The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-08-22

anu IUS WlLu MUSIC or mes anu LOlIl- toms. As organs are the accepted in struments of worship Tn Christian churches and harps are supposed to serve the angels chairs, so the dull thump thump, of tom-toms is believed to please the serpent diety. Heard mile away, It is a soothing and not un- pleasant sound; but close at hand it's monotonous air Is simply maddening. Anybody can make a first class tom tom by stretching the dried skin of goat, or pig, over the top of lard keg. or mackerel-tub, or til-can with the 1 top off; and to play it requires tire | less muscle rather than musical educa- 1 tion Ostensibly the Haitians are all Roman Catholics; but nine times out of ten when person dies, the relatives 1 first call in a priest, who comes to the | house, performs the ceremony of his church and goes away; and then comes Papa-loi, the Serpent-priest, whose administrations are considered much more important and command double the pay of the Christian priest. After wards sort of wake is held, the corpse 1 having been placed in the center of l eating, drinking and dancing around 1t and all the time the tom-toms are do- | ing their worst. The dancing consists mostly in posturing and comforting, va ried by occasional individual jigs and break k-downs The burial always takes place after midnight-the coffin carried in the rear of the procession, tied sit- ting in a chair and borne on the shoul- ders of men in the midst of the howl ing throng. What takes place at the grave no white man knows, except that
 the racket is redoubled ana the dancing is fast and furious. The noise is made to attract the attention of the serpent god, and also to frighten away any evil
 spirits that may be proving around to get possession of the departed soul.
 Snake-worship, known in the English colonies of the West Indies as Obea, is the oldest form of religion, older even than sun worship, and is doubtless the same to which Moses alluded when he erected the Serpent in the Wilderness.
 So thoroughly grounded is it in the African character that, though the in- terior of Haiti may be called it's head l QudECSTS III AlllSIlCdJ IL ClOpo puI III one form or another, wherever ignorant
 blacks are gregated-whether in New Orleans, New York or Washing ton, the priests of Ob, who are here called papa-lois, being "Voudoo doc tors" in the United States. During my own residence in Washington I have had several negro servants who were afraid to venture abroad after dark for fear of night doctors" who are believ- ed to kill and eat anybody they catch, and nothing would induce them to en- ter drug store where these embodied
 spirits of evil have their headquarters.
 For more than three centuries ser pent-worship has been rampant in Haiti-ever since the first importation of slaves from Africa; and it's practice 1 is to-day mingled with the widest su- perstitions and the celebration of Fetish rites to propotiate evil spirits, of which murder and cannibalism are natural outgrowths. While all Voudon followers are not cannibals, it is un-
 doubtedly true that at certain festivals in the Twentieth century, there are de- voices who kill and eat their own or 1 districts of Jacmal, Gonaiva, and other villages only a short distance from Port au Prince, where the mass of ig- norant black is congregated, the inf1u-
 ence of Voudon priests Is paramount, and is so feared by the government that their horrible practices are not in- terfered with. During the French oc- cupation, which was Haiti's Golden Age, snake-worship was suppressed to a great extent; but at the subsequent massacres, and after the extermination
 of the whites, 1t revived in all it's orig inal hideousness. The Voudon dietN is represented by ah igh priest, known as Papa-lao, C1oi being probably a negro
 corruption of the French word roi), and
 a priestess, Mama-loi, or Father-king
 and Mother-king, Their commands are
 absolute and no secretare dares dis l obey them. Therein lies the greatest
 danger, for it is we'll known that some of Haiti's rulers have been dominated by the Voudoo priests. The worship of the serpent is carried on as secretly as possible, incantations taking place at night, in the depths of the forests and
 the devotees bound by paths of secrecy i The serpent is consulted through a
 priest or priestess, and then dancing and song is indulged in, generally end- ing in wild debauchery The blacks are easily excited to excess of frenzyi and demand further stimulus in the form of sacrifice. Usually goat all ways spotlessly white, will answer for an offering to the diety and the milder members are satisfied. But sometimes there are fiercer ones who insist upon
 "the goat without horns" as human sacrifice is called. I am told, on the
 best authority, that whenever such de-
 mand is made, means are always found for furnishing victim. There is a class of monsters in Haiti known as loup-farous, or "human wolves" who prowl around the settlements seeking to abduct young children, whom they carry off to the mountains, fatten and
 keep until certain days appointed for their most important ceremonies, when the "goat without horns" is sure to be called for. Every white mother in
 Haiti, and many of darker skins, are haunted for fear of the loup-garous- and with good reason. It is said that
 nurses are sometimes in league with the child stealers. Even the grave is
 made use of, the mountain negroes be- ing famous for their acquaintance with
 many plants unknown to materia
 medica, with which they work wonder