It is also a very prevalent opinion among the negroes that if they beg one of their dying friends to “trouble” any one they dislike, (that is, for his spirit or jumby to appear to him,) the jumby, which they expect to rise on the third day from death, will do their bidding, and that the person so haunted can never take rest until he himself dies. Their opinion respecting the immortality of the soul is, as far as I can understand it, this— that if a person die one day and is buried the next, during the succeeding night, the spirit, or as they term, it the “jumby,” rises, and either goes to heaven, or, if during life they have committed any crime, or met with a violent death, wanders about the earth, until by prayers, fumigations, or something of the kind, it is laid to rest.[18]
When a jumby haunts a house, they get a coal-pot, upon which they place a quantity of pepper, salt, _nuno_, (the wild basil,) part of a horse’s hoof, and a little brimstone. This coal-pot is set in the middle of the house, with the back and front doors open, and is allowed to burn until after midnight; at the same time, they stick over the doors and windows, and in the corners of the house, bunches of “milk-bush,” another wild plant. This ceremony always takes place during the night, but they allow the bush to remain until it withers. Whilst these articles are burning, the friends who are assembled in the “haunted house,” and the residents themselves, are employed in “cursing the jumby,” telling it to “go where he com from,” “that if he one good somebody he would hab been at rest,” &c.; and just as the clock strikes twelve at midnight, the windows are opened, and a quantity of water thrown out to wet the “jumby” and send it away, for as long as the coal-pot continues burning, they believe the jumby cannot pass through the house, but is still lurking about the yard watching for an opportunity of getting in.[19] Strange as this may read, it is firmly believed in, and actually practised up to the present time, not only by negroes, but by many of the better sort of people.
When a negro wishes a jumby to hurt his enemies, he makes use of various charms to effect his purpose; one of which the following anecdote will illustrate. About two years ago, two black boys went to a pond at the head of the town, to water a horse. The one that was riding the animal carried it far into the pond, and by some mishap or the other, fell off. His friend viewed him struggling in the water; he saw him sink, and rise to the surface,—again he disappeared; and although the spectator of this melancholy scene was but a very little fellow, he leaped in to his assistance. But oh! the frenzied grasp of death! well may it be said, “What pain it is to drown!” or, in the words of the homely proverb, “A drowning man will catch at a straw,”—the dying boy saw the hand stretched to his aid; and grasping the proffered palm, both sank to rise no more. Some person residing near the pond gave the alarm, and by means of drags, the bodies were recovered.