FEAR OF BLACK MAGIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19608, 9 April 1927, Page 2 (Supplement)

FEAR OF BLACK MAGIC.

HAY-TjAN NEGROES' BELIEFS " _ • EVIL TWO-HEADED SERPENT. WILD DANCES OF FIRE-EATERS. - - ' ; Haytian devotees of voddooism in the Dominion Republic of San Domingo, point to the recent drowning of a negro in a stream called the Arroyo Hondo a3 proof that the two-headed scarlet serpent reputed to frequent the vicinity again has demanded! its annual human The Arroyo Hondo flows through the cane fields 'of the great American sugar company known as the Central Romana, and the section of land where the unfortunate labourer met his death is cut--tivated by a Dominican who, by industry -tod careful management, has * small fortune. ' The majority of cane cutters employed by him are Haytians of the pure black Congo type, densely ighorant and thoroughly imbued with the superstitions and system of devil worship handed down from their savage ancestors.

They say that their employer possesses a familiar spirit, or " baka," which does his bidding and watches over his interests, and that the serpent whose form it takes was purchased years ago from a Haytian Papa Beaucoup, or witch doctor, fo£ a large' sum. Should a negro be lax i,n his tasks or. should he steal from his master, the snake will at once' notify him and prompt punishment will be dealt out to the offender, think thd" voodoists. They Out that the Dominican's cattle and horses are sleek and fat while tho3e of certain of his neighbours are lean. The point where the body of the drowned negro was found is marked by a garden, cultivated by the superstitious in the hope of propitiating the dead man's spirit and procuring its influence against the future demands of the serpent.

< The snake itself is said to appear near the garden at noon and at midnight and the spot is shunned at these hours. At other times laundresses and bathers protect themselves from the snake with charms and: amulets which they wear suspended around their necks. ■ A neighbour of this planter is also prosperous, and to him is attributed the possession of a " baka," which takes the form of a pig. Haytians say that this pig wears a chain around its neck, the clanking of which often can be heard as the evil animal mates its nightly tour of inspection through the negro villages Which are scattered about the cane fields. In the centre of each village is a circle of hard beaten ground on which the Hay-

tians dance on moonlight nights" to the throbbing of great tambos or drums formed from hollow logs and headed with goatskins.

Hero the labourers and their women indulge in the wild contortions/demanded by the priests and priestesses of; yoodooism, and inspired by rum and superstition prance madly nutil they fall exhausted by the glowing embers. Fire walkers and fxre eaters feature largeh at such orgies and are looked upon as being super men and women.

During the harvest season, which lasts from mid-December until July, cane fires are of. frequent occurrence and they occa-~ sion heavy losses to the planters. For this - reason, the Dominican government furnishes patrols of soldiers who ride about the fields armed, to the teeth and who have small liking for Haytians. " They are devil-worshißpers—not Christian," says the brown Dominicans of the black Haytians, "and this republic will never again submit to their rule, as; ifc was forced to do for forty years during the last century."