2 9 B HISTORY OF THE [book iv. 
negroes we Lave ever conversed with on the sub¬ 
ject, the professors of Obi are, and always were, 
natives of Africa, and none other; and they have 
brought the science with them from thence to Ja¬ 
maica, where it is so universally practised, that we 
believe there are few of the large estates possessing 
native Africans, which have not one or more of 
them. The oldest and most crafty are those who 
usually attract the greatest devotion and confidence; 
those whose hoary heads, and a somewhat peculi¬ 
arly harsh and forbidding in their aspect, together 
with some skill in plants of the medicinal and 
poisonous species, have qualified them for success¬ 
ful imposition upon the weak and credulous. The 
negroes in general, whether Africans or Creoles, 
revere, consult, and fear them; to these oracles 
they resort, and with the most implicit faith, upon 
all occasions, whether for the cure of disorders, the 
obtaining revenge for injuries or insults, the con¬ 
ciliating of favour, the discovery and punishment 
of the thief or the adulterer, and the prediction of 
future events. The trade which these imposters 
carry on is extremely lucrative; they manufacture 
and sell their Obies adapted to different cases, and 
at different prices. A veil of mystery is studiously 
thrown over their incantations, to which the mid¬ 
night hours are allotted, and every precaution is 
taken to conceal them from the knowledge and dis¬ 
covery of the white people. The deluded negroes, 
who thoroughly believe in their supernatural pow¬ 
er, become the willing accomplices in this conceal¬ 
ment, and the stoutest among them tremble at the 
