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The National Geographic Magazine 



demand for proof can never be satisfied. 

 Indeed, it is said that even some presi- 

 dents who have openly discouraged the 

 voodoo practices have come to violent 

 deaths from this cause. 



TESTIMONY OF AN EYE WITNESS 



The character of the meetings of the 

 voodoos, which take place in secluded 

 spots in the thick woods, are well known, 

 and I have been given a description of 

 one of them from an eyewitness, who is 

 an officer of our navy, which no one 

 could hear without a shudder. He states 

 in brief that one day while out hunting 

 he abruptly ran into a camp of worship- 

 ers, which was located in a lonely spot 

 in the woods, and the horrors he there 

 saw made an indelible impression upon 

 his mind. 



When his presence was discovered he 

 was immediately seized by a frenzied 

 crowd of men and women, and for some 

 minutes there did not seem to be a ques- 

 tion but that his life was to be forfeited ; 

 but the papa-lois called a halt and a coun- 

 cil, apparently, to determine what action 

 should be taken, and while this was in 

 session a handful of coin, judicously scat- 

 tered, diverted the thoughts of the ne- 

 groes for the time being from their cap- 

 tive. The usual sacrifice of a live white 

 rooster was now brought on, seeing 

 which the people were called back to 

 their worship, and the ceremonies went 

 on in his presence. 



In the horrible struggle which took 

 place for possession, the bird was torn 

 literally to pieces, and he had no doubt 

 that its accompaniment, the "goat with- 

 out horns," would soon follow. While 

 this was in progress his presence seemed 

 to be forgotten, and, watching a good 

 opportunity, he ran for his very life, not 

 stopping until he reached the protection 

 of his ship. 



This officer has to his credit one of the 

 most gallant deeds enacted during the 

 Civil War, for which he received pro- 

 motion by act of Congress, but his com- 

 rades on board his ship said they never 



saw a man more frightened than he was 

 when he returned to them, and he him- 

 self says the memory of the event pro- 

 duces a horrible nightmare which he 

 will never be able to overcome. 



There is no doubt these voodoo prac- 

 tices keep the negro in touch with that 

 "call of the wild" which perhaps even the 

 white man, if restricted in civilizing in- 

 fluences and treated as they have been, 

 might be led to follow ; but it is to be 

 hoped that education, which the best of 

 the Haitiens are now acquiring for their 

 own families and are striving to make 

 universal in the land, will in a few years 

 stamp out this horrible practice, with all 

 its evils. It is well for us to consider 

 whether we too may not expect some such 

 acts of savagery to break out in our coun- 

 try, if our own colored people are not, edu- 

 cated for better things. 



PEST HOLES OF THE WEST INDIES 



Of the eleven ports of Haiti open to 

 foreign commerce, Cape Haitien and 

 Port-au-Prince are the largest and most 

 progressive. 



Cape Haitien, or "The Cape," as it is 

 commonly called, is situated on the north- 

 western coast, at the foot of a hill that 

 slopes back to the sea, with- most pictur- 

 esque surroundings. It has a commodi- 

 ous harbor and supports a population of 

 30,000 or 40,000 people. Under the 

 French, it was the capital of the colony, 

 and its wealth, splendor, and luxury 

 gained for it the name of Little Paris; 

 but now the structures erected by the 

 French in colonial days are a mass of 

 ruins, the parks overgrown with tropical 

 weeds, the fountains chocked with debris, 

 the gutters filled with filth, all produ- 

 cing pestilential emanations from which 

 foreigners speedily run away, if they are 

 forced into its environments! 



Port-au-Prince, the present capital of 

 the Republic, as well as its largest and 

 most important city, is likewise most 

 picturesquely located at the foot of hills, 

 where one may escape from its blistering 

 and filthy streets to mountain resorts that 



