The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1898-12-08

SHtAlIS FllN NlNitu % lllt IuNdIQS Hotel ana
Surgical Institute, at Buffalo. \. Y No
other known medicine can take its place.
81 have been troubled with female weakness
that my physician called catarrh of the womb
writes Miss Team Conner, OF Catfish Clarion Co,
Pa. I I doctored for it and did not get better
At last commenced taking Or. PierCe's Favorite
Prescription. l got better right along and when
l had taken fonr bottles cured recon-
mended the Favorite Prescription to a friend
OF mine. She has been using it and thinks it
Is wonderful"
neglected builds big one. Or. Pierce.
Pleasant Pellets cure constipation. One
little Pellet " is a gentle laxative and two
mild cathartc. They never grips
respectful when properly treated; but
easily spoiled by too good treatment, or
bad like their race elsewhere. In mind
they are like children, easily excited and
turned to mischief, but just as easily led
in the right direction. Prominent among
their besetting sins is tendency to con-
| fuse meum ct teum in the matter of cattle,
! plump chickens, roasting ears and good
ripe melons. Nothing is gained by bring
ing them into court for pifering. for they
will never testify against one another: and
ttNNNAN'iA1s-
testimony of two eye witnesses to convict
a man even of petty theft, though the
identified chicken or melon be found in
his possession. The most pious Jamaica
negroes, (and they are all intensely re
! ligious), will lie blue streak while hold
ing pebble in the mouth, under the be-
lief-derived from some remnant of Obea
superstition-that the tiny stone exempts
from perjury.
Among the mass of ignorant blacks in
the interior the mysterious terroIs of
| obeism still hold sway. Many of their
canestalk, grass-rOofed huts contain
0bea OF Noudou idols, rudely carved Of
wood, with brass tacks driven in for eyes
and fringe of skunk skin stuck on for
hair; and maybe a crlcitix and image of
the Blessed Virgin stands beside it, OF a
Methodist hymn book-so curiouSly is
the acquired religion mingled with that
inherited from generations of ancestors,
SO difficult is it to draw the line between
superstitions. English reside It's of ia
maica tell us that to day, in the depths
OF the forest and the recesses of the
mountains, heather rites worthy of dark
est Africa are practiced to propitiate
the serpent deity and gain the favor Of
''duppies, - OF ghosts. The serpent-wor-
ship is carried on as secretly as possible.
their incantatlons taking place in secluded
places in the darkness of night, and the
sectares bound by oaths of secrecy.
The invisible god is consulted through
priest, OF priestess, who is generally the
most intelligent and crafty of their num-
Der and who turns the matter to his own
financial account; and then they dance
and sing in wild carousal. The excitable
blacks are soon carried away by excess of
frenzy and demand further excitements
in the form OF sacrifices. Usually a
goat dove, or cock-always white and
spotless-answer for an offering to the
serpent deity, or to placate the evil
spirits, to the satisfaction of the mlder
members of the order. But well-inform-
ed people now living in the island as
sure me there is no doubt that 1.-THE goat
without horns,' as a human sacrifice is
called, is sometimes offered in these
hideous orgies. In such cases a child is
the victim-white if one can be stolen or
abducted, or the black baby of some IA
natical worshipper. In Haiti, where
the negroes differ from these only by
reason of few generations of So
called self government-there is a secret
clan called Loup Garous, (''huma
wolves, who prowl around the settle
ments, seeking to abduct young children.
whom they carry off to the mountains,
fatten and keep until the days appointed
for their Voudou ceremonies. Every
white mo ther in Haiti is haunted by fears
of the Loup Garous-and with good rea-
son. 1t is said that colored nurses are
sometimes in league with the abductors,
and that even the grave is made use of to
furnish sacrifices. The mountain negroes
in the black Republic are famous for
their acquaintance with many roots and
herbs unknown to materia medca, with
which they work wonderful cures as
we'll as much mischief.
1t has been proved that in several in
stances when a victim was wanted for the
Obea sacrifice, means were found to adj
minister to some white or coored child a
native narcotic which produces coma re-
sembling death; and after the deceived
parents had buried their loved one it was
secretly dug up an resuscitated for the
serpent orgie. Let us believe that no
such horrible thing exists in the English
island, near the close of this nineteenth
century.
A few years ago the colonial govern
ment of Jamaica took up in earnest the
neglected cause of education. There are
to-day $40 elementary schools in the
island, with about rs, 600 pupils, white
and colored, enrolled; good showing
considering that the entire population is
only 10000 The government aids these