CHAPTER VIII 

 SUPERSTITION 



We in the United States are accustomed to the superstitions of the ne- 

 groes who Uve with us. In all parts of our country, they are the servants 

 of the white man and have almost daily contact with him. Their habits 

 and superstitions, handed down by their native African forebears still 

 exist but are suppressed by this contact for they are ridiculed, and have 

 become subjects for an endless number of amusing stories. 



In the Bahamas the situation is diiferent. Negroes have fallen heir to 

 the industries for the working of which they were imported by white 

 masters after the original inhabitants, the Lucayans, had been transported 

 to Cuba by the Spaniards. These industries became practically unprofit- 

 able and the white men abandoned them. Consequently, on some of the 

 islands, there are no white men and the negroes Hve their own lives al- 

 most free from interference. Their superstitions are real to them, and 

 undoubtedly they practice voodoo ceremonies. 



I have mentioned the sophistication of the negroes who wander on 

 the streets of Nassau and the absence of the religious theme in their 

 songs. And yet even here the spirituals are not entirely extinct. On one 

 occasion when I stayed overnight at Richard's house, which is situated 

 outside the town, some laborers— two men and a woman— were clearing 

 land on a property across the road. They were singing as they worked. 

 The words were not distinguishable, but the slow time and the plaintive 

 melody were unmistakable. They were praying through song to their 

 God, the Christian God now, but I can imagine the same melodies being 



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