Like everything else, my story has an end; and now let me ask my readers what they think of it? I am sure they will join with me in deploring that superstition has still so many votaries. Oh! that her reign was at an end! Yet there are some negroes who are getting over the dread of these things. An old woman remarked one day, “Missis, me hear of jumby, but me neber see dem; me can’t go say dere non ob dem, but me say, if one sombody do good, God will neber let dem hurt you; an we ought to pray, dat wen we go dead, He will gib us some place ob rest.”
[15] The manner in which these East Indian charms are tried is as follows:—When a trial by wax is agreed upon, a number of persons write their names upon scraps of paper, including those of the parties who may be suspected. These scraps are enclosed in balls of wax, and are thrown into a bason of water; those which float at the top are opened, and whatever name is written therein is believed to be the thief. When an ordeal of rice is tried, a few grains of that article are placed upon the tongue of the supposed culprit: if the party is innocent, the rice, when chewed, mixes with the saliva, and is expectorated of a milky consistence; but if, on the contrary, guilty, no power can moisten it, but it comes out a dry powder. I should not feel at all surprised at seeing this last charm turn out true, for of course the natives firmly believe the truth of it, and the guilty one’s conscience must upbraid him, and his emotion probably parch his mouth. With regard to the _wax trial_, I cannot so readily account for it. Mr. Forbes, in his “Oriental Memoirs,” mentions seeing both of these charms, as well as many others, (being nine in number,) tried; some of which are sanctioned by the British authorities. He goes on further to state, that in _all cases_ where he was present, they came true. I could not take upon myself to discredit what this clever and ingenious writer says; much, very much may be attributed to the effect of a strong imagination, which most Eastern nations possess.
[16] The dislike to this day is supposed to arise from the Crucifixion.
[17] The term “jumby” is applied to all supernatural beings.
[18] A similar idea to this still exists in the Department Indre, France. The inhabitants believe that after death the soul of the deceased flies about the apartment where the dissolution took place, seeking some cranny by which to escape to heaven. For this reason, as soon as any one is supposed to be near death, the friends of the dying person take care to remove every vessel that contains liquid, fearing the soul may fall in, and thus be lost. In Scotland, something of the sort seems to be believed in among the lower classes; for when a person is in the last agonies, the doors of the house are set open, that the soul may find no impediment in the way of its escape. The ancient Jews, according to Dr. Lightfoot, were of an opinion that the soul of the deceased hovered about its former tenement until after the lapse of three days, when it sought the regions of bliss or misery.