EXPLANATORY INDEX. 431 



deity, which, of course, is a malignant one. They crouch in 

 abject terror before Jumbo, who, according to them, takes 

 possession of birds (see Goatsucker), desolate swamps, and so 

 forth. 



The really terrible Obeah or Fetish-worship of the negroes 

 is connected with Jumbies and Duppies (the spii'its of the 

 dead), and the negroes are absolutely subservient to the 

 Obeah men and women, who can put Obeah into anything they 

 choose. Even the whites are not free from the fear of them, 

 and with reason, for they have an intimate knowledge of many 

 poisons, and will use them on either black or white. Stedman 

 mentions several instances of such crimes, and it was nearly 

 certain that his faithful Joanna fell a victim to the insidious 

 poisons of Obeah. 



K. 



Karabimiti. — See " Humming Bird. Ara." 



Kessi-kessi. — ^A vast number of parrots are called Kessi- 

 kessis, and are very plentiful. They all may be referred to 

 the genus Conurus, and between forty or fifty species are 

 known. 



They are always to be found among the forests bordering 

 on rivers, and are very noisy among the upper branches, the 

 more so as they are sociable in their habits. Some species 

 make their nests in the hollows of trees, upon the decaying 

 wood, and several pairs of birds may be found in the same 

 cavity. Others build in trees. Their nests are large, toler- 

 ably globular in shape, made of thorny branches, and have 

 the entrance by an aperture at the side. 



The best-known species of kessi-kessi parrots is known 

 Scientifically as Conurus sdlstitialis, and is one of the most 

 plentiful of the parrakeets. It is a very pretty creature, its 

 plumage being a mixture of orange, red, and green. 



King of the Yultuees. — See " Yulture, Zing." 



KuEUMANNi Wax. — This is chiefly obtained from the 

 Geroxylon cmdicola. mixed with a pitch-like substance obtained 



