chap, m.] WEST INDIES. 297 
gratifying to curiosity. From the learned Mr. Bry¬ 
ant’s* commentary upon the word Oph, we obtain 
a very probable etymology of the term—“ A ser- 
« pent in the Egyptian language was called Ob or 
AubObion is still the Egyptian name for a 
« serpent.”—Moses, in the name of God, for- 
“ bids the Israelites ever to inquire of the demon 
<c Ob, which is translated in our Bible, Charmer, or 
■« Wizard, Devinator, aut Sorcilegus.”—“ The wo- 
<s man at Endor is called Oub or Ob, translated 
« Pythonissa; and Oubaios (he cites from Horns 
<c Apollo) was the name of the Basilisk or Royal 
tc Serpent, emblem of the sun, and an ancient ora- 
« cular Deity of Africa.” This derivation, which 
applies to one particular sect, the remnant proba¬ 
bly of a very celebrated religious order in remote 
ages, is now become in Jamaica the general term 
to denote those Africans who in that island practise 
witchcraft or sorcery, comprehending also the class 
of what are called Myal-men, or those who, by 
means of a narcotic potion, made with the juice of 
an herb (said to be the branched Calalue or species 
of Solanuirfi) which occasions a trance or profound 
sleep of a certain duration, endeavour to convince 
the deluded spectators of their power to re-ani¬ 
mate dead bodies. 
As far as We are able to decide from our own 
experience and information when we lived in the 
island, and from the current testimony of all the 
* Mythology, vol. i. p. 48, 475, and 478. 
Vol. II. p p 
