The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-11-05

ed terror prevails among all classes In Hayti.
The great teasts of "V0udOu" are al Christ.
mas. nj Whitsuntide, and ut Easter The drum
Is beaten at midnight and the people assemble,
The ceremony commences by the most terrible
oa,hs of secrecy Then dancing begins, and
the excitement Is kept up by copious nbalions
of rum TIL one or more of the performers tall
down in fiji, when the spirit OF "Noudou" Is
supposed To have entered into them. These
orgies last generally three nights and some
times longer On the first night cock IS Of
fered up at the altar, and Its blood Is drank
warm On the second nigh, goat is treated
in the same way. But on the thiro night chill
dren are brought in; their throats are cut by
the priest: their blood is handed round and
drank warm, and their bodies are then cut up
and eaten. .rs
Before the sacrifice takes place the priest or.
ders as many children as he requires. They
must be of pure African descent, and not over
10 years of age These children are invaria-
bly, forthcoming, either by being voluntarily
given up or obtained y being stolen by wo-
men who make u profession OF It, They are
expert at their trade. Entering q house al
night, naked and oiled, they steal the child,
and by ninisterDg u narcotic poison render
1t insens be, 1t Is then conveyed to a secret
place TIL required for the sacrifice, when an an
udote brings it To; then its throat is cut. Chill
dren are often voluntarily given up by their
mothers for the sacrifice,
In order to be initiated into "Voudou" il Is
necessary to have killed some human being;
a child ls preferred. --
Another horrible custom in IIayti is the de.
vouring of corpses.
So strong is the taste tor human flesh that
midwives have been known to devour the chill
dren they have just brought into the world,
The parts preferred areihe knuckles and hands.
Lest it should be imagined that these are
not facts, will give one or two instances.
In May, 1879, two women were caught eat
ing a female child. 1t was proved that the
child had been first drugged and rendered in
sensible. The parents, surprising it to be dead,
buried IT. These women Immediately disln.
tered it, restored it to its senses by antdotes,
and then inserted reeds through It's side and
sucked the blood from the heart. This hap.
pened at Port Az Prince
A Haytan of good position was also caught
with his family eating small boy. Another
was found tied to tree close by The man
was pointed out to me.
These ofIcnses were punished, in one case
by months, in the other by six weeks I'M
prisonment, the fear of Voudou not allowing
a greater punishment.
In January, 1881, eight people were fined
Tor dlsinterring and eating corpses. -
| In the same month the neck aud shoulders
OF man were exposed for sale in the marke,
at Port au Prince, and were purchased and
identified by an English medical man.
In February, 1881, at St. Marks, cask OF
socalled "pork" was sold toa ship. In itwert
discovered the fingers and finger nails of hu
man being. The pork" was all identified as
human flesh.
| A Haytlan assured me that the kidneys of a
child were frstrate eating. On my asking
how he knew he informed me that he had
eaten them He did not seem to think /,
strange, or at all out OF the way.
At Cape Haytien colored clergyman of the
Church of England complained that You
dOu neutrallzed all the good he was doing
and declared that he had human flesh offered
HIM for sale, and that his wife nearly bought
it, believing it was pork. In February, 1881
four people were fined for devOuring cOrpses
| At Jacmel two corpses were recently disin
tered and partly eaten. Two men were 10
prison tor this, not being able to pay the fine
A man caught eating child was arrested the
day of my arrival. At Christmas time 0,OO(
people assembled at the house of a noted You
dou prlestess (pointed out to me) living in the
country, and carried on Voudou rites In the
woods close by during the week.
| AT Aux Cages the child Of an Englishmar
was stolen from its cradle on the 4th of March
1870 The thieves being hunted, they threw
the child down well-killing it-and es
capped.