'No, there is a different way to manage the busha,' which was to kill him. On the Wednesday night. before mentioned, Fisher gave Solomon Passley a little bit of stick, which he told him to chew and spit it all about the pass, and this would kill busha. The whole estate said they would go to somebody to kill the busha. They all agreed to look out for a man for that purpose.

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By Court.-What money did you give Fisher for the stuff in the phial?

"Half-a-dollar, which Justina gave me.

"Did you not go to fetch Fisher ?

"No; driver Richard sent me to get the stuff. He said in the mill-house that every one must throw up money to kill the busha.

"Did Justina complain to you of your having kept the money and not given it to Fisher?

"She said I had eaten the money, I had not given it to Fisher, as no good had come. Fisher had not killed the busha, and the money was given for so-so. "What did you do with the phial?

"I carried it and broke it against the horse-stable, and covered it with dirt.

"Was it the intention of the whole estate's people to kill Mr. Speed?

"Yes, we all employed Fisher."

He is a

"Alexander Hartley to Fairfield, sworn-saith that he knows Fisher. He is a Mungola man. bush man- -an obeah man. Heard when runaway, and living in a cave, that money had been thrown up for the purpose of killing Mr. Speed."

The practice of Obeah amongst the humbler classes is still, unfortunately, as prevalent at the present day, despite the severely penal laws against it, as it was in the beginning of the century.

A local paper, The Gleaner of 26th January 1869, quoting from The Falmouth Post, relates the following story :

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During the past week the town of Lucea was kept in a state of considerable excitement, in consequence of a report which was circulated and believed, not only by the lower but middling classes, that a Spanish jar, containing a large quantity of gold coins, had been discovered in the yard adjoining the premises of a black man, named Johnson, near to Weir Park settlement, about a mile from the town of Lucea. The report of the discovery was strengthened by the assertion of several persons, male and female, that preparations on an extensive scale, and commensurate with the stated value, were being made for the purpose of taking up the jar and its contents. We instituted an inquiry, and ascertained that many of the friends of the man Johnson were assisting in doing all he suggested, that obeah-men were employed by the parties immediately concerned,that the obeah-men were supplied with an abundance of food and liquor,-and that nights were passed in the performance of superstitious rites which disturbed the Christian-minded villagers in the neighbourhood. A white cock was killed on one occasion, for the purpose of carrying out one of the objects that was declared necessary, and there were sacrifices

of goats and pigs, the spilling of blood in all directions, and the commission of other abominations, which we have neither time nor inclination to mention.

"On Sunday, 17th instant, the excitement was greater than on preceding days. One of the crowd. remarked, that all attempts made to take the jar from the earth would be unavailing, until human blood was sprinkled on the land,—that human blood must be used, for nothing else would answer.' On hearing this remark, and seeing that hundreds of persons were on their way to the spot, and that the constabulary were proceeding thither for the maintenance of order, we determined upon accompanying them. On arriving in front of Johnson's house, where upwards of 400 men, women and children, were assembled, an inspection was made of the piece of land where the treasure was said to be, and one of the constables, having been engaged a few minutes in turning up the earth, while Johnson and his family were giving utterance to angry expressions, aided by a young man named Langshaw (a clerk in one of the stores in Lucea), who talked about the rights of property, etc., found a clayed cooking utensil, called a yabba, and a common water jar, both of which had been evidently placed in the newlyexcavated earth by Johnson and his associates. At the discovery of the imposture, a shout of indignation was raised by some of the assembled people, and between them and Johnson's family there was a violent altercation. Upon a gentleman remarking that the whole affair was a compound of Obeahism,

K

Myalism, and Revivalism, some of the bystanders observed, that if the white people had not interfered the jar and money would have been found. One of the black lookers-on said, 'The jar began to sink down as soon as the white people began to trouble it.' The house of Johnson was afterwards searched by the constabulary, who took from it blocks and ropes that Langshaw had supplied for lifting up the treasure; and on inquiry being made, the fact was ascertained that Obeahism had been at work for several days and nights. We are informed that three Obeah-men, who were not apprehended at the time we left Lucea, had received £10 for their services, and that for some months past they have had other and well-paying customers in Lucea, some of whom are among the most earnest in professions of Christianity."

The Obeah-man must not be confounded with the Myalman, who is to the former what the antidote is to the poison. He professes to undo what the other has done; to cure where the other has injured; but it must be confessed that, both in its operation and its results, the cure is often worse than the disease. In truth, the boundary line between the two classes of professors is oftentimes but a shadowy one.

Obeah, apparently, is not destined to die an inglorious death, quia caret vate sacro. In 1817, there was published in London a book, entitled, "Poems, chiefly on the Superstition of Obeah,"-a curious work, on a curious and far from uninteresting subject.

XIV.

AMONG THE MANCHESTER MOUNTAINS.

FROM Chapelton we proceeded to Mandeville, the principal village-for it is nothing more-of the parish of Manchester, and one of the healthiest stations in the island.

Situated in the heart of the Manchester mountains, and about 2000 feet above the level of the sea, the climate of this pretty little place is almost European in its character. In the winter months, the thermometer has been known to register 55° during the night, and the maximum heat never exceeds 75° or 80°.

The road ascends through park-like scenery, gradually but unintermittently from Porus, a gloomy straggling village about ten miles from Mandeville. Here we first became acquainted with the Manchester "red dirt," as the negroes call it,—a dark ferruginous "brick mould," in composition a mixture of iron and alumina, which persistently covers the whole surface of the parish.

The change of temperature was very marked as we ascended the hill.

It was evening when we passed through Porus,