all chance of past or present Moorish instruction, by immense distances.

 

About sixty years ago, there were brought to the estate of L___ among other new slaves, two men who were distinguished from the rest by reason of their light brown color, and straight hair. They are also described as having had unusually large heads, prominent noses, and long arms. These peculiarities are inherited to some extent by the descendants of one of them, some of whom I have seen. I have no doubt that these men were Moors, as these descendants’ physical characteristics go to show.

 

Some six months after their arrival, one of the brothers disappeared, bodily, and completely. The other, who meanwhile had ‘married’ a black woman, accounted for his brother’s disappearance by saying he had ‘flown away back to Africa, and that he would have done so too, had he not eaten something that prevented him doing so’ (my informants say, salt.) He —the remaining brother— became known as ‘Kongo Brown’ and was one of the most highly accomplished professors of Obeah ever known here.

 

On one occasion Mr. Kongo Brown gave a party at his house, and for the entertainment of his guests, said he would show them something. He first sent out to his garden, and had a plantain ‘sucker’ about eighteen inches long brought in. He then dug a hole in the clay floor of his house, in a corner; and therein planted the said plantain sucker, which was then covered with a sheet. Then he stood up and waved his hands over it, and talked to it in a tongue not understood by his guests. Next, he had fetched into the centre of the floor a washing tub, which was filled with fresh water brought in buckets from a spring close by. This done, he produced a walking sticky a piece of twine about two feet long, and a fish-hook.

 

These he put together, and asking the company to sit round the tub, saying he was going to fish. After waving his hands, and saying some unknown words over the tub, he began, and to the great wonderment of the company fished out of that tub of fresh water over a dozen large sized and living “snappers,” and “groupers,” (which are two kinds of sea fish). These he made over to certain members of the company, and told them to go out to his kitchen and cook the fish for him. When the fishing was over (and it took about two hours), he again turned his attention to the plantain-sucker in the corner.

 

Being uncovered it was observed to have grown under the sheet, and was now about four feet high. Again putting the sheet over it, he held his hands above it for some time, occasionally muttering some words in the unknown tongue, and between times talking to the company. Finally, calling for a knife to cut this bunch of plantains, the sheet was taken off, and there stood a full grown plantain tree, bearing a large and well developed bunch of green — ripe plantains. These were duly cut, and also sent to be cooked.

 

My informants in this case are two old men, who were among the guests on this occasion and helped to consume these victuals. One of them remarked that ‘although there was plenty of fish for all hands, there was only that one bunch of plantains,’ and he thinks Kongo Brown must have put some Obeah into them to make them go round, ‘as all hands had a plenty.’

 

One of the old men was also present on an occasion when Kongo Brown, having committed some offence, was tied up to be flogged. Brown took the matter very coolly, and told the manager he had better not flog him in case the flogging hurt the wrong person. However the flogging proceeded, and about three lashes had been given, at which Brown only laughed, when piercing shrieks were heard from the great ‘House’ (Manager’s residence) which was close by: upon this the operation was suspended, and it was ascertained that the shrieks were uttered by the manager’s wife in the house, on whose back it seems those three lashes had simultaneously fallen.

 

Brown got off the rest of that flogging, and it appears that the manager’s wife who suffered, was in some way the cause of the punishment being administered.

Another feat accredited to Brown was this:

 

L___ is a sugar estate, and it happened that towards the end of our crop season there were about 100 hogsheads (of 1 ton each) of ‘cured’ sugar in the ‘curing house’; when information came one afternoon that a vessel to take the sugar on board had arrived in the shipping bay, which is about two miles from the ‘Works’ of that estate, down a very rough and precipitous road. Preparations at once commenced for carting down the sugar next day. However, Brown went to the manager and asked him what he would get if he could get that sugar conveyed down to the bay by daylight next morning.

 

The manager laughed at him, and finally offered to bet him something it would not be done. Next morning the hundred hogsheads of sugar were found down at that bay, but how it got there, no one but Kongo Brown seemed to know, and he does not appear to have been much given to revelation. Carting it down, would have occupied the estate’s cattle for fully a week.

 

These four feats of Kongo Brown are well known to all the black men in this locality, and my two old informants, —apart, and at different times— merely corroborated what I had already frequently heard.

 

No other Obeahman I have yet heard of here, is credited with performances of such a high grade, and it does not seem that the powers such as appear to have been involved, pertain at all to the ordinary practitioner. The fishing feat is one that has been heard of before in other parts of the world, while the plantain growing is a replica of the most scientific, from an occult point of view, — way of performing the ‘Indian mangoe trick’: and the one bunch of plantains proving a plenty for a housefull of black men, — to any one who knows what the average black man appetite is like, — savors very strongly of ‘reduplication.’

 

If the ‘Kodak’ camera had been invented in those days, I very much doubt its power to explain these ‘tricks’ as hypnotism. The story of the flogging, possibly might be explained from a hypnotic point of view, but under the circumstances there is scarcely any room to suspect that, while the action of the process of ‘repercussion’ is distinctly suggested. The removal of the 100 tons of sugar to a distance of about two miles in a single night, is a feat which recalls the legendary one of how the great Michael Scot got the peak of the Eildore hill in Scotland split into three in a single night, and the sugar was most probably removed by the same kind of ‘deil,’ i. e., elemental force.

 

Altogether Mr. Kongo Brown seems to have been in possession of considerable ‘powers,’ and it is not easy to imagine how in such case he became a slave, or remained one ; instead of —for instance— flying away homo to Africa, as ‘his brother’ is reputed to have done. At any rate it is not likely that the eating of salt prevented him doing so, although that may have been suggested by him, to coyer the real cause.

 

Taking them as a whole, the details of these stories are not the style of thing the black man brain is given to invent or concoct, and I can scarcely avoid believing in their verity: and in sequence thereof that Kongo Brown was a real Moorish Initiate, who in some unexplained manner had contrived to get very much out of his latitude. Further, although these stories date back more than half a century, the knowledge that produced the feats by no means seems to be extinct at the present time in the West Indies, as I have heard of other events, which parallel these, as having happened within the last decade.

 

The deeds of the next two Obeahmen to be considered, happened in much more recent times, and while on the one hand, they do not evince such high grade knowledge as Kongo Brown’s, they are of no less interest to the occultist, and for the most part their verity is absolutely vouched for, by eye-witnesses: on the other hand, while the performers were both Creole (West India born) black men, they only began to manifest such knowledge after visiting Guiana, where they had opportunities of meeting with Algerian Moors or Arabs.

 

M.B., who died in 1875, was by way of being a carpenter by trade, and had his beauty marred by some disease which had almost completely eaten away his nose. This disfigurement had also affected his palate, causing him to speak with a very hoarse voice. He returned from a sojourn of some years in Guiana aged about 45; and being of a very irascible temper and given to strong drink, he soon became disliked and feared, and the latter feeling does not seem to have been mitigated by his giving proofs of his powers as an Obeahman. One of which proofs, was his being credited with the compelling of all sorts of people to give him employment, — even his declared enemies, and regardless of the fact that he was a notoriously bad workman, he always insisted, — and generally got his way, and the fruits thereof in the shape of increased pay, — on being foreman of the work.

 

The deed which first gained him prominence as a dangerous Obeahman, came about by his one day meeting two young girls (sisters), on the road, who laughed at him, and jeered at his want of a nose. An altercation ensued, which terminated by his stepping up to them and passing his open hand down the face of each one, declaring as he did so that within three months they would be as noiseless as he was, and no doubt would enjoy being laughed at for it too. This duly came to pass, and one of the women who died recently, was once pointed out to me in confirmation.

 

The following three “tricks” of his are related by a carpenter in my employment, who worked with M.B. frequently and knew him well.

 

“One evening I was walking into town from M, — I met M.B. on the way. He had running in front of him a large and very ugly dog, which came up to me, and as I was in some fear of being bitten, I kept it off with my stick. Seeing this, M.B. said, “What do you meddle with my dog for?  I’ll show you something to teach you better manners, boy!”

 

 

And then pointing to the ditch of the side of the road, he said to the dog, “Go down, go down there and fetch that fellow up.” The dog jumped into the ditch and in another minute was back, rolling and straggling in the middle of the road, with a large black snake wound round it. As soon as I saw this, as I am much afraid of snakes, I took to my heels and ran past them as quickly as I could. After running a few yards, I stopped and looked back, and saw the dog running on ahead as before and no snake to be seen. M.B. stood still on the same spot, and laughed at me and said, “Able boy! Next time you meddle with my dog I’ll send that fellow to tie you up.” I was careful not to give him the chance.

 

“Another time, some years after that, my uncle was making some repairs to his house, and I and some other men were working with him at the job. My uncle disliked M.B., and though he asked for work, refused to employ him. One morning as my uncle was in the act of sawing a piece of board.  M.B. turned up, and stood for a few minutes watching my uncle. He then said, “You’re cutting that board too short”!

 

My uncle said, “No, I’m not,” and took up the board, and laying it over the space it was to cover, found it some inches too short. Taking another board, he laid it over the space, and marked the length off with his pencil. On his beginning to saw it, M.B. said, “You’re cutting that board too short again!”

 

My uncle said, “No,” but placing the cut board over the space, found it two inches too short. A third time, my uncle took a board and marked it with his pencil two inches longer than was required. As he was cutting it, M.B. said, “You’re going stupid! it’s far too long this time.”

 

By this time my uncle was very angry, but he laid the board over the space, and found it about five inches too long. He then marked off the five inches accurately, and proceeded to cut it, as he was doing so, M.B. laughed at him and told him, “You’re too short again!”

 

And it was some inches too short. Then my uncle and M.B. had a quarrel and M.B. went away. But a little later, as my uncle was paring off a corner of his work with a chisel, M.B. came back again, and said to him “Look! Your hand is cut!” and my uncle’s left hand had a very bad cut, right across the centre of the palm. It bled profusely, and pained him a good deal; he was a good deal alarmed, but M.B. laughed at him: after a little, M.B. thought proper to go off and gather some sort of green-leaves, with which he dressed the wound. As he did so, he told my uncle “You’ll be all right tomorrow morning.” Next morning, there was no trace or scar of any wound on my uncle's hand.

 

“About this period, I was working under an old man called W. One day, both M.B. and W. and I were invited to a funeral. We all started together, M.B. and I riding ponies, and W. a large donkey. On the way W. praised his donkey very much for its docility, quietness, and good working qualities; but M.B. said he was sure it was wicked, and would play W. some trick before long. Arrived at the house the funeral was to start from, we found a considerable number of people already collected. The house was on the top of a mound, and a steep bank sloped away from the door, down into a very dirty, muddy duck pond. When we had alighted and tied up our animals, M.B. went up to W.’s donkey, and catching hold of one of its ears, blew into it, and spoke rapidly into it in some foreign language, beginning with words like “likitaki, likitaki, likitaki,” and ending with the words “C’est bon!”  At which the donkey snorted and shook its head violently.

 

This he repeated three times, and each time the donkey snorted and shook its head, greatly to the amusement of the bystanders, including W. himself. When the funeral was over, we returned to the house, where we had something to drink; after which M.B. arose and said to W., “Come on — let us go!” We went out, and mounted our ponies, and W. his donkey. We started, W.’s donkey would not move. W. coaxed him, and urged him to no end, then he began to beat him, at which the donkey wheeled round, and began to kick, and fling up its heels as if it was mad, W. holding on tightly. But it kicked and plunged right down the bank to the edge of the pond, when it stopped suddenly and shot W.’s head foremost into the muddy water, out of which he arose dripping, and covered with dirt from head to foot. He was much enraged, and ran to attack M.B.; seeing this, M.B., who had been laughing the whole time, called out to W.

 

“Aha man! You’ve got it this time! that donkey of yours never plays any tricks !” and putting spurs to his pony galloped off as quickly as he could, amid W’s vows of revenge against him, and the laughter of all the people.”

 

A contemporary of M.B.’s was a man called D., who had likewise been to Guiana, and also brought back thence with him some learning of the same kind. However, after the fashion of Obeahmen, the two could never agree, and their ill-feeling culminated in M.B.’s challenging D. to fight. They were to meet at a certain time and place to settle matters, and that was to be done in a manner that was certainly highly classical in its way. They were each to cause a snake to appear, and the snakes were to fight, the one which swallowed the other to be the victor. M.B. was at the place at the proper time, attended by some of his friends, but D. did not think proper to attend. M.B. was very much disgusted and angry; he cursed D. soundly, and remarked to his friends, “If that coward D. had only come, I could have settled him” with one hand, just like this — “striking a blow with his fist on the trunk of a gree-gree (palm) tree which they were standing closely, — and it would have dried him up like this.” And as he spoke, all the fronds of the tree withered, and became quite brown and dried up.

 

A friend of D.’s informs me, that he several times “saw D. take a handkerchief off his head or waist and throw it on the ground, where it at once changed into a snake. One night we were together down at P___ and we heard music in one of the houses. D. said to me ‘there’s a dance going on there, let’s go to it.’ I refused as I did not know the people of the house, and neither of us had been asked.

 

But D. rode off to the house, and I followed him. When near it, we got off and tied our ponies. D. then said, ‘just yon watch, and I’ll show yon some fun!’ We went towards the open door, and saw the people dancing; D. stepped in, and as he did so, he took the handkerchief off his head and threw it into the middle of the room. It no sooner touched the floor, then it turned into a snake, a large yellow tailed one. All the people became much afraid and ran shrieking out of the doors, and jumping out of the windows. Then the master of the house came up to D. and begged him to take away his snake, which he did by picking it up, and as he lifted it, it again became the handker­chief, which he retied round his head. He got a drink from the man, and then we went home.”

 

“Another time he was fencing with the ‘single stick,’ and he suddenly turned his stick into a snake, greatly to the discomfiture of his antagonist.”

 

“D. could “trick” animals too. Once he rode up to C. — on a donkey. While he was gone about his business there, his donkey got loose, and wandered off into the garden of a woman called C. — and began to eat her vegetables. Finding it in the garden, she took it up to the house and tied it there. When D. missed his donkey, he was soon told that Mrs. C — had taken it up for trespass. On going to her house for it, she demanded a dollar, —according to the custom here— for the trespass before she would give it up to him. D. laughed at her, and going up to the donkey, clapped his hand on its hind quarters, and said something to it in a “foreign language,” then he turned to her, and said, “All right Mrs. C. — Good day!” and went off.

 

“Presently Mrs. C. untied the donkey to move it to where it could be tied to graze ; no sooner had she loosed its rope then it rose up on its hind legs, and attacking her, tumbled her down; then forth-with went off to its master at the top of its speed. And that was all the trespass damages Mrs. C. got out of D. and his donkey.”

 

One thing about these three Obeahmen seems to place them upon a different, and perhaps a higher platform than that occupied by all others of their fraternity whom I have yet heard of here. That is, neither of them were ever known to sell their services, or to use their powers for the purpose of making money, the reverse of which is distinctly the rule.

 

It appears that the snakes produced on all these occasions are always either the “black” or “yellow-tailed” snakes: — a kind common here where there are no poisonous snakes. The “yellow-tailed” is said to be the female of the “black,” and they belong to the crotalus variety.

 

Why these particular snakes should be chosen to protect gardens, and to be produced as above related, there is nothing to explain; except, perhaps, that the black men hold them in more respect, than any others of the many kinds of snakes to be found here.

 

The production of snakes by M.B. and D. was probably due to the use of mesmeric or hypnotic glamour or Maya, and in the case of H.C. referred to in my first chapter, the glamour was probably attached to the sticks by mesmeric impregnation, whereby they became in fact ‘talis­mans’ — after a fashion. And it is curiously interesting to find the classical feats of the ancient Egyptian priest magicians, — turning rods, etc., into serpents, which swallow each other too, — turning up in this quarter of the globe. — “Far in the folds of the dark of the West” — ; at the hands of the children of Ham.

 

I shall not be surprised some day to find one of them make his rod bear leaves, etc., too, for both feats can be done through the same process. M.B.’s hallucination of the carpenter as to the length of his boards, and the subsequent cutting and cure of his hand, is of course nearly the same glamour process carried a little further; and his destroying the noses of the two girls, is the use of “suggestion” plus psychic force, in the infection of disease.

 

M.B.’s killing the gree-gree tree is another exhibition of the same forces; and it recalls a similar operation in a part of India little known to Europeans. In one of the small tributary (and very jangali) states of the Chutia Nagpur division, lying near the C.P. boundary, toward Sambalpur, there exists some sort of a fraternity of Ojahs and Dainas who impose a kind of test of power on those aspiring to be of their number; which consists of the neophyte being placed bound at the foot of a Sirhul (Shorea Robusta) tree, which she or he was to blast and kill within a certain time.

 

Of course, the same effects can be produced by the power of ‘spells’ (mantra-sakti), and that Obeahmen are not ignorant of that phase of occultism, is proved by the performances of both M.B. and D. with the donkeys, as well as in other cases. Another instance of the same occurred within the last few months; the performer being a grand-son of Kongo-Brown, who “tricked” a cow of his, which he had tied to graze on another man’s land, in such manner that when the latter found her and loosed her to “take her up” for trespass, she turned on him, caught him up on her horns, and carried him in that position through all sorts of bush and bramble (whereby ho was much scratched, and hid clothes torn to rags) straight into her master's court-yard.

 

The Spanish Creole black men of Trinidad and the Spanish Main, where there are many poisonous snakes, are said to use a spell when they find one, which renders the snake perfectly powerless so that they can kill it without danger. That particular spell, it is reported, has been taught them by the (Carib, etc.,) Indians of the Main. Of those Indians too, I have been hearing some curious stories, which perhaps may form the basis of a future paper.

 

 

N.B. — Wherever the word occultism is made use of in these notes, it is as the translation of gupta-vidya and not meant to apply as to any particular one of the sciences grouped under that head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 4

 

The references hitherto made to the use of “spells” or mantras only extended to their use in regard to animals, reptiles and inanimate objects; but to say that the Obeahman’s knowledge of Mantra-vidya ends there, would be to convey a very erroneous impression, as the most important use of that knowledge to him lies in its application to living human and sub-human beings. There is little doubt —although for the present no quotable case of it is at hand— that some, but not the majority, of Obeahmen have elementals at their command.

 

There are indications too, that in the procuring and utilizing of such servants, that Mantra-sakti is the predominant means made use of; but, in addition, what I have no doubt will seem surprising, is the conjecture that has been forced upon me through consideration of the somewhat scanty details on the subject which I have been able to gather, that a considerable portion of their knowledge of mantras has been obtained mainly through the agency of elementals and other similar —perhaps higher— entities. They have no other source as ample or available.

 

The Indian Mantra-vidya, we know, has special occult formulae for every purpose under the sun, from snake charming upwards. The Norse “Troll-runes” (magic runes) from what is now known of them, were a similar system. The “spells,” or “incantations” of the European witches (it is on record that certain Scottish witches used actual Norse runes), was another; and the “foreign language” speeches and chants of the Obeahmen correspond. Probably if one of the “foreign language” chants can be obtained, — say, the one used to summon a “jumbi,” — it will be found to be identical in sounds, number of syllables, and rhythm with the Indian Mantra, the Norse Rune, and the later European spell for the same purpose.

 

For all those formula whenever used, are in the same, — the Universal, “element language”: the use of one predicates the present or past knowledge and use of the hole system, and in short the existence of a system of magic in a state of development depending on the surroundings and other circumstances. As students well know, that language is composed of “sounds, not words” etc., so the reason of Obeah spells for ever being said ‘to be in a foreign language,’ is not far to seek.

 

In the description of the “Ballade dance,” we had the ‘spell’, supposed to be used to induce “possession” by “jumbis” or so-called spirits of the dead, and, certainly, to produce a species of frenzy. We have since seen it applied to the production of snakes (or their mayavic forms) for the protection of fields, &c. Now, we have it acting on the human animal too, and we are destined to see more of it before we are done with Obeah. Last year, in the month of March, an Obeahman called A, — living at the village of M___, on his recovery from a “spree” of some days’ duration, discovered that some bottles of rum had been stolen from him. By whom he could not find out; so he employed the following characteristic and effective plan for that purpose.

 

He sat down in a chair, and knotting a piece of twine so as to form an endless band, passed it under one of his feet. Then he began to chant a song in a ‘foreign language’ (as usual), at the same time pulling the twine band round and round his foot with his hands.

 

Whilst this operation was going on, a young man, called B., in a house at the other end of the village, suddenly had a curious fit of suffocation and choking, during which lie managed to gasp out that A. was choking him with a string! A sister of A.’s happened to be at hand, and hearing this ran off to her brother’s house, and entering, rushed up to him and snatched the twine out of his hands, exclaiming “What are you choking poor B. for?”

 

Her brother replied, with a grin of satisfaction, “All right! I know who stole my rum now!” That is the use of the ‘spell,’ pure and simple, between man and man.

 

Those members of the Theosophical Society who pursue the ‘Third Object,’ —to whom I especially beg to dedicate these necessarily rough and incomplete notes— will, I think, agree with me that the European witch and wizard of the past, particularly those of Germany and Scotland, of which latter, Buckle in his History of Civilization in England says, “In England the witch was a miserable and decrepit hag, the slave rather than the mistress of the demons which haunted her; she, in Scotland rose to the dignity of a potent sorceress, who mastered the evil spirit, and forcing it to do her will,” etc.

 

With their mysterious unguents, spells, familiar spirits and queer doings generally, —even after the deductions due on account of exaggerations and “superstitions”— had a remarkable resemblance in most of their interesting practices to these Obeahmen of modem times. Excepting the fact that the “broomstick,” that venerable (?) and mysterious aerial conveyance of eld, seems to be unknown to the Obeahmen; and the no less venerable, though ‘gay and festive’ social institution the “Sabbat,” (at which his Satanic Majesty was reputed frequently to preside in person, and even occasionally to conduct the orchestra, teste’ “Tam O’Shanter”) is also as yet wanting to complete the resemblance.

 

In the accounts, of witchcraft the use of the (spell’ is comparatively seldom referred to, but there are many cases in which it, as used by the Obeahmen, would explain things that now appear to the writer inexplicable in any other way. Such as, for instance, certain mysterious hurtings and killings of cattle by witches, and other equally mysterious cases of fits and convulsions, and sinking of boats at sea, among their human victims; not forgetting their much disbelieved reputed manipulation of the winds ; and, generally, where purely Hypnotic effects seem out of the question.

 

Amongst the Kaffir “Doctors” and “Rainmakers” of the South East of Africa, this same mantric phase of occultism appears to be not a little developed, and they rival the witches of old in their practical knowledge of local, vegetable and other drugs; but among the West India Obeahmen, if a knowledge of local drugs for other than mere medicinal and toxical purposes exists, it is exceedingly rare or industriously and successfully concealed.

 

And, while the “Rainmaker” is to be heard of as inducing clairvoyance in himself and others by anointing the eyes with a paste composed of the ashes of a certain plant mixed with water, and projecting his astral body by aid of the smoke from the burning of a similar plant, —a “fumigation” in fact— inhaled to assist in overcoming the corporeal resistance; the Obeahman in such cases apparently relies on the ‘spell’ to the total exclusion of the drug, whether used in the form of an unguent as by the witches, or as a ‘fumigation’ as by the “ Rainmakers.”

 

To illustrate this I must first explain that among the black men here certain individuals of both sexes are called, —behind their backs— “Hags.” All Obeahmen of repute are supposed to be able to do all that the hags can, and more, are supposed to be able to keep hags in check: so, to call a person a hag, does not necessarily imply that he or she is an Obeah practitioner of the usual kind, or vice versa . ‘Hagging,’ as they call it, besides being an acquirable faculty, is in many families supposed to be a hereditary one.

 

To be a hag is to have the power to “change the skin” at will; and, ‘changing the skin’ is the vernacular phrase in local use for “projecting the double.” This operation is generally supposed to be performed after nightfall, and always in a cool and unfrequented place. The performer is said first to strip quite naked, and having disposed the person in a comfortable position, to sing a song, at the conclusion of which the “skin is changed,” or, in other words, the body left soulless, and the astral form free.

 

The skin being changed, the skinless hag can become invisible at will, or assume the shape of any person or thing desired, and is also able to fly through the air, and pass through walls and other impedimenta without difficulty. The normal form of the skinless hag, when visible, is in appearance compared to an egg-shaped mass of faint light or fire.

 

The descriptions I have heard (and they are many) all compare the luminosity of these masses of faint fire to the phosphorescence of decaying fish, or rotten wood, as seen in the dark. This luminosity is further described as forming a kind of envelope of semi-transparent mist, through which, if near enough, one can recognize the features and form of the hag, the size being somewhat less than that of the same person in his or her ordinary corporeal form. Amongst the descriptions of this appearance the following is one of the most striking:

 

One night recently, J.G. and four other men were rowing up by sea from C___ Bay to that of M____, where there is a large village.

 

When about a mile from their destination, a mass of faint light was seen coming towards them at a height of about eight feet above the water. The men were at first much afraid, as they did not know what to make of it, but, as it came on and passed right over their heads, they saw it was a man moving through the air as if swimming, or rather floating without moving his limbs. They then knew quite well what it was, but they will not confess to having recognized the person. In the village at M___ there are at least two men and several women credited with more or less frequent performances of the sort.

 

The most dreaded hags are females, and frequently old ones, who are looked upon by the other black men much as the witches used to be in Europe; but the ‘cantrips’ they are most feared for, are such as they are accused of performing unseen, i.e., in astral form. And it is exclusively against this variety of hagging that the Obeahmen’s supposed checking power is invoked.

 

The “can trips” that the old women hags are accused of are (A) entering people’s houses at night invisibly when the inmates are asleep, or sending asleep any they find awake by breathing on them (this is a device ascribed to all hags), and then sucking their blood, — generally that of young children: and (B) “Drawing the shadow” of young children.

 

A. Blood sucking or Vampirism is quite well proven, inasmuch as blood certainly is sometimes, but not commonly, sucked; and traces of it found on the bed-clothes and floors: but there is nothing to show that it is done by hags, or any human agency at all, ante or post mortem. As yet therefore that accusation against the hags is nothing more than a ‘superstitious belief.’ On the other hand, there is a strong presumption that whatever blood sucking is done, is done by Vampiro Bats.

 

These bats are not yet recognized by scientists as existing here, nor is it probable that they do exist in large numbers; but in the next island, only separated from this by a narrow strait some seventeen miles broad, they are quite common, and do much damage, sucking the blood of both human beings and animals. From time to time very large bats have been killed here, and one night a few weeks ago, in a friend’s house, one was killed in my presence, which, from its appearance, I have no doubt was one of that undesirable species. Nor, from an occult point of view, is this living, human blood-sucking a probability, because if a person having the faculty with which the hags are credited, wished to sap or assimilate the strength of another, it is scarcely likely that actual sucking of blood would be the mode resorted to.

 

B. “Drawing the shadow,” sounds like an item of quaint old world devilment. It means here abstracting the shadow (? Astral form).

 

But whatever form or effect the operation may have, I have been able to learn no practical details of the modus operandi. The black men assert that when a hag wishes to hurt both, or one or other of a married couple, she chooses, as the most vulnerable point, the last born baby: and usually before the child is a year old the attack is made. By some as yet unexplained procedure she is said to abstract its shadow, and the reported result is that the child “pines away,” refuses sustenance, and subsequently soon dies. It is also alleged that if the hag be known, and can be propitiated, she can by dandling and kissing the child restore its shadow, whereupon it rapidly recovers.

 

That phrase is a rather suggestive one to me. It reminds me of a queer German Romance called “Peter Schimmell (or a similar name), by Adalbert V. Chamisso,” about a person who sold his shadow to the devil, and, if my memory serves, made a good bargain of the transaction.

 

It reminds me of a much famed master of old, who is said to have cast no shadow when he walked abroad, — probably because on such occasions there was nothing corporeal enough about him to cast one. It reminds me too, of a photographer, who had been in Arabia, and who told me that some people there absolutely refused to be photographed on the score that by doing so the photographer would imprison their shadows, and through that obtain magical power over them. Perhaps they knew “it is related of Nimrood that he was once desirous of affecting an evil on a king, and for this purpose he had his portrait made and placed before him. By continually gazing upon this figure, and by the exercise of his power of the will, he so seriously affected the health of the king that he would have died.”

 

On all of which things I should like to see some comments in these pages, not by a ‘a brother of the shadow,’ but by a student of the “Scientia umharum,” if any such there be now-a-days.

 

Here is an instance of “changing the skin” by the use of a ‘spell’:

 

One day in 1875, at M___ parish school, the children were out to eat their lunch, and were all sitting together in the shade of a tree.

 

One little girl, about 8 years of age, called J.B., said she had forgot to bring any lunch, but if the others would give her some of theirs, she would show them how her grandmother (with whom she lived) changed her skin when she was going hagging. This was agreed to, and after she had eaten what they gave her, she went a little way apart and told them to watch her.

 

She first stripped herself, — not an elaborate function for a black child of that age here, — and then sat down on the grass and began to sing a song (the words of which were not understood by her audience). The song had not lasted long before the singer lay at full length on the grass, and as the last words passed her lips, there appeared two little J.B:s before them one standing at the head of the other lying down. The audience were much frightened, and ran off to tell the schoolmaster what J.B. had done; however, by the time the master reached the spot, there was only one J.B. left, sitting quietly on the grass, with her garments on. The grandmother being a hag of evil repute, the master sent J.B. home with instructions not to come back.

 

J.B. is still alive and grown up, and I have met with about ten eye witnesses to that performance. All the narratives of the act of ‘changing the skin’ have a strong general resemblance to the above, and it would seem that the use of the ‘spell’ here completely supersedes either the use of drugs, as “powders of projection,” or the severe mental and nervous exertion which is entailed upon students essaying this operation, for the first few times, by the process prescribed by Eastern occultism, which lays the whole strain upon the will of the student when unassisted.

 

Various means are employed by the black men to prevent the operations of hags: one of the most common is to make all round a house a broad chalk line, or a circle of + chalk crosses, which are always kept regularly fresh chalked, it being the popular belief that no hag in or out of the skin can cross a fresh chalk line.

 

Ordinary Obeahmen, too, make the supposed prevention of hagging one of the departments of their profession. Parents take their children to the Obeahmen to be “washed,” so that no hagging or other power of Obeahism can affect them, — a sort of devil’s baptism, to defend the child from the powers of his fellows while not affecting the officiating Obeahman’s own powers. The unholy water made use of on these occasions to dip the children in, is some decoction of roots, etc., of which the ingredients are as yet unknown to me, — if indeed there are any particular ingredients.

 

The Obeahmen of past times are said to have made use of a sort of ceremonial for capturing skinless hags, which partly consisted in the Obeahman on, catching sight of the hag, drawing a small chalk circle before him on the ground, and making a blow towards the hag, with a sharp pointed knife or other weapon, which blow was to be continued down to the ground till the weapon stuck inside the circle, — the Obeahman of course ‘fixing’ the hag with his eye all the time, — thereupon the hag was supposed to be ‘compelled’ into the circle, where he was obliged to ‘materialize,’ and remain at the mercy of the Obeahman till allowed to depart. But that operation is now said to be numbered ‘amongst the lost arts.’

 

Now-a-days, complete control is said to be obtainable over a hag by finding and seizing his or her empty “skin” or body, much as is related to have occurred to the “swan-maidens” and “wolf-men” of Norse mythology, in like predicaments. As already mentioned, skinless hags can assume any shape they will; and there are instances here of their having assumed the shapes of other persons; but, in other phases, “Lycanthropy,” — which the witches were so fond of, — is said to be much practiced by Obeahmen.

 

As a case in point, in the island of T___, one who was “wanted” by the Police having been pursued into a cul-de-sac, vanished, and in his stead a large black dog appeared, which flew at the policemen and routed them. The same individual is reported previously to have escaped from the prison-gang under some similar metamorphosis.

 

Many are the similar stories of Obeahmen turning themselves into wild Cats, Snakes, Boulders, Ants’ nests, etc., to escape observation or capture; ----- “ Anansi-stories” in fact, altho’ not told as such. However, nothing of that sort has as yet come within reach of my own enquiries, and I fancy an eyewitness would find it a very difficult task to discriminate between a case of true Lycanthropy, and one in which “glamour” was used as substitute.

 

Let me now give an example of what a male Hag used his power for. In August last year, I was staying in the town of A___, and one evening went to drive with my friend Dr. R___. He was absent when I arrived at his house, but came in after a little, and apologized for haying kept me waiting, saying he had unexpectedly been called to see a patient.

 

After dinner he remarked to me, that I would perhaps be interested to hear some details of the case which had made him late for dinner; and that he would like to hear my opinion on it. He had been called to attend a colored woman (a widow, called O___, aged about 35), at V___, who was suffering from the effects of some severe nervous shock, which she accounted for, telling him that the night previous, she was lying awake in bed, and was much started by seeing a lame black man called J___ (a man of bad character, who lived close by) come into the bedroom apparently through the wall. He then began to advance towards her with the evident intention of “taking a liberty.”

 

She however snatched up a water caraffee and threw it at him. It struck him apparently about the waist, but went thro’ him and broke against the wall, while he promptly disappeared. She said he had threatened her, and troubled her before, but not to this extent. Dr. R___ added, that his patient was weak, and suffering from some severe shock or fright, but that there was nothing in her condition likely to cause hallucinations, and he did not know what to make of the story. I gave him my opinion as requested, which, I must say, he naturally held to be very doubtful, as an explanation. The only doubt I had, was as to the truth of his patient’s story, and that was dissipated on the following morning; when I met with Dr. P___, a professional rival of my friend.

 

I happened to ask Dr. P___, where he had been; he said he had been to visit a lame man called J___ living at V___, who had got badly cut about the groin some two days ago, by, as he said, falling amongst some broken glass. But, as Dr. P___ remarked, — the groin was an unusual place to fall on, and it was curious he could find no fragments of glass in the wounds, — which were deep! That is the use that I believe most Hags, — who are not at the same time “high class” Obeah practitioners, — make of their power. And it is one of the mildest of the evil uses such a power would be put to, should the mode of using it become popularly known, in more densely inhabited countries.

 

The “Silk-Cotton” tree (Bombax Ceiba), which is not uncommon here closely resembles its East Indian congener the “Simal.” It grows to a great height and size, and supports itself by immense buttresses thrown out from its root. This tree is the one which, in this part of the world, represents to the black man a combination of the affinities ascribed by the natives of Indiato the Pipal and the Seris trees, besides other qualities.

 

Few black men can be induced to fell one of these trees, and that only when supplied with rum rum, part of which is librated to the “spirit” of the tree, and (the greater) part drunk; the sacrifice of a fowl at the foot of the tree is generally also a requisite, and then the felling proceeds amid profuse apologies to the “spirit” who is supposed to inhabit it. Besides being the habitation of some sort of (? elemental) spirit, (which is generally described as a white woman frequently with a child in her arms, and another on foot beside her) to which the (Methodist Christian) black men are continually offering food, cloth, etc., on the sky: the Silk-Cotton tree is of great importance to Hags.

 

Its height, the shape of its huge branches, the hollows formed by buttresses, and perhaps other points, combine to make it a safe and suitable place for a Hag to change his or her skin in, and in which to have the empty skin or body. Also, several very large specimens of this tree in different parts of the country, are believed to be the meeting places of the Hags, when they gather from time to time “to consult or to told their sabbats. Only the other day, it was reported to me that the night before, one of these trees, a few miles from my house, had been seen occupied by over a dozen ‘balls of fire,’ each of which was a Hag; but I regret to say I did not witness the occurrence.

 

To the smoke of tinder made from the decayed wood of the Silk-Cotton tree, is attributed the power of instantaneously turning sick and killing Hags (whether m or out of their skins) who are brought in contact with it but it does not appear to be frequently made use of for that purpose.

 

The operations of Hags are believed to be in some way influenced by the moon and the ‘Yellow Sandus’ tree (Bocida Capitata) which, when dressed is said by the black men to vary its color with the changes of the moon, is stated to be used by Hags for some purpose, as yet unknown to me.

 

But, I have had the curiosity to have a piece of that wood planed up, and have now had it under observation for some months, without perceiving any variation of color whatever during that time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 5

 

Induced clairvoyance among Obeahmen, I think, happens but rarely, however, whether as a process akin to crystal-seeing, or one of divination; though they go through some process by drawing a chalk circle on a table inside of which they place a bowl of water. At intervals round the circle they inscribe curious chalk figures, or hieroglyphics, on which are placed alternately small human bones, and some species of shells. They are then said to tell what is going on in other and distant places, and to look backward and forward in time, by gazing in the water. But I regret my information on this point is so scanty, as I would like very much to know about the shape and effect of the chalk figures, and of the bones and shells.

 

Human bones and lumps of chalk are always among the contents of Obeahmen’s “Medicine Bags,” along with a selection of small bottles and vials. It is possible that the human bones may be used in some way to obtain power over elementaries, — in “setting on ´Jumbi,’” for instance. The bottles and vials are made use of in various ways, some of which I have already alluded to; but they are also used to bury empty, with the mouth up, and level with the surface of the ground, near houses, the inmates of which are troubled by ‘Jumbies,’ us supposed traps for those entities. They are also used in the supposed infliction of disease, by burying them filled with some ingredients, in a path frequented by the desired victim, who is believed to become diseased from the moment his foot touches the mouth of the bottle. I hear often of these bottles being found, but have never heard of any illness being really traced to them.

 

There remains a phase of Obeahism to be looked into, that occupies different ground from any of the examples I have yet cited, save partly the initiation of the schoolmaster which did not come off. Obeahmen reputed to have dealings with high grade elementals (?) stand apart from the rest of their kind. They are always credited with hag-powers, but they do not seem to make money by their arts in any way, except occasionally when they act as “bush-doctors,” who prescribe and supply remedies drawn from wild plants, the virtues of which are in most cases known only to themselves. I have reason to believe that their knowledge of these drugs is frequently extensive, and that amongst them are some of great value as medicines, while others possibly are of value in the domain of “Occult Botany.” Such men are scarce, and reliable information relative to their branch of Obeah is, of all, by far the most difficult

to obtain.

 

My attention was first attracted to this phase by the following curious details given me by H.H. (a fairly educated black man boat-builder) and M.H., his wife. They went to Demerara in 1875 and spent some time there. During that time, while living in lodgings in George Town, M.H. lost a gold ear-ring, and was in much trouble over it. The landlady of the house said if Mrs. H. would come along with her, she would take her to a friend whom she felt sure would find the lost ear-ring for her. On being taken to this friend, Mrs. H. found her to be a stout-built, fair-colored woman of about 40 years of age.

 

When the landlady and Mrs. H. entered the house, the woman came forward and said, “How are you Mrs.? I see you have brought Mrs. H. along with you to see me!” And then to Mrs. H., “You have never seen me before, but I have seen you often, and I like both you and your husband H.H. very much, —you must bring him to see me— and you’ll find the ear-ring you’ve some to ask me about in the corner of your window-sill when you go back.”

 

Mrs. H. was considerably surprised by this speech, but after some further conversation, during which Mrs. H. promised to come back in a day or two with her husband to pay Miss J. (that being the woman’s name) a visit, they went home and the ear-ring was found at once in the place mentioned by Miss J.

 

Some days after that the H.’s paid their promised visit to Miss J. She then asked H. whether he would not like to know what was going on in his home during his absence? (he had by this time been some 18 months in Demerara). On receiving an affirmative answer, she gave him a great many details of what had happened there since he left, mentioning several births and deaths and their dates. Most of these details were verified by letters which arrived within a few days after.

 

During this visit Miss J. asked Mrs. H. to come and stay with her for a while, to help her in her house-work, about which she mentioned that she had a good deal of cooking to do. H. was to come and see his wife as often as he pleased, but they were to live strictly apart during the time. H. opposed this arrangement, but as his wife was anxious to oblige Miss J., he gave in; and at the end of that week Mrs. H. took up her abode with Miss J.

 

Miss J.’s house was in an enclosed garden, in one of the outskirts of George Town. Behind the house there was a detached kitchen, with one or two extra rooms, one of which Mr. H. occupied, and on one side was a small duck-pond with a wire fence round it, which pond Miss J. was very particular about keeping clean. At the other side, in view of the kitchen, was the house entrance gate in the enclosure.

 

Mrs. H. says that Miss J. had plenty of money, and she sent her out to market every morning, when she had to buy enough meat and other provisions for about ten persons. Miss J. spent part of each day in preparing these for the table, which was always set for seven, a little after sun-down. After that the house was shut up, and the lamps lighted, Miss. J. remaining inside. In the porch was placed a corked bottle of wine, and another of rum, with glasses, and in the kitchen, and each of the out rooms a similar set of articles, —for “her friends”— as Miss J. said.

 

This programme was gone through every day. Mrs. H. never saw any one come into the house to eat these dinners, and no person could have got in or come out without being seen by her, but still she could hear voices talking with Miss J. every evening up till about 12 p.m., though looking in through the jalousies never a person could she see but Miss J. Every morning the dinner of the night, before apparently quite untouched, was removed and given away to any beggars who came about the house, as also the wine and rum from the different rooms. Any remainder of the food was fed to a number of ducks and fowls which Miss J. kept.

 

Miss J., on various occasions, offered food off the table in the morning to Mrs. H., who, however, on attempting to eat it, found it perfectly tasteless , and after one or two attempts she would have no more of it. On being offered to H., he found the same objection to it; and to him, Miss J. frequently offered both wine and rum out of the bottles which had been placed as described: she pressed him to drink as much as he liked of both, —as her “friends liked to see people merry”— but when the bottles of rum and wine were uncorked, H. found both liquors had scarcely any taste and no strength in them, so did not care to drink much.

 

Near a window of the dining room in Miss J.’s house lay a large mat; and each morning when the table was cleared, there were found on this mat a number of pieces of gold and silver money (in the coinages of various nations). These Miss J. would not touch, nor would she allow Mrs. H. to do so, till she had lifted them with a flour-scoop, and thrown them into a basin of water, into which some wood-ashes had been put. After being well washed in this, Miss J. used to take charge of them.

 

Miss J. frequently gave presents, sometimes of money, to the H.'s, and talked very much of her friends, but would never say who or what they were, except that they “came from the sea.” Talking about them to H. once, she pointed to the duck pond above referred to, and said “that is the road my friends come and go by.” She told the H.’s that she had been born and brought up in Demerara, but that at the age of twenty-one she had been taken away somewhere by her friends, and remained with them seven years, at the expiry of which time they sent her back “to work for them.”

 

The only occupation Miss J. seemed to follow, was that of doctor, and sick people came to consult her regularly; she gave them medicine and got fees from them. She said ‘her friends’ used to tell her at night who was coming next day, and all particulars about each person. One day she told H. “there is a letter for yon from so and so, in the mail which will arrive tomorrow.” On the morrow H. called at the Post Office for the letter, without getting it; he went a second time with the same result. Miss J. sent him back a third time, saying, “It is impossible for my friends to be deceived,” that time he got it: and it verified certain things she had already told him.

 

After staying with Miss J. for about six weeks, Mrs. H. had enough of those “Friends” whose voices she heard every night, though she could not understand what they said, and whom she could never catch sight of; so she left and went back to live with H. and they soon after left Demerara and returned here. Miss J. is apparently still alive, as the other day H. came to me and told me that a man had come from Demerara, and brought him a kind message from her.

 

The H.’s think Miss J.’s “friends” were “spirits.” So do I, but I never heard before of any similar arrangement with elementals as they presumably are. It is an unusual idea altogether for a party of “spirits” to sit down regularly every evening to a mundane dinner; but the H.’s are perfectly positive that no persons could have got into or left that house without being seen, and ordinary beings would scarcely have satisfied their appetites with the mere gout of the viands and liquors. It will be seen lower down, that Miss J.’s “friends” have representatives in other places, though their liking for mundane refreshments has not yet transpired.

 

 

In this colony, in the village of J___, there is a black girl, who has twice disappeared: once for two days, and once for three days, and who, at the end of both periods, was found lying insensible on the bank of a lagoon there. All she can be got to say on the subject is that “the” ‘Fair maids’ took her away, and that they treated her well.

 

That they arc white people and live in fine houses: that they offered her food, etc., which she would not eat, as she believed if she had done so, they would have been able to keep her, and she would never have got home any more.”

 

There are also two Obeah-doctors in this locality who are said to be instructed by these “Fair-maids.” These men live in different parts of the country, and I am not aware that there is any connection between them; but there are stories of white women with long black hair being seen in consultation with them, who abruptly vanish on being observed.

 

One of them disappears occasionally for two or three days at a time, and the other has been in the habit of disappearing for like periods at intervals ever since he was a boy of 7 or 8 years of age. The latter has been repeatedly seen in conversation with such beings near a certain large silk cotton tree. But beyond this, and the fact that such black men who know of their existence, profess the greatest respect for these “Fair-maids,” I have been unable to obtain any reliable information whatever on the subject.

 

There are points of difference between Miss J.’s “friends” and the “Fair-maids” of these latter persons; these are, that if the “Fair-maids” had had any inclination for mundane liquors and cookery, it would have been heard of; while those credited with their acquaintance are said to abstain both from flesh diet and spirituous liquors. Miss J.’s “friends” were never visible, except presumably to herself; “the Fair-maids” of the others seem to have been seen by many people, whose descriptions of their appearance tally very well with each other.

 

Finally all the “friends” and “Fair-maids” are credited with teaching the use of herb-medicines.

 

Paracelsus speaks of human beings living at times with elementals; and in Scotland, down to within the last two centuries, —and perhaps later— there are repeatedly recurring cases of persons being “carried away by the fairies.” I may instance the celebrated Thomas (The Rhymer) of Erceildon, a renowned seer, prophet, and poet, whose date is about 1286. He is said to have been carried off by the fairies and kept by them for seven years, when he was allowed to return to mundane life for a time, but was again recalled — this time for altogether by the appearance of a “White-Roe.”

 

Coming down to more modern date, the Rev. Robert Kirk, Minister of Aberfoyle (Circa 1660), who translated the Psalms of David into Gaelic, and was the author of a curious, and now very scarce book called “ The Secret Commonwealth (of which there was a reprint in 1815), on the manners and customs of Fairies and hoc genus.

 

In that book the particular sort of “Fairies” which I am fain to identify with these “Fair-maids,” are referred to in these words:

 

“For in the Highlanders there be many fair ladies of this aerial order, who (are called) ......... Leannain Sith” (by translation = Fairy-sweethearts).

 

Mr. Kirk speaks of them in no very complementary terms, — for which they took their revenge. In the work called “The Scottish Highlands,” when the legends relative to Mr. Kirk are treated at length, there is the following description of the Leannain Sith:

 

“According to Highland legend the Shi’ach (fairies) are believed to be of both sexes, and it is the general opinion of the Highlanders that men have sometimes cohabited with females of the Shi’ach race, who are in consequence called Leannain Shi.’

 

These mistresses are believed to be very kind to their mortal paramours by revealing to them the knowledge of many things both present and future, which were concealed from the rest of mankind. The knowledge of the medicinal virtues of many herbs, it is related, has been obtained in this way from the Leannain Shi'. The Daoine Shi’ of the other sex, are said in their turn to have sometimes held intercourse with females of mortal race.”

 

Mr. Kirk, though a Presbyterian (?) Minister, was —mirabile dictu— apparently a real, though perhaps untrained occultist, and probably a wielder of the “second-sight.” His book is very quaint, and has a savor of Paracelsus about it, and for its correct dicta on some points of occult theory, such as astral bodies, repercussion, second-sight, elementaries and elementals of various kinds, etc., the invention of which has been sapiently ascribed to certain occultists of the Theosophical Society, merits some attention in these pages, which I hope to see given at no distant date.

 

However, to return to Mr. Kirk. He disappeared in 1688 at the age of 42. “It is said, (while) he was walking one evening on a little eminence to the west of the present Manse, which is still reckoned a ‘Dunshi' (fairy hill) he fell down dead; but this is not believed to be his fate, for “he afterwards appeared to a relative,” and telling him he was not dead, but “carried into fairy-land,” desired him to have a certain ceremony, which he prescribed, performed, upon which he would be “restored to human society.” When the proper occasion occurred, the performance of the ceremony was neglected, Mr. Kirk was not restored, and “it is firmly believed that he is at this day in fairy-land.”

 

But, whether Mr. Kirk be there or no, the above description of the Leannain Shi’ fairly agrees with the little I have heard of the “Fair-maids” of this part of the world. To show that the existence of this “Daoine Mah” (good people fairies) was not merely a romantic fancy of the Highlanders of that time, —however much they may appear to resemble the “Undines,” etc., of “The Count de Gabalis”— it is on record that in October 1675, the Bishop and Synod of Aberdeen were engaged in considering “divers complaynts that some under pretence of trances and familiarity with spirits, by going with these spirits, commonly called the Fairies, (Shi'ach), hath spoken reproachfully of some persons, where of some are dead and some living.” The Synod threatened both the “seducers and consulters with censure,” etc. (V. Aberdeen Session Records.)

 

Under what category are these “Leannain Shi’ach” and “Fair-maids” to be classed?

 

They cannot be “Devas,” whom “man can neither propitiate nor command.” They are evidently not the “Dhakini’s” of Indian Occultists, who for all their reputed “kindness to mortals,” have, according to a high authority, “no mind,—animal instinct” only.

 

If they are elementals at all, they must be of a very high grade, having some resemblance to the genie of Arabic story, and little or no likeness to the “familiar-spirits” of the witches and wizards of the Middle Ages; yet, as they are evidently possessed of much more than mere animal instinct, or even average human knowledge, I am driven to class them as “Spirits” as distinct from elementals and elementaries, but I solicit any suggestions tending to elucidate this point from my more learned and experienced brothers. Whatever they may be, they are “informing-spirits” as far as they go, and they hold in this incomplete catalogue of Obeah-witchcraft, the honorable position of being the sole item of which no evil is alleged, — their fancy for carrying off a mortal now and then, notwithstanding.

 

Before quitting the subject of Elementals, there are some other points which merit a little attention. The elementals reputed to be used by Obeahmen, —such as Pebu, in my first chapter— are very different beings from the “Fair maids,” and are of much lower grade in the scale of being, having no more than animal instinct. There is a belief among Obeahmen in regard to the use of such entities, which is somewhat at variance with the teachings of Eastern Occultism on the subject, while, curiously enough, it is supported by the traditions of ancient Western occultists.  The received theory as to the danger of intercourse with elementals, is that in the hands of any other persons than adepts, elementals, once made use of, generally end by becoming masters of their masters, — very much to the detriment of the latter.

 

The Obeahmen hold that elementals are much like what some of Mr. Glarke-Russel’s sea-captains say the British sailor is, — apt to become troublesome or dangerous if not kept hard at work!

 

Though I have no actual example of this in regard to Obeahmen to relate, I may mention that, according to Scottish tradition, the great Michael Scott,* —not to speak of many other ancient occultists, such as Lord Hay of Yester, Lord Foulis, etc.— had several “Diels” (elementals) in his employment, and one of them at least had such a great capacity for labor as to give his master some trouble to find him steady enough employment to keep him out of mischief. But tradition says that it ended this way:

 

Thinking to keep it employed for some time, Scott set it to split the Eildon Hill into three, that, as already related, was accomplished in a single night. Next, he was set to lay a line of “stepping stones” from Scotland to Ireland; this was also promptly accomplished.

 

(Whereof the Deil's Dyke “on the Ayrshire Coast, and the Giant’s Cause­way” on the opposite side, are said to be the yet existing remnants).

 

There, by an effort of ingenuity, Scott found it really lasting work.

 

He set it to make and coil ropes out of the sand on the sea-shore, and that luckless elemental is said to be still at it! Except, indeed, he may have been recently “ taken on” by Mr. Keely of Philadelphia (V. “P.T.S.,” No. 9, p.4, lines 3, 4 and 5). Some old Eastern magicians seem to have been of the same way of thinking, as in the “ Arabian Nights,” a fisherman hands up a copper jar in his net, whereon is impressed ‘Suleiman his seal’!

 

On its being opened a frightful elemental comes out of it, which the fisherman, —luckily for himself— manages to bottle up again. Suleiman being apparently of a more scientific turn of mind than Scott, and rather than be troubled to keep that elemental in work, quietly hermetically sealed it up in the jar, and put it past where it was not likely to give much more trouble.

 

If there is anything in that, Experimental Occultism in the Elemental department is not quite so much fraught with danger as we have been taught, and Obeahism may be credited with one useful idea. These ordinary elementals seem to have been made use of here some years ago, in a way not unknown in India. I am told that there used to be several persons here, known as “Vituas,” who appear to have been much of the same persuasion as Hassan Khair Djinni.

 

On market days and other occasions, the Vituas would buy goods from the people, who put the coin received for it into their bags or pockets, and on looking for it a few minutes after, they would discover it had vanished!  Gone back to the Vitua who gave it. The Vituas also used to enter shops, and handle numbers of small articles, under pretence of examining them prior to buying.

 

They would perhaps purchase one, but next morning every article so handled would be missing. To prevent this, garlic, salt, and other ingredients were advised to be carried in the bags and pockets, and mixed with the goods, and this precaution is said to have had such good effect, that the Vituas’ little business was spoiled, and they left to seek some other field of action where the use of those potent ingredients was not quite so well known.

 

Garlic and salt, and some other ingredients that I have not been able to find out, seem to serve the black men instead of the Horseshoes, Rowan, Holly and Elder branches, ashbeds, etc., which in Europe were reputed to keep witches in check, or to form neutral auric dams through which the powers of such like beings could not act.

 

The black men have another curious belief about garlic and salt. That is, when any one is a witness in a law-suit, in which he intends to give false evidence, if he has a lump of salt touching his skin somewhere, and a clove of garlic in his mouth, he will confidently assert the most utter falsehoods on oath, trusting to the garlic and salt to prevent his being detected or noticed. Have these ingredients any occult virtues?

 

Garlic is one of the forbidden articles of food for certain students; I have heard of the eating of garlic and onions raw as a cure for cancer in the stomach: and I remember many years ago, reading in some old book, that “an iron well heated red hot, and quenched in the juice of garlic.....doth contract a verticity from the earth, and attracts the south point of the needle.” But I never tried that experiment.

 

I have now arrived at the end of my notes on Obeah, but by no means at the end of its various developments. Here it probably has other forms which have not yet come under my notice, possibly higher developments in connection with “Hagging” and the “Fair-maids.”

 

In other parts of the West Indies too, it has other forms, of which I have only heard reports of too vague a kind to warrant their being included here.

 

Obeah and its more diabolically developed congener Voodoo (which I hope on some future occasion to have something to say about) are the species of occult knowledge now common to the Hamitic race, in the West Coast of Africa, the south of the United States of America, and in the West Indian Colonies. And its existence among them at the present day is nothing to be wondered at, if the black men of those places are the remnant of the Black Lemurio-Atlantic races. In the United States the black race is on the increase, and, it is said, changing in appearance and character.

 

In West Africa there are no data to show whether they are doing either. In the West Indies, —at least in some colonies— within the last few years an increased degree of sterility among the females has set in, and if it continues and spreads, the race will perhaps die out at no very distant date. No change of appearance among them appears to be taking place, but in comparison with the few old slaves who are still alive, the present and rising generations do not appear to have changed in character, or in any other respect for the better.

 

Where the black man is increasing, and changing to a higher type, does any one know if his knowledge of Obeah is increasing and assuming higher forms too?

 

The fact that the Voudaux of Neubrieans are recently said to have among them a secret “Bible” or magical book, perhaps points to that conclusion.

 

Obeah, as far as my notes go to show —however incompletely— is the distinct relic of the outward and visible part of a complete system of magic. Whether of a degraded Atlantean type or no, others may be better able than I am to decide. We have in it,

 

1)   The use of mesmeric, or rather hypnotic illusion and force.

2)   The traces of ceremonial and talismanic magic.

3)   In “Hagging,” the rapidly decreasing knowledge of what perhaps was a once more extended system of psychic development.

4)   A still surviving intercourse with, and use of elementals and elementaries, and perhaps higher entities, and

5)   Last, but not least, the use of spells (or more correctly Mantra Vidya): to all which may be added a knowledge of vegetable drugs, — medicines and poisons.

 

There is enough in this list, were the intelligence of Obeahmen as powerful as their evils, to lead them to a very high degree of left-hand adeptship, and it is rather more than a possibility, that it has already done so in some instances.

 

Amayarak is evidently the patron spirit of Obeahism, and whether or not the word Obeah signifies a “well and enclosed circle,” neither well nor circle typifies what it is, half so well as the Obeahmen’s favorite symbol, — a black triangle.

 

 

 

 

 

Note

 

* Michael Scott’s date is Circa 1230. There is a great deal of mysterious obscurity about his history, but he was the translator of many Arabic works into Latin and the author of several on Magic, Alchemy and Physiognomy. Many magical feats are attributed to him in the Scottish legends, as well as in Italian poetry. He is supposed to have been buried in several places, but there is nothing to show how or when he died,-or that he died at all  While it is a curious, and perhaps significant fact that one legend attributes his death to his having been betrayed into eating “broth made of a ‘Creme’ sow”. A similar legend attributes the death of the Lord Buddha to a meal of “rice and dried boar's flesh!”

 

 

 

(Theosophist, v12, 1891, February p.310-317, March p.343-349, April p.411-419. May p.472-479, June p.543-552)