Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-03-06

slave quarters belonging to Gov. Aiken, put
the governors slave huts had given way to
fiimsy structures Of baked mud and wat
tles-like nothing in the world SO much as
the rude dwellings Of Ashantee or Da-
honey. Children were sprawling In the
open, and there was barely enough clothing
among those dusky babes, as Private Null
vaney has 1t, Ito dust g. ffe." Some OF
them, indeed, were absolutely naked, and
when one looked at the mud huts, the lush
growth Of forest around, and these Woolly
headed sprawlers in the foreground. it did
not need much Imagination to carry one
fancies back to Africa.
There was a smell OF cooking in the
village; and 1 noticed that the smoke es-
the modern chimney. but by primitive
aperture in each leaf-thatched roof. Oc-
ca sionally, 1 was told, this mode of egress
caused the huts to take fire, but the ne
gloes took the loss of their homesteads
quietly. since all that it entailed was the
collecting of mud, live wood and leaves for
the construction of new mansions
Every hut had some sort of voudou
charm or fetch hung before the slit which
served for a door, and some villagers, more
superstitous than others, had placed
regular bunch of these talismans before
their homes. Such of the women as were
not busy cooking came out for peep at
the white man." and in its femininity
saw Jehossa Islands real savagery.
Hair Piled High.
They were all but nude. But the care
avoided in the matter of habfliments had
been lavished upon the training and adorn-
ment of hair. The average height of these
danes coiffures exceeded twelve inches,
and 1 saw one towering specimen which
must have almost reached to two feet.
Here was certainly a distinct trace OF the
return to African customs. Inc women
had creased their lofty hirsute growth I'M
til they shone. and smelt, like Eden.
pio nf
thin seashells were stuck into the coarse
shining piles of hair, after the fashion, now
or recently in existence, OF modern
bellies combs and pins. When l addressed
these poor creatures, they laughed broadly
and answered me readily enough, but in
a dialect which would have been impos-
s:ble Of understanding to northerner or
an Englishman. In fact, only my long
South Carolinian experience could have en-
abled me to penetrate the meaning of the
singular patois, only partly English, In
which the women of the Jehossa swamps
held converse with me.
Riding on through the woods, l encoun-
tered some of the male villagers, attired
simply in loose cotton trousers. so ragged
that in some cases they might as well
have been dispensed with altogether, and
the merest apology for shirts. But, ragged
as they were, almost every one of them
seemed to own a gun and dog, and, SO
far as / could see, their sole occupation
seemed to be the sharing or Staying of
game in the island wilderness. The men
spoke slightly better English than their
spouses, presumably because most of them
had been to the mainland and conversed
more frequently with whites and civilized
negroes. But their superstition was ap-
pallinS, was their ignorance.
l am told, but could not prove the as
sertion, that pOlygamy exists did until
quitely recently exist, in the swamp vii
lagos of Jehossa. AS regards the heather
rites of voudou. I have not only the words
of "Old King kamo," but of many other
negroes on the island, that Jehossites prac-
tice it religiously to this day. Sacrifices
are offered up-not human sacrifices, how
ever. as in the West Indies-and weird
ceremonies are conducted in the lonely
forest depths under the waning moon.
Jehossa is surely a field for the mis-
ionary and civilizer, if ever there was one.
/. f. ORCHARD.