142 WANDERINGS IN 



Second are birds of omen, and reverential dread. Jumbo, the 



Journey, a o ' ^ ii' 



demon of Africa, has tliem under his command ; and they 



equally obey the Yabahou, or Demerara Indian devil. 

 They are the receptacles for departed souls, who come 

 back again to earth, unable to rest for crimes done in their 

 days of nature ; or they are expressly sent by Jumbo, or 

 Yabahou, to haunt cruel and hard-hearted masters, and 

 retaliate injuries received from them. If the largest Goat- 

 sucker chance to cry near the white man's door, sorroAV 

 and grief will soon be inside ; and they expect to see the 

 master waste away with a slow consuming sickness. If 

 it be heard close to the negro's or Indian's hut, from that 

 night misfortune sits brooding over it ; and they await the 

 event in terrible suspense. 



You will forgive the- poor Indian of Guiana for this. 

 He knows no better ; he has nobody to teach him. But 

 shame it is, that in our own civilized country, the black 

 cat and broomstalF should be considered as conductors 

 to and from the regions of departed spirits. 



Anecdote. Many years ago I knew poor harmless Mary ; old age 

 had marked her strongly, just as he will mark you and 

 me, should we arrive at her years and carry the weight 

 of grief Avhich bent her double. The old men of the 

 village said she had been very pretty in her youth ; and 

 nothing could be seen more comely than Mary when she 

 danced on the green. He who had gained her heart, left 

 her for another, less fair, though richer than Mary. 



