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HISTORY OF THE [book it. 
tion in the head, the bowels, or any other part, any 
casual loss or hurt, confirms his apprehensions, and 
he believes himself the devoted victim of an invisi¬ 
ble and irresistible agency. Sleep, appetite, and 
cheerfulness forsake him, his strength decays, his 
disturbed imagination is haunted without respite, 
his features wear the settled gloom of desponden¬ 
cy: dirt, or any other unwholsome substance, be¬ 
come his only food, he contracts a morbid habit of 
body, and gradually sinks into the grave. A negro, 
who is taken ill, inquires of the Obeah-man the 
cause of his sickness, whether it will prove mortal 
or not, and within what time he shall die or re¬ 
cover? The oracle generally ascribes the distemper 
to the malice of some particular person by name,, 
and advises to set Obi for thgt person; but if no 
hopes are given of recovery, immediate despair 
takes place, which no medicine can remove, and 
death is the certain consequence. Those anoma¬ 
lous symptoms, which originate from causes deeply 
rooted m the mind, such as the terrors of Obi> or 
from poisons, whose operation is slow and intricate, 
will baffle the skill of the ablest physician. 
<c Considering the multitude of occasions which 
may provoke the negroes to exercise the powers of 
Obi against each other, and the astonishing influ¬ 
ence of this superstition upon their minds, we can¬ 
not but attribute a very considerable portion of the 
annual mortality among the negroes of Jamaica to 
this fascinating mischief. 
