Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1886-06-24
OBEAH POISONING.
A Superstition Which FlOurishes I'm All of
the West Indian Islands.

A Superstition Which FlOurlshes i'm All OF
the West Indian Islands.
"Obeah is the dread of nine negroes
out of every ten in the West Indies, "
said the Trinidad gentleman, whom, for
the sake of convenience, / shall call
Mr.. Smith. at is nuisance to them
and to the whites, but all the efforts of
the various governments to crush it out
have been unavailing. 1t has as many
believers now as ever, Notwithstanding
the education of many of the blacks,
and wherever there is any conflict be-
tween the two races it is still dangerous
can not tell you the derivat on of the
word. Obcah (Which, as you must
have noticed, is always pronounced
'oby') is not an imaginary being or
tangible thing, but simply the name of
the wretched system of juggling and
poisoning. Certain men among the
negroes set up for 'Obeah men, and
profess to be able to do marvellous
things l suppose there are five hun
dred 'Obeah men on this island to
whom the other co!ored people 90 for as
stance and advice. They have to pay
for this assistance, So the conclusion is
inevitable that the Obeah men 90 into
it as matter of business, seeing way
to make an easy living out of the super
stition of their comrades. They are
naturally shrewd fellows, who know
how TO give some impressiveness and
FEASIBILITY to their nonsense. There
is something Ike system in the 'Obcah
worship, but it has so many varia-
tons that it is difficult to trace. 1t is
substantially the same in all the islands,
with such differences as each performer
chooses to invent. In every island, for
instance, three white cocks heads are
used to bring trouble TO an enemy.
There is no variation in that. Though
there is great deal of the Obeah bust
ness in TIN dad, this island is by no
means one of the worst. 1t tlourishes
more in Hayti than anywhere else. In
Jamaica it is very much on theincrease
There is no doubt that t came orig nal
ly from Africa. Nearly every African
negro in the West Indies is firm be-
lever in it. There is great deal of 1t
IN Sierra Leone, and there it flour shes
in its worst form, that of poisoning. Its
home in the West Indies is st. Vincent.
There it is carried to greater extent
than anywhere else, and old Obeah men
for consideration teach the secrets of
the trade to beginners and make them
accomplished prisoners and jugglers.
Pupils of these humbugs have spread
through the other islands, and a st
Vincent Obeah man is considered an
expert. There is very little poisoning
done by them in the West Ind es now
(uuless it may be in HaytD, because
there is no occasion for it. In the slave
times it always had to be guarded
against.
Some of the Obeah men are very ex-
pert 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 cas-
sa' a. They express the juice and allow
it to ferment, and quantities of small
worms are soon seen in the liquid, one
of which taken into the stomach is
almost certain 10 cause death. One of
the worms is concealed under thumb
nail, which is allowed to grow long for
the purpose, and the operator in hand
ing 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 numbers of
arsenic bean plants, which are neither
useful for food nor handsome in APP
pearance, but the beans are very poi
sonous. 1t is said, too. that dangerous
poison is made from the liver and gall
of the alligator. Tire 0beah men
are also too handy in the manufacture
! Of psrcoticS They could procure