The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-03-21
OLD KING KAMo.

directed to visit the most importan
parsonage of the island, who was know
as "Old King Kamo,' the voudou chic
or DOCTOR who was said to exercise the
most powerful influence on the negroes
Passing the cabin of a woman, who
was engaged in spreading on a sprawl
ing bush some linen she had washed
/ inquired the way to his abode.
Il kin tell you sar,' she said, wipins
her brown hands on her apron, but
massa, he mos likely be out at dis
hour OBJ de day to hunt up he charm
dey be sarpent skins, de rabbit gal
an de frog eye. and if you will lis
sen to dis ole granny who amt gwine
lie, when you git to de cross road whaI
he home be. cross you fus finger on
de big toe eff your lef' foot, an spit on
de groun, for sure he; gwine CONCUR
you eff you don't. Massa. I know you
is a stranger, dat is why 1 glib, you dis
revise" I thanked the ancient crone,
which thanks / emphasized by tossing
her some loose change, that caused her
to courtesy and mutter blessings on
me so long as l could hear her.
After riding some distance my horse
suddenly halted before the door of the
hut, a one-room cabin of logs, filed in
with mud and clay. 1t looked more like
the haunt of an animal than the home
of man. There was not living OBJ
ject visible, save a lean looking, half
starved cat that sat doing in the sun,
and an attenuated yellow dog that
wagged good naturally the fragment of
his abbreviated tail.
/ called out, Hello, therei" Instantly
King Kamo tottered TO the door, lean
ing heavily on a stick. No wonder,
thought l, that he is the terror of his
peighbors. for a chilly sensation seized
ma as I saw the strange object ap-
proach. The man must have been near
100 years old. His face was large and
scanned with dark folds. more like the
hide of the rhinoceroS than human
skin. A patch of snow white wool COW
cred his otherwise bare skull. Eyes
leering and jet black looked from be-
meath shaggy, thick eyebrows, and as
he silently gazed at me l felt that my
call had surely aroused the evil worker.
May I come in and see your" I said,
dismounting from my horse. at the
same time jingiing some loose silver in
my pocket, the sound of which caused
a smile to play on the rough visage of
the aged negro.
ITO be sure We kin come in. Come in
sar," and l entered.
Truly il was an abode more wizardly
than the witches of Macbeth ever
dreamed Of, A slow fire was burning
beneath a huge vessel that emitted
strange noXious fumes. Around the
logs, punches of rabbits feet. class of
birds and bunGles of dry weeds The
old man turned TO the boiling caldron |
seeming unconscious of my presence,
and began stirring it vigorously, as he
tore apart what looked to be dried
frog, and threw it into the vessel as he
moaned:
Bile. frog. bile; de stranger in de doe.
Bile. snake. bile. wild de sarpent an de /
crow.
After this poetical incarnation he |
turned to me and said: Nav, sar, no |
ebil spell gwine hurt YET Set down, !
and he pulled the old straw |
bottomed chair toward me. At the |
same time 1 handed him a piece of I
by way of gaining his good !,
Will
.'wen. old man. said I, they tell me
that you perform wonderful cures, and
that you are doctor. Are your
by de power Oh de Lord 1 is dat,
boss. One man he come here. He call
leself preacher oh de Lord. He say. see
lere, Kamo. you better stop dis CONCUR
ing, it is the debirs work, and say 1
be kin to satin. Dat same man ne go
away, and l put my spell on him, an
from dat day he call me chile oh sim
he nebber walk again. 1 cast my spell
1n his legs. Dey call it. rheumatism,
but I call it de spell of Kamo. But
when gintlemen come an treat me as
70 follow ye.''
'sfell me, Kamo, what is now steam
ng away there, potatoes and possum
laid I.
mo, sir" And a smile made the old