Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-07
A TALE OF WIZARDS
Uneanny Experiences in the West
Indian Forests.
HAYflAN HIGHLAND SORCERERS
The Combination of Trash Making
an Obeah Charm.
WARSHIP OF SERPENTS
Written for The Evening Star.

| Written for The Evening Star.
| The West Indian forests are full of wiz
ards. witches and conjurers; and not the
| forests only, but the plantations. the towns.
| the hamlets In the mountains and the vii
lagos by the sea. They are not. many of
| them, of the vicious sort, but compare
| lively mild and tnoffensive. though now and
| then one is met that is dangerous and had
better be avoided.
| One of the strangest of my experiences
| was when, in the woods of Tubagp an is
land not far from Trinidad on the South
| American coast, l found myself not only
| completely surrounded by wizard charms,
but compelled to use them myself as a pro-
| lection or counter-charm. l had an old
| time negro named Balfour as guide and as
| sistant. who knew the forests and every
| thing they contained. We were in pursuit
of rare birds and beasts. and to obtain
them 1t was thought necessary to establish
| a permanent camp in the heart of the
woods to last several months. My black
| friend built little hut in which We lived,
| a hut made of palm logs and matched with
| palm leaves, and, after clearing a space on
the sloping hillside in front. he planted it
| with eddoes, sweet potatoes, yams and
| such like tropical vegetables as would yield
| their increase in short time. Then he
| captured a few agoutis, wild hat es OBJ
| tanned somewhere cock and pair of hens,
| and We were as snugly established on our
| little farm as though We had lived there for
years.
We We're so far from all other human
| habitations that 1 felt perfectly secure in
| our solitude; and l will add, in passing
| that l never enjoyed myself more-perhaps
| never so much-either before or since as
| when squattfng on that wild crown land If
| Iobago. Well, it seems that my sense of
| security was false, for one day, on return
ing home from long hunt in the woods,
| we discovered the imprint of big bare HUI
| man IODl IN various parts of I'd on
| We were very much disturbed of course,
and speculated upon the motives that might
| lmpei one to invade our retreat finally
agreeing that they could not be other than
sinister.
Oats brack mans footstep," said my
old guide. wagging his woolly head IAN
| ne ain here fer no good. nohow. But l fix
| MN, san. l done put chahm on him dat
make him neber come here gin no mo-"
The next night, as l took walk through
| the garden, i came across stick about
four feet long stuck slantwise into the
| SOIL. at the upper end of which was huna,
| a parrots head. red rag. a rude imita-
| ton of man whitfield out of a sweet po-
| tato and rusty nail which latter was
| stuck through the chest of the potato man
| What's this nonsense?' l demanded of
| Balfour Pull it up and throw it away
| Dat, sab. Is de obeah chahm an please
massa. don't t'row it way. fer it am neeus-
| sary to perfect de gyarden. Yissah, it am
| de truf, dat man what make de footsteps
| done steal all de provisions eff we don put
l. L.
we don let man know dat we hab
| chahm ginst him. he done run way wiz
| ebrytings we had, an p'raps cut our t'roats
| 100; but when he see dat he know ii ain
no use, an he done run way hissef"
His argument was unanswerahIe so
let the stuff remain, and, at all events our
garden was unmoiested thenceforth and
| have no doubt this exemption was owing to
| the obcah charm.
The Devil Worshfpers.
The practice of obi, or obeah, 1 later
| found upon investigation, is indeed a spe-
| cies OF demonology or devil worship though
| the word is undoubtedly derived from Oh
| or Aub the ancient Egyptian for a ser
| pent. In fact. those who have attained the
greatest proficiency In the art. and who
are today the most feared the scorcer-
ers Of the Haitian highland are declared
serpent worshipers. Even as the serpent
was the visible presence Of the evil one
in the original Garden of Eden, so at pres
ent he is selected to represent Satan by
| those who worship the fallen archangel.
The priest of obi, the 'obeah man."
is always an African by birth or descent,
some hoary- headed and taciturn old negro
who has some knowledge of medicinal
| plants and poisons. and who resides alone
or in a lonely locality. What he doesn't
really know the incredulty of the negroes
supplies, they invest him with every
kind of knowledge, and especially endow
him with supernatural talents. He may
be marked man to all the negroes
large plantation or in a wide district, yet
wholly unknown to any white person with
| in that area. Around all his doings is
drawn a veil of mystery, as he works only
at night and performs his lamentations only
between the hours of sunset and dawn.
Apropos of the loyalty of the negroes to
this wizard of their race, it is related that
q certain gentleman residing in Jamaica,
who owned a large plantation in that
island. suddenly became aware that his
slaves were dying at rapid rate. and that
of those who remained alive more man
half were bloated and terribly debiIitated.
| This condition of affairs prevailed for sew
eral years, until the planter lost. first and
last. by this mysterious malady. more than
100 negroes He strongly suspected that
obeah was at the bottom of it, but could
not verify his suspicious. neither the
well nor the sick, nor even those he ques-
| toned when at the point of DEATH would
admit much. AT last old negress
came to him one day and said that she
knew she had not long to live. and she felt
herself bound to impart to him the terrible
secret, in hope that the deaths of many
others might be averted. She then con-
fessed that her stepmother, a Pope
negress. more than eighty years of age.
had put obeah on her." and that she had
put it on all those who had died, also as
well as upon many others who We're suffer-
ing from the mysterious Illness. No sooner
We're the other negroes acquainted with
the confession the old woman had made.
and realized that no harm could come to
them from revealing their knowledge than
they all FASTENED to verify all she had said
How the black witch induced her victims
to take her nauseOus medicines Is not
known but 1t was directly established that
she was the cause of most Of the deaths on
the plantation. After she was arrested and
! the negroes became convinced their tor
mentor was unable to work them further
mischief. they all began to mend. and most
of those afflicted recovered, the place re-
gaining Its normal tone and the curse being
lifted. The old womans hut was burned to
the ground, with all it contained, and the
beldame, instead of being hung OF burned,
| as she richly deserved. was transported
1t does not need actual contact with the
| obeah charm, or the taking of an obeah
preparation into the system, to bring about
the death Of an individual. So firm Is the
negro's belief in the terrible efficacy Of the
sorcerer's connections that as soon as he
finds obeah set for him, either in the path
that leads to the door Of his hut or at the
doorstep itself. he at once gives himself up
for lost. His only recourse then Is to some
other obeah man whose supernatural skill
| may possibly be greater than hat of MS
enemy. If such cannot be found, or II h..
doubts the superior medicine" of his own
practitioner, the victim soon sinks into a
decline.
Easy Things to Get.
The "obi.'' or charm. which Is set FOR the