Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 26, 1915.djvu/292

 282 Obeah in the West Indies.

and makes him unable to press for a settlement of his account ; he professes to be able to find treasure ; he counteracts or takes off the obeah of a professional brother ; all with equal indiffer- ence, provided he receives his fee, which is usually large, frequently ending in his stripping his unhappy client of everything he possesses. His power may be summed up by saying that he knows how to propitiate or deceive strong spirits, and by his own secret knowledge and experience is able to make weak ones do his bidding. He also by certain rites and magical arts professes to have control over persons and things, so that he is able to bring about what he wishes or engages to do."

Dr. Earl mentions the fact that no person had been con- victed of obeah in the Virgin Islands before the passing of the new Act, and since then three persons had been con- victed. The sentences he awarded varied from one to six months' imprisonment, with periods of police supervision. The first was a simple case of a woman telling fortunes by- means of playing-cards, the only " instrument of obeah " in this case being a pack of cards. The second case was also that of a woman. The police on searching her house found several bottles of stinking mixtures and charms, consisting of little bags, evidently for her clients to wear round their necks. He adds that he once found a similar packet of obeah on a woman who came to him for medical aid in a hysterical condition, believing herself to be obeahed as fowl eggs had been recently found in her husband's grave.

The third case was that of a man belonging to the Virgin Islands, who was returning home after spending several months in Santo Domingo. His belongings being extensively searched for Customs purposes a very complete outfit for an obeah man was discovered.

Besides these cases, Dr. Earl speaks of a man having recently arrived in the Virgin Islands from the French island of Martinique, where, of course, a French patois is spoken, whose dress seemed suspicious, especially as he brought with him a cenci cock. The police had reason to