304 HISTORY OF THE [book m 
population went on for above a twelvemonth 
longer, with more or less intermission, and with¬ 
out his being able to ascertain the real cause, 
though the Obeah practice was strongly suspected, 
as well by himself, as by the doctor, and other 
white persons upon the plantation, as it was known 
to have been very common in that part of the 
island, and particularly among the negroes of the 
Papaw or Popo country. Still he was unable to 
verify his suspicions, because the patients con¬ 
stantly denied their having any thing to do with 
persons of that order, or any knowledge of them. 
At length a negress, who had been ill for some 
time, came one day, and informed him, that feeling 
it was impossible for her to live much longer, she 
thought herself bound in duty, before she died, to 
impart a very great secret, and acquaint him with 
the true cause of her disorder, in hopes that the 
disclosure might prove the means of stopping that 
mischief, which had already swept away such a 
number of her fellow-slaves. She proceeded to say, 
that her step-mother (a woman of the Popo coun¬ 
try, above eighty years old, but still hale and active) 
had put Obi upon her, as she had also done upon 
those who had lately died; and that the old woman 
had practised Obi for as many years past as she 
could remember. 
cc The other negroes of the plantation no sooner 
heard of this impeachment, than they ran in a body 
to their master, and confirmed the truth of it, ad¬ 
ding, that she had carried on this business ever 
