laced on their beds, immediately resigned themselves to death,
saying that "fetish was thrown upon them," and in nine cases out of
twelve, so certain were they that it was impossible to escape the coming
doom, they positively frightened or worried themselves to death. The
professors of fetishism likewise drove a good trade in amulets which
rendered the wearer invulnerable. On one occasion at Sierra Leone, a
young African who had been recently enlisted displayed with much pride a
gri-gri or amulet which he wore on his wrist, and which, he asserted,
rendered him invulnerable. His West India comrades laughed at him; and
the African, indignant at the doubt thrown upon the efficacy of his
charm, drew his knife, and, before he could be stopped, plunged it into
his thigh to prove that he spoke the truth. His eyes were opened,
unfortunately, too late; for though he was at once removed to the
hospital, he died from the effects of this self-inflicted wound. In West
India regiments the practice of fetish was made a military crime, and
was severely punished. Sufferers or imaginary sufferers from fetishism,
however, rarely complained to their officers, for they believed that the
occult art practised by the professor was superior to any power held by
man, and consequently, culprits were but seldom detected. With the
disappearance of Africans from West India regiments, the offence of
fetishism has, however, also disappeared.

Military crime in West India regiments is of comparatively rare
occurrence. Even when the 3rd West India Regiment was in existence,
there was less in the three negro regiments than in one of the Line;
while drunkenness is confined to the few black sheep who will be found
in every body of men. Riots or disturbances between West India soldiers
and the inhabitants of the towns in which they are quartered are unheard
of, and in every garrison they receive the highest praise for their
unvarying good and quiet behaviour. In fact they are merry,
good-tempered, and orderly men, who do not wish to interfere with
anyone; and, owing to their temperate habits, they are not led into the
commission of offences by the influence of drink. Of course, the popular
idea in Great Britain of the negro is that he is a person who commonly
wears a dilapidated tall hat, cotton garments of brilliant hue, carries
a banjo or concertina, and indulges in extraordinary cachinnations at
the smallest pretext; but this is as far from the truth as t