ON VODU-WORSIIIP. 659 



ask his aid and assistance in any matter they may have at heart, 

 come forward in turn. The king takes the hox containing the 

 snake, and commands the qneen to stand on it. " She trembles, 

 all her body is in a state of convulsion, and the oracle speaks by 

 her mouth." Sometimes she promises success, sometimes the 

 reverse ; at others she dictates a certain procedure to be followed ; 

 generally there is a certain amount of ambiguity in her utter- 

 ances. After the consultations comes the "vaudoux" dance 

 that is, the dance proper to the worship. It is performed by the 

 worshipers generally, who imbibe copious draughts of spirituous 

 liquors; and the night terminates in a scene of disgusting de- 

 bauchery. Those who consult the god bring offerings, and the 

 proper sacrifice is a white fowl or a white goat. 



This very closely resembles the proceedings on the Slave Coast. 

 The simulation of possession or inspiration by a god always com- 

 mences with a violent trembling of the whole body, followed by 

 convulsive movements, during which the " oracle " speaks. White 

 fowls and white goats are to this day the proper offerings to 

 Dailh-gbi at Whydah ; and the sacred dance, with its accompany- 

 ing drunkenness and final midnight debauchery, is what may be 

 seen during any festival. The secrecy which attends the cere- 

 mony in Hayti is of course the natural result of the French laws 

 for the repression of the cult. Bosnian (a. d. 1705) says that 

 red was the royal color at Ardra, which is the probable reason 

 of its being the favorite vodu color in Hayti. 



The description given by St. John (p. 191) of the ceremony 

 observed for the admission of a new member to the sect hardly 

 differs at all from what may be seen at the present day on the 

 Slave Coast when a man joins the priesthood. A candidate for 

 the priestly office undergoes a three years' novitiate like the kosio, 

 at the end of which time he is required to show, by being publicly 

 inspired or possessed, that some god accepts him and considers 

 him worthy of his service. For this test a circle is traced on the 

 ground, images of the different gods are set at regular intervals 

 round the circumference, and the would-be priest is set in the 

 middle. The drums strike up the rhythm of the sacred dance, 

 and the candidate commences his performance, dances wildly and 

 violently, and then goes through the form of possession, foaming 

 at the mouth and trembling from head to foot. While in this 

 condition he comes in contact with one of the images which sur- 

 round him, and this indicates the god who has found him worthy. 

 The idea, of course, is that the possessing god causes the candi- 

 date to touch the image ; and to cross the circumference of the 

 circle without coming into contact with one is a very bad omen. 

 In Hayti the circle is traced, but no images or emblems of the 

 gods are placed round it, because only one god is concerned ; there 



