Indian devil.
They are the receptacles for departed souls, who come back again to
earth, unable to rest for crimes done in their days of nature; or they
are expressly sent by Jumbo, or Yabahou, to haunt cruel and hard-hearted
masters, and retaliate injuries received from them. If the largest
goatsucker chance to cry near the white man's door, sorrow and grief will
soon be inside; and they expect to see the master waste away with a slow
consuming sickness. If it be heard close to the negro's or Indian's hut,
from that night misfortune sits brooding over it; and they await the
event in terrible suspense.

You will forgive the poor Indian of Guiana for this. He knows no better;
he has nobody to teach him. But shame it is that, in our own civilised
country, the black cat and broomstaff should be considered as conductors
to and from the regions of departed spirits.

Many years ago I knew poor harmless Mary; old age had marked her
strongly, just as he will mark you and me, should we arrive at her years
and carry the weight of grief which bent her double. The old men of the
village said she had been very pretty in her youth; and nothing could be
seen more comely than Mary when she danced on the green. He who had
gained her heart left her for another, less fair, though richer than
Mary. From that time she became sad and pensive; the rose left her
cheek, and she was never more seen to dance round the May-pole on the
green: her expectations were blighted; she became quite indifferent to
everything around her, and seemed to think of nothing but how she could
best attend her mother, who was lame, and not long for this life. Her
mother had begged a black kitten from some boys who were going to drown
it, and in her last illness she told Mary to be kind to it for her sake.

When age and want had destroyed the symmetry of Mary's fine form, the
village began to consider her as one who had dealings with spirits; her
cat confirmed the suspicion. If a cow died, or a villager wasted away
with an unknown complaint, Mary and her cat had it to answer for. Her
broom sometimes served her for a walking-stick; and if over she supported
her tottering frame with it as far as the May-pole, where once, in
youthful bloom and beauty, she had attracted the eyes of all, the boys
would surround her and make sport of her, while her cat had neither
friend nor safety beyond the cottage wall. Nobody considered it cruel or
uncharitable to torment a