The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-08-09

river to Richmond you can imagine your
self Cleopatra, or one of her slaves as you
sail close to the Dismal swamp and eat of
the fruit in which was hidden the serpent
that brought death to her.
THE voUDoo MAN OFTHE SOUTH.
But you go to the market for something
else. You go to market to see the voudoo
man. He is in dark corner of the market,
and everybody passing him speaks in low
tone. He is awe-inspiring to look upon; he
may be 2 900 years old, probably ne is, but
he only lays claim to 81; he is as black as
the ace of spades, and shriveled to degree
that makes you feel that his skin must be
like parchment on his head he wears
curious pointed cap, with a bright
red rosette and a bright yellow one
on each side of it; his hands are
curiously well formed, the fingers being
pointed and the skin much lighter than that
of his face; his eyes are peering-I can't call
them anything else-he seems to keep the
lids half closed and to look out from under
them as if he could read your inmost soul.
Every darkey around flies by him for fear
he will cast the evil eye on them. Osten-
siblY his business is fruit-selling, but as his
stock consists of a few dried-up apples and
some berries that look as if they might have
ripened last year, nobody believes in the
sign of his trade He has TO be approached
WILL a C6Tbblu bllOuub "a OlEl1JJt 6AQ u6
permits no scoffing.
''HE WILL CONFUSE THINE ENEMIES"
went up to him, asked him the price
of the apples, and | held a silver dollar in
my hand, so he could see it. Said he
Lady, it isn't apples you want" and, with
solemnity, | answered: mo, | want some-
thing to protect me from my enemy" He
opened his eyes wide, and [ suddenly dis
covered how large they were, and then he
said in sort of a low chant, something be-
tween the way priest intones the mass
and the way a Quaker speaks in meeting:
''Voudoo will help you; Voudoo loves the
hght-haired people; what do you wish
done to your enemYF l had no par
ticular enemy in mind, so L was quite
safe in saying that l wished bad luck would
come to him. He got out a little old basket,
and from it he took bottle, in which there
was red mixture, strongly suggestive Of
weakened carmlne; then he said: Write,
with your finger on the table, the initials of
your enemy's name.s | hadn't the heart to
put down any real initials, SO l wrote TX.
Y. a." The voudoo gentleman stared me In
the face and said: "Those are not the real
shall stand for her." If you notice, he
changed the sex of my enemy. He then
sprinkled some of the red stuff on the
initials.
HE TOOK MY LEFT HAND,
laid it on them, and then commenced an
incarnation in an utterly unknown Ian
guage-that is, unknown to Uncover my
hand. Then be told me TO raise it up, and
| did. Now, don't laugh. but it is abso-
lutely true that the initials, which were
traced in the white sand on the table, and
the red stuff, had entirely disappeared, and
my hand was absolutely unsoiledA Then he
commenced to chant again, this time in
English, and he half sang With her left
hand, the hand upon which the golden mar-
rage band glows, she had driven away her
enemy; she can never hurt her heart, she will
never dare to give her deceitful kiss, or
to approach the threshold of her house; her
enemy has fed from before her, and destruc-
ton will be hersr' This was very comfort
ing, for everybody wants her enemy, espe-
cially when she is unknown, to get out of
the way. However, l thought | would
touch on a more tender topic, so dropping
into his method of speaking, said "Ol
great prophet, tell me Of my lover, how
shall keep himP He burrowed into the
basket again and produced something that
looked like a child's first tooth, but he as
sured me that it was the tooth Of a female
serpent, and very difficult to procure. He
announced that it would cost SO, but that If
WOULD WEAR IT ABOUT MY NECK
and obey the instructions he would give me,
the man loved would be mine through life,
and when he died we would live in bliss
close beside Voudoo. This attraction was
too great for me, so l produced the IS, got
the tooth and heard the advice. The advice