The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-11-20
WELL DONE OUTLINES DEATH" EVEN YOUR
MEMORY WILL SHINE IF you USE
= = POI -

only recourse then is to some other obeah
man whose supernatural skill may posi-
bly, be greater than that of his enemy.
If such cannot be found or If he doubts
the superior medicine Of his own prac-
titioner, the victim soon sinks into a de-
cline
The obj" or charm, which is set for
the victim may be composed of many
materials, as Of some already enumerat-
ed, but the most common are blood,
feathers, broken glass and bottles, par
rots' beaks, dog, cat, monkey and alliga-
tor teeth rum, egg shells and graveyard
dirt. The practice has been known in
the West Indies ever since the first i'm
portation Of slaves from Africa, and so
long as the negroes confined their arts
to the hanging up Of things the English
took to, be of the nature Of scarecrows,
such as feathers, bottles, etc, in order
to prevent the plundering of hen roosts
and pig stiles, no objection was made by
the ruling class or the whites.
DIsLODGING A FIRM BELIEF.
But when, in one Of the great insurrec-
lions, the chief instigator was found to be
an obeah man, who administered to each
insurgent q magical draught which was
TO make him invulnerable, it was seen
to be a very serious business. Every
black devil in the conspiracy, having full
faith In his inXulnerability, fought like a
fiend, and it was not until several of them
had been killed and the obeah man him
self hung in chains, with all his war paint
on him, that the deluded blacks saw how
they had been fooled But the obaah man,
| whether he believed in his own incanta-
| lions or not died game, and told the exc
| cutioner as he swung him off that it was
| not in his power to kill him, so that the
! unlocking negroes were very much per-
| picked when they finally saw him expire
1t was because of the terrible power ex-
| ercised by the priests OF obeah over their
followers that the laws of Jamaica pass
| ed in the last century contained two
| clauses especially aimed at them.
| Although the blacks of1the British West
| indies haNe1been free for over two gen
erations yet they have not become freed
| from the ,superstitions brought by their
| ancestors from Africa. Superstition, in
| fact, Will rather increase than diminish,
unless vigorously and constantly COM
| bated,c and this is we'll Illustrated In The
| condition Of the freed negroes today.
| There are thousands of them who, though
nominally Christians, are yet enchained
| by obeah and devoted votaries of the pre-
| vaiiing devil worship.
1t is strange fact that, while this de-
| graded superstition f1ourishes among the
|
! prevail to any great extent in the Span
| ism, as in Cuba and Porto Rico. The ma
| tives of those islands are sunken deep in
other superstitions, but they are MAINLY
| such as the white man has fostered and
| not the black. But it is in the negro ISL
and of Hayti that we find obeahism ram
! pant have said that it is infrenueo-1v
harmful In the British islands but In
Hayti this cannot be affirmed KNOWN
there under the name of the vaudou (dA-
| rived from "Vaudois" and giving origin IN
the common "hoodoo'O the obea h nrac 1icc
nourlshes In all its pristine vigor, and Is
| really an unadmterated form of the
| African serpent worship.
SACRIFICES OFFERED Up
The Africans of the west coast besides
number of deities believed in family
oelty or tutelar saint, who was sun
| posed originally to have been one ule
themselves and the first founder of their
family On the anniversary of This
| saints burial the whole number of his
| descendants gather around his grave and
the oloest man OF the assemblage, after
| oner1ng up praises to Accompong. As
sarct, Ipboa and the tutelar deity. sacri-
noes a cock or a goat by cutting its
| throat and shedding its blood upon the
| grave. Every head of a household
does the same, and as soon as all those
who are able to bring such sacrifices
have made their obligations the animals
which have been killed are prepared and
a great festival follows. This custom
is followed out almost exactly in the
! forests of the Haytian serpent worship
ers, or the Yaudou. - If you perchance
! find yourself in the great forest which
lies between Port au Prince and the
mountain lake Enriquillo and should
! hear the muff1ed boom of the native
| or. ba (NUo l.
| by stretching a skin over a hollow LOCI
| you should by all means make haste to
! seek a place Of safety. Not that the
average Haytian, even the savage noun
| taineer, would in cold blood strike Won
down, but if you should follow the SOUND
of the drum you might run into the
i charmed circle of the serpent worship-
ers and be sacrificed because of your
| temerity.
| These Vaudou people have their PRIESTS
and priestesses, whom they call the ''papa
and mamma loi," and most of these arc
not only sorcerers, but also cannibals.
mat is, they are ritual cannibals. and
oner human sacrifices to their gods.
starting out with the African ceremony
already mentioned of Offering to the
names of their ancestors a cock or goat
without blemish, they have at last
descended to actual cannibalism AS
| sembled in the secret recesses of the
forest, small company will work itself
into fury over the lamentations of the
| priest or priestess and then, when the
excitement is at it's height, some one
will demand the sacrifice to their deity
| of the goat without horns If the
demand be complied with a child is pro-
duced generally white or of light COM
| plexiom, its hands tied behind it's back.
AT given signal the innocent victim is
! jerked to the roof of the hut In which
| HI n6 NV =
| to its feet, it's throat cut and the blood
eagerly drunk by the votaries The
flesh is cooked and devoured by the
| cannibals.