Report on Obeah in Antigua, 1788

This testimony comes from a report to Parliament by the Board of Trade. The report contains much useful information about the condition of enslaved people living in the British Caribbean colonies. In this particular section on Antigua, William Hutchinson and Dr. Makittrick Adair reported on the presence of Obeah in the colony. It offers many useful insights into how colonists perceived the practice of Obeah. Furthermore, Obeah is described as witchcraft rather than as a religion.

Mr. Hutchinson – A few Negroes called Obeah-men do yet exist in the Island of Antigua.

Dr. Adair – Persons under that Denomination still exist in Antigua, though they are supposed to be now less numerous than formerly.

Mr. Hutchinson – Without pretending to the Knowledge some profess to have of every minute Point that can relate to the Negroes in the West Indies, I feel no Difficulty in distinguishing these Obeah-men as a Set of People who, being better acquainted with the Qualities of Herbs, and having a more perfect Knowledge of the Nature of Simples, than the rest of the Negroes, improve that Advantage to acquire an Awe and a Superiority over them; and this they do by wickedly contriving to administer their noxious Drugs, whenever it can suit the Views of their Ambition, or serve to satiate their vindictive Tempers; and I have been informed, that what with the Power of these Drugs, and what Prepossession the injured Persons are under that their Condition admits of no Remedy, there have been Instances of Negroes actually lingering to Death. I am more particularly led into this Opinion of their Arts by the Symptoms and Effects which, as I have always understood, uniformly shew themselves in all Cases wherein those Arts are supposed to be put in practice. A Langour and total Enervation first seize the Object of the Obeah-man’s Ill-will; and these Symptoms are soon followed by so great a Lowness and Depression of Spirits as to produce an extraordinary Despondency; and such Notions have these People of the supernatural Power of these Doctors when under the Influence of their Practices, that they think it would be making their Case still more desperate, were they to complain that the Obeah-man had made them feel the Effect of his Displeasure, or (as they express themselves on such Occasions) had put his ugly Mouth upon them. But their Poisons have Degrees of Inveteracy in them, and affect very differently, some Sorts leaving the Body ulcerous, and other Sorts leaving the Limbs in a honeycombed State. These are some of the Effects the Negroes impute to the Arts of the Obeah-men; but I imagine they ascribe to that Cause many Diseases they are afflicted with, which the Obeah-men have not been any ways instrumental in occasioning.

Dr. Adair – The Arts and Means they use seem to operate on the Mind rather than on the Body; for though it has been supposed that they have occasionally been guilty of administering Poison, Dr. Adair has never had just Ground for believing that any Disease could be traced to this Cause, though he does not deny the Probability of it.—The Influence over the Minds of the superstitious has sometimes been powerful and permanent, and the Effects somewhat similar to those which result from Animal Magnetism; but no Instance has Dr. Adair known those Effects to terminate in the Death of the Patient.

The Symptoms were, in general, such as accompany Hypochondriacism and Melancholy: It ought however to be remarked, that artful Slave, with a Hope of temporary Exemption from Labour, or as an Excuse for Delinquency, have sometimes pretended to be under the Influence of an Obeah-man’s Spells; when the Belief of such Influence has been real, strong, and permanent, Dr. Adair has been informed, that the Patient has been relieved by Counterspells.

Mr. Hutchinson – In the Infancy of Planting, when the West India Islands were stocked by imported Negroes only, the Obeah-men had every Opportunity of imposing upon the Ignorance of those about them, and were almost entirely unrestrained from doing what Mischief they pleased, which occasioned Provision by Law, in some of the Islands, for the Punishment of them whenever they could be convicted of having practiced their Arts, called at that Time by the profound Appellation of Magic, Necromancy, Witchcraft, &c. but in proportion as the Negroes of the Islands have become more enlightened by the Increase of those who are denominated Country-born, the Obeah-men have lost their Influence and terrifying Power over the rest of the Negroes, there being a few or none, except imported Negroes, who continue to view them as in any degree supernaturally endowed; and such has been the Effect which the Dread of Punishment and the increased Difficulty of supporting their magical Character have produce, that they now seem almost to content themselves with the Pre-eminence of being thought to have an inspired Knowledge of all Crimes that are committed by the Negroes, they are thought to be oftentimes the Means of preventing great Enormities among them. At least, so unfrequent are now the Instances of Death or Disease produced by any Art or Means they make use of, that although I spent Four or Five Years at the Bahama Islands, in the Office of the Secretary of the Colony, and Two or Three Years in the West Indies, I never heard of more than Three or Four Instances, in which a Suspicion could be entertained of their practicing their Arts against the Life or Health of any Person whatever; and no Instance occurred in all that Time, of any one of them being convicted of either of those Crimes.

Dr. Adair – never knew any Instance of Death from the supposed Influence of Obeah-men’s Spells; though daily Experience proves, that a Disease originating in a depraved Imagination, or a powerful Excitement or Depression of the mental Faculties, may derange and suspend, and even destroy, the vital Powers.

Dr. Adair believes that Diseases from the supposed Operation of Spells are now very rare.

Mr. Hutchinson – These Arts or Means practised by the Obeah-men are most probably brought from Africa; and this I am induced to believe, particularly on account of the Universality of the Character of the Obeah-men among the Negroes, which I should think, would be sufficient to establish that Point, if there was no other Foundation to rest it upon.

Dr. Adair – These Arts or Means seem to have originated in Africa, because the reputed Obeah-men are generally Natives of that Country. The Offices of Soothsayer and Physician may sometimes have been united, but in most Instances Dr. Adair believes that are distinct. The chief Pretensions of the Obeah-men seem to be confined to the Faculty of foreseeing Events, and in pointing out the Means of producing those Events; such Pretensions however have, in a few Instances which have come within Dr. Adair’s Cognizance, been productive of dangerous Consequences, as they have induced some Slaves to commit Crimes, and even Murder, from the Obeah-man’s Assurance of Secrecy, Success, and Impunity.

Mr. Hutchinson – I believe there is no Law in the Island of Antigua which specified the Crime of practicing the Arts, but that it is left to fall under some general Clause for punishing Negroes for Offences that are not specifically named in the Laws made for their Government, which is a Circumstance that seems to shew that it was never thought by the Legislature of that Island to be an Offence so frequently committed there as to require their particular Notice.

Dr. Adair—believes, but cannot positively assert, that Obeah-men are refrained by Law from the Exercise of their arts. In Criminal Prosecutions, however, it is not easy to convict them as Accessaries [sic], because the Evidence of the Principal is not admitted as valid.