The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-10-30
WEST INDIES NEGROES.
THE MYSTERIOUS AND DANGEROUS
POWERS OF THE "OBEAH MEN"

Out in the Woods.
@Some Of the Obeah men are very expert
IN preparing poisons They have several
kinds, to be used according to circumstances
One of the worst Of them Is made from the
root Of the cassava- I hev express the juice
and allow it 70 ferment, and Quantities oil
small worms are soon seen in the liquid. one
of which taken into the stomach IS q most
certain to cause death. One or the worms
is concealed under a thumb nail, vixen IS
allowed TO grow long for the purposes, ana
the C,Serator Ia handing his victim cup OF
coffee or some dish Of food manages to drop
the worm into it. In Jamaica almost every
negro has growing in his garden hunters Oh
ar enic bean plants which are neither u9eIui
for food or handsome in appearance, Dut
the leans are very poisonous. IL Is SAN
too that dangerous poison is mace from
the liver and gall of the alligator. Inc
Obaah men are also too handy in the manu-
facture OF narcotics. They could not pro
cure opium without too much risk, but they
knew how TO distiil narcotics from various
plants Some Of them seem to have con
siderable knowledge OF botany. Ihey can
find leaves anywhere that If put IN water .
vessel viii make the water a deadly polSon .
in few hours
PoIsoNs FURNISHED AT Low RATES.
kingsley in his visit to Trinidad picked .
M number Of cases of Obeah poisoning. /
He saws the habit of poisoning did not F
spring up among slaves DESTROYS or revenge I
upon the white masters, but that 1t was I'M J
ported from Africa. PerDaps he torgo' .
that many of the African negroes were
sla, es in their own country, with hard FOR
tuguese masters. He says, too, and truly
enough that some white West Indians VIII
DENY the existence of Obeah, because they
believe in it a little too much, and are
afraid to have it known that they believe III
It Their was an old woman named Fhyl's,
in Trinidad, some years ago, who was called
an sObeah woman and who furnished poi
sons at cheap rates She lived and ruled IN
a remote little village, where her supposed
supernatural powers gave her such lnHuehce
over her conpanions that she could make
them do almost anything she liked large
number of murders were laid at her door,
but it seemed impossible to get any Ie9aI
proof Her acquaintance were too much
afraid of her to tell what they knew about
her.
9They understand too well the effective
ness of ground glass We know it usually
as a coarse powder, useful for eHtermlnat
ing rats or troublesome dogs but Ihey
make a more dangerous poison of 1t. Ihey
pound it UP between two hard stones TIL II
seems hardly coarser than flour In this
form it is shaken up with water in bottle,
and really seems to dissolve. Administered
in small doses this pI oduces what IS known
as''West India dysentery, and II the doses
are continued death Is sure TO follow 1he9e
bottles filled with ground glass and water
are used for charms. One OF them Duhg
under a tree in an orchard Is almost sure to
keep the negroes away from the fruit Ihey
believe that the charm pOlsons IT anu tnat
they would die if they should eat any OF IL.
A bottle Of 'Obeah water put under a
mans doorstep is supposed TO BRING MN Une
worst possible luck. 1t Is worse thaA mo
L., 4 lrrfv7C in ba
with his beak pointing toward the door.
When an Obeah man wants to give you just
a mild touch of his supernatural power, he
gets somebody to bury near your door a
bottle containing toad, a spider, rusty
nails, muddy water, and other articles
They know how to work with corrosive sub
Innate: but that is not often used, because
other poisons are cheaper and easier to OBJ
tain. A negro could han Z y 60 to a chem
ist's and buy any of the deadly poisons
1ithont suspicion being aroused. In save
times of course they never bought any med
icines at all, for everything was furnished
by their masters. So they fell naturally
into using such poisons as they we're fanili-
lar with in the fields. And some OF these
are deadly enough
THE TRADE OF THE oBEAH MAN
an the old slave times Of course, the
Obeah men, being slaves, had to work as
well as the rest But when they were freed
they could use their influence over the
others to even better advantage 1hey are
generally now in some small business, very
often keeping little shops, where their Gus
toners, of course, are wholly negroes. They
sell any cheap thing there is a demand for
principally rum and fruits and sugar and
poor kerosene oil and salt meats. 10 then
profits from the sale of goods, which arr
often considerable, they add what they car
make from the Obeah business Ii a serV
ant wants something TO make his master ap
preciate him. he goes to the Obeah man anc
buvs some nonsensical thing in which h'
has every faith. 1t may be no more than {
few white pebbles wrapped up in a package
with soma human hair; or it may be harm
less powder, to lie scattered about the mas
ter's sleeping room Or perhaps silly col
ored girl wants someth ng to secure the al
fections Of her lover. They have to pa.
well for these things If they have n
money the Obeah man will take goods Il
exchange, bananas viii do, or cOcoanuts, o
some lewelry-any of the little things tina
negroes nearly always have.
Il visited one of these little shops kept b.
an Obeah man some time ago. He ha
hanging up openly some Of the peculla
beads that are used at Obeah dances-th
same kind that years ago the mere posse:
sion of was punishable with death IN
shop was not in village, as you might III
egine but alongside OF a Tequented pat
through the WOODS. Win uuL dnObllcI DLAAN
ing within two or three miles of it. And
can hardly call that building, for it We
little more than a shanty with a thatche
roof The proprietor of it lived IN sma
room partitioned off at the back, and II
shop was in front Why did he keep b
shop out in the woods, do you asks Thi
was just as good for his business as II
had been in the midst of a tOwn-muS
cheaper and more retired You must ha'
noticed ali through the West Indies that
negro is never afraid of a long walk.
may be too lazy TO do anything else, but
will willingly undertake walk of five
ten, or even twenty, miles if he has any o
ject to gain He will not hurry about
but he viii go. I should not hesitate
send a negro on an errand that would ia
him five or six miles, for he would rath
enjoy It He would Ioiter along, pick up
little fruit here and there, and have chan
to talk with the friends he met on the roa
So distance from his customers Is no dra
back TO one OF these little shopkeepers
New York Times.
Family Bedstead in milwaukee.
A Milwaukee firm has just turned out
ledstead twenty-four feet wide with nj
commandments for the children Of the ia
i1y Infer lceaO