Two years in the French West Indies. Partie 2

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Ma

Bonne.

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•—" H o w ? I often see them ! . . . They walk about the room at night ;—they walk like people. They sit in the rocking-chairs and rock themselves very softly, and look at me. I say to them :—' What do you want here ?—I never did any harm to anybody. Go away !' Then they go away." — " What do they look like ?" — " Like people,—sometimes like beautiful people (bel mouné). I am afraid of them. I only see them when there is no light burning. While the lamp burns before the Virgin they do not come. But sometimes the oil fails, and the light dies." In my own room there are dried palm leaves and some withered flowers fastened to the wall. Cyrillia put them there. They were taken from the reposoirs (temporary altars) erected for the last Corpus Christi procession : consequently they are blessed, and ought to keep the zombis away. That is why they are fastened to the wall, over my bed. Nobody could be kinder to animals than Cyrillia usually shows herself to be : all the domestic animals in the neighborhood impose upon her;—various dogs and cats steal from her impudently, without the least fear of being beaten. I was therefore very much surprised to see her one evening catch a flying beetle that approached the light, and deliberately put its head in the candleflame. When I asked her how she could be so cruel, she replied :— —"Ahl ou pa connaitt choie pays-ci." ( Y o u do not know Things in this country.) The Things thus referred to I found to be supernatural Things. It is popularly believed that certain winged creatures which circle about candles at night may be engagés or envoyés—wicked people having the power of transformation, or even zombis " s e n t " by witches or wizards to do harm. " There was a woman at Trico-


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