JIMCRACK AND THE JUMBIES. 177 



the visible embodiments of departed worthies who 

 had lived in Tobago in the past. 



" Me was made narvis (nervous) by holdin' de bud 

 en um han' to die," he would remark, looking mourn- 

 fully at his shaking fingers, " an' all de wood folks 

 an' de jumbies know me am spotted to die mase'f by 

 dat bery sign." No amount of argument could shake 

 his faith in the jumbies, for he was a direct descend- 

 ant of an African slave, who had brought with him 

 to these islands all the superstitions of the Guinea 

 coast, all the fetishism and witchcraft. 



There is no less of witchcraft practiced now than 

 in the early days of slavery, when African " obeah- 

 ism " was at its height ; and Thomas Ned, good man 

 that he was, and local preacher that he had sometimes 

 been, was deeply imbued with its teachings. His par- 

 ticular aversion was the " Ole Boy," a malignant spirit 

 that roamed the woods, and whose origin is given in 

 the local folklore as follows : In slavery time a certain 

 woman had in her charge an orphan boy, whom she 

 one day took out with her to her provision ground, 

 when he strayed away and was drowned in a pond. 

 He was found and buried, but as the distance from 

 town was great, no parson attended and no funeral 

 service was read over his grave. Asa consequence of 

 this neglect, his soul was refused admittance into 

 heaven and was forced to return to earth, where it 

 roams about uttering a melancholy cry : " Oh, poor 

 me, lone one, oh ! " 



" Yes, sah, am hab seen dis bery sperit, massa ; it 

 take shape ob big gray bud, wiv great yeyes, roun' 



