Show Itt I 1 r I I 80UIHfRN NmRO S Rf URN IO 8AVfiUmV l I51 r DISESABTEHTNG THOUGH PICTURESQUE STATE OF AFFAIRS IN I JEHOSSA ISLAND S C WHERE THE BLACKS ABE RAPIDLY L RETURNING TO THEIR ANCESTRAL BARBARITY OLD KEWG r KAMO RULES THIS QUEER SETTLEMENT OF WRETCHED r nuTS SAVAGE DARKIES UNRESTRAINED FORESTS DIRT AND IGNOBANCE SUPERSTITION IS RAMPANT ON THE IS LAND AND KAMO IS THE CHIEF VOUDOU In view of the commendable progress I made by the southern negroes since their emancipation it will surprise l 1 many to learn that in certain isolated spots along the South Carolina coast the blacks are lapsing into their primeval f prim-eval state of savagery and superstition i supersti-tion On the Island of Jehossa in particular f par-ticular the colored inhabitants have become be-come since the war little better than their naked sires in Africa The barbaric I bar-baric mysticisms of voudou or hoodoo are rife among them and civilization I I comes not near Jehossa island lies just off the South Carolina coastone of the chain of islands t is-lands great and small which gird the state from Cape Rornain to Tybee roads S Before the war it was the home of many opulent cotton planters who lived luxuriously and dispensed an elegant ele-gant and bountiful hospitality One of these southern barons whose manor was surrounded by illimitable fields of long staple cotton was Governor Ai of ken He owned more than 1000 slaves whQ were loyally attached to him a few of whom and hundreds of whose children and grandchildren still remain re-main on the island During the wai between the states the settlements on Jehossa island were devastated The many handsome dwellings dwell-ings Aerc burned and now only piles of i > bris crumbling columns fragments frag-ments of stone and stucco work mark where these mansions stood and are grim reminders of former wealth and t grandeur Not long since I visited Jehos island is-land for the purpose of ascertaining the truth uf certain wild stories that I heard of the native Jessohites I was I I horny face beam Possum am good and tatter too but it got no charm I git up for de sun he up I go an git me yarbs I ketch de rabbit in de full ob de moon I kill de sarpent wheneber I kin I hab owl an crow an jaybird De all hep me to make de pills an my charms but boss I am gwine to tell you a secret If you eber tell it lookout look-out for old Kamos cuss Here is de charm No man had seen 1t in many long vears When I die it gwine be buried wid me He put his hand in his bosom and drew from it a smooth jet black stone about two inches long and VA thick I went to take it from his hand when an awful shriek like that of a wounded animal echoed through the hovel At the same time he grasped it tightly Dont touch it mister it kill you like de pisen ob de rattlesnake No man touch that but Ihe lay a dead man I I I apologized humbly to the excited old man and when he gained composure com-posure he went on to relate the history of the stone The date 1793 Rismas I is engraved on one side of It with several sev-eral hieroglyphics The old man informed in-formed me that in 1739 an African king j gave his daughter in marriage to a I prince of a neighboring tribe and bestowed be-stowed upon the couple this stone It was considered the most precious wedding wed-ding sift that could be given them as it was supposed to possess wonderful curative power Not only could it cure physical maladies but also exorcise evil spirits Old Kamo who was a native I of Africa came into possession of it at the death of his father who had in some way he knew not how obtained I it Through all the days of slavery he j wore it around his neck night and day J but it was only after emancipation that I J he became a recluse and began to 1 cTA ji 1 1 ii i 4j efEt s S I I i f I 1 ii OLD KING KAMO directed to visit the most important S parsonage of the island who was known S as Old King Kamo the voudou chief or doctor who was said to exercise the I most powerful influence on the negroes Passing the cabin of a woman who was engaged in spreading on a sprawling sprawl-ing bush some linen she had washed I inquired the way to his abode i I kin tell you sar she said wiping her brown hands on her apron but I massa he mos likely be out at dis hour ob de day to hunt up he charm dey be sarpent skins de rabbit gall an de frog eye and if you will 15s sen to dis ole granny who aint gwine S lie when you git to de cross road whar he home be cross you fus finger ont on-t de big toe ef your lef foot an spit on de groun for sure he gwine congur you ef you dont Massa I know you Is a stranger dat Is why I gib you dis revise I thanked the ancient crone which thanks I emphasized by tossing her some loose change that caused her to urtesy and mutter blessings on me so long as I could hear her After riding some distance my horse suddenly halted before the door of the hut a oneroom cabin of logs filled in with mud and clay It looked more like the haunt of an animal than the home of a man There was not a living object ob-ject visible tave a lean looking half starved cat that sat dozing in the sun and an attenuated yellow dog that wagged good naturedly the fragment of his abbreviated tail I called out Hello there Instantly King Kamo tottered to the door leaning lean-ing heavily on a stick No wonder 1 S thought I that he is the terror of his neighbors for a chilly sensation seized me as I saw the strange object approach ap-proach The man must have been near S 100 years old His face was large and seamed with dark folds more like the i hide of the rhinoceros than human I skin A patch of snow white wool covered I cov-ered his otherwise bare skull Eyes i leering and jet black looked from beneath be-neath shaggy thick eyebrows and as i he silently gazed at me I felt that my i S call had surely aroused the evil worker May I come In and see you I said dismounting from my horse at the I same time Jingling some loose silver in i my pocket the sound of which caused j a smile to play on the rough visage of the aged negro I 4To be sure ye kin come in Come in ear and I entered Truly it was an abode more wizardly than the witches of Macbeth ever dreamed of A slow fire was burning beneath a huge vessel that emitted strange noxious fumes Around the place there were skins nailed to the logs bunches of rabbits feet class of birds and bun les of dry weeds The old man turned to the boiling caldron seeming unconscious of my presence and began stirring it vigorously as he tore apart what looked to be a dried frog and threw it into the vessel as he moaned Bile frog bile de stranger in de doe Bile snake bile wid de sarpent an de crow After this poetical incantation he turned to me and said Naw sar no ebil spell vine hurt ye Set down master and he pulled the old straw bottomed chair toward me At the < same time I handed him a piece of tobacco by way of gaining his goodwill k good-will willWell r Well old man said I they tell me that you perform wonderful cures and c that you are a doctor Arf you s By de power ob de Lord I is dat r boss One man he come here He call heself preacher ob de Lord He say see f bere Kamo you better stop dis congur I J ing it is the details work and say i be kin to satin Dat same man he go away and I put my spell on him an from dat day he call me chile ob sin I he nebber walk again I cast my spell on his legs Dey call It rheumatism ljut I call it de spell of Kamo ButS But-S when gintlemen come an treat me asS as-S you do boss I stir my pot for de luck to follow ve S Tell me Kamo what Is now steaming steam-ing away there potatoes and possum 1 said I Io i No sir And a smile made the old b L 7 utilize the rower of the stone So I left the old man with his goodluck spell upon me and in my left pocket a snake skin and frog head that he i forced in my hand as I bade him good byBut S But my talk with King Kamo only filled me with a desire to see more of his semibarbarous subjects Accord ingly I passed his hut and continuing j I my journey across the swamps by r what was once a fine enough road but had now become a mere bridle path I overgrown and obstructed by creepers and trailing vines Some 500 yards I further on I came across a clearing around which were gathered a number of rude huts Here in old times had I been the slave quarters belonging to I Governor Aiken but the governors slave huts had given way to flimsy I structures of baked mud and wattles like nothing in the world so much as I the rude dwellings of Ashante or Da II homey Children were sprawling in the open and there was barely enough clothing among these dusky babes as I Private Mulvaney has it to dust a fife Some of them indeed were absolutely I ab-solutely naked and when one looked i at the mud huts the lush growth of I forest around and these woollyheaded j I sprawlers in the foreground it did not need much imagination to carry ones I fancies back to Africa There was a smell of cooking in the I village and I noticed that the smoke escaped from the huts not by means of the modern chimney but by a primitive I aperture in each lea thatch d rOof Occasionally I was told this mode of I egress caused the huts to take fire but the negroes took the loss of their homesteads I home-steads quietly since all that it entailed I was the collecting of mud live Wood and leaves for the constructionof new mansions Every hut had some sort of voudoo charm or fetich hung before the slit which served for a door and seme villagers more superstitious than I others had placed a regular bunch of these talismans before their homes I Such of the women as were not busy cooking came out for a peep at te white man and in Its femininity I saw Jehossa Islands real savagery They were all but nude but the care avoided in the matter of habiliments had been lavished upon the training I and adorning of the hair The average j height of these dames coiffures ex I ceeded 12 inches and I saw one tower ing specimen which must have almost I I reached to two feet Here was certainly i a distinct trace of the return to African customs The women had greased their lofty hirsute growth until they shone and smelt like Eden Moreover long pieces of wood and even thfn seashells were stuck into the coarse shining I I piles of hair after the fashion now or recently in existence of a modern belles combs and pins When I addressed ad-dressed these poor creatures they I laughed broadly and answered me readily enough but in a dialect which would have been impossible of understanding under-standing to a northerner or an En glisman In fact only my long South I Carolinian experience could have enabled en-abled me to penetrate the meaning of I the singular patois only partly En gusn in WhIch tne women of the Je I hossa swamps held converse with me Riding on through the woods I encountered I en-countered some of the male villagers attired simply in loose cotton trousers I so ragged that in some cases they I I might as well have been dispensed I with altogether and the merest apology apol-ogy for shirts But ragged as they were almost every one of them seemed to own a gun and a dog nd fo far as I could see their sole occupation seemed to be the snaring or slaying of game in the Island wilderness The men spoke a slightly better English than their spouses presumably because most of them had been to the mainland main-land and conversed more frequently with whites and civilized negroes But their superstition was appalling as I I was their ignorance I am told but could not prove the assertion as-sertion that polygamy exists or did until quite recently exist in the swamp I I villages of Jehossa As regards the 4 < = heathen rites of voudoo I have not only the words of Old King Kamo but of many other negroes on the Island that Jchossites practice it religiously to this day Sacrifices are offered upnot human hu-man sacrifices however as in the West Indiesand weird ceremonies are conducted con-ducted in the lonely forest depths under the waning moon Jehossa is surely a field for 1the missionary mis-sionary and civilizer if ever there was one I E ORCHARD |