the table and invited him
and his comrade to drink, which they readily accepted, remaining with me
until near night, when they had emptied the bottle; then taking an empty
bottle from his pocket, he had the modesty to ask me to fill it for him
to carry home. I was selling gin at this time for fifty cents per
bottle. Pine-apples are considered of little value in this country,
being worth from one to two cents apiece.

A Sookerman practices as a physician in sickness, but always abandons
his patient before the approach of death; he tells fortunes, can
discover thieves, and when the hurricane months are near approaching, he
resorts to some hill with his cutlass in his hand, which he waves in the
air to prevent the gales from destroying their crops of vegetables. He
collects an annual tax from all the inhabitants of his district, for his
services in cutting the breeze as they call it. If they refuse to pay
his tax the laws of the country allow him to seize upon any property he
can find, not excepting a man's dinner-pot. If a gale of wind happens to
sweep over the country and destroy their crops, he screens himself by
saying, "Some rascals have neglected the payment of their tithes." He
cannot see a woman in child-bed, or the woman or child under nine months
after the birth of it. He is prohibited from seeing any dead corpse, as
he imagines the sight of either of these would cause his immediate
death. The Sookerman makes all his journies in canoes, accompanied by
some of his friends. When they approach any village, he lays down in the
bottom of his canoe, and a sail is covered over him to protect his eyes,
while some of his comrades visit the houses of the villagers to
ascertain whether there are any of those dread sights in their houses.
When his wife shows signs of pregnancy she retires to a house built in
the woods, where she must remain nine months after her accouchment,
before she can return to her husband.

My landlord, Patterson, informed me that he knew a Sookerman who landed
at a village in a canoe, without sending a messenger before him to
discover the object of his danger; it being stormy weather he landed in
great haste and ran to the nearest house for a shelter, and opening the
door quickly, the first object he saw was a woman holding a child in her
arms. The shock was so great that he fell down on the threshhold of the
door and died the third day after.

Two miles from the village where I had located myself