- FERN root cut small, and tied with many a knot;
- Old teeth extracted from a white man’s skull;
- A lizard’s skeleton; a serpent’s head:
- These mix’d with salt, and water from the spring, [390]
- Are in a phial pour’d;1 o’er these the leach
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Mutters strange jargon, and wild circles forms.
- OF this possest, each negroe deems himself
- Secure from poison; for to poison they
- Are infamously prone: and arm’d with this, [395]
- Their sable country daemons they defy,
- Who fearful haunt them at the midnight hour,
- To work them mischief. This, diseases fly;
- Diseases follow: such its wonderous power!
- This o’er the threshold of their cottage hung, [400]
- No thieves break in; or, if they dare to steal,
- Their feet in blotches, which admit no cure,
- Burst loathsome out: but should its owner filch,
- As slaves were ever of the pilfering kind,
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This from detection screens;—so conjurers swear. [405]
- ‘TILL morning dawn, and Lucifer2 withdraw
- His beamy chariot; let not the loud bell
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In addition to referring to a set of practices and beliefs, “obeah” or “obi” also could refer to a charm that would protect or curse an individual. These charms were often made up of a combination of materials that were believed to have spiritual or sacred significance. ↩︎
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Also known as Phosphorus. In Greek mythology, the bringer of morning light. ↩︎