His medicine was arsenic,
furnished him for this purpose by the villainy of the traders."[141]
FOOTNOTES:
[136] Various etymologies have been suggested for the word obi. Mr.
Long, in a paper transmitted several years since, by the agents of
Jamaica to the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council, and by the
latter subjoined to the report on the slave trade, expresses himself on
this subject as follows: "From the learned Mr. Bryant's commentary on
the word OPH, we obtain a very probable etymology of the term; 'a
serpent,' in the Egyptian language, was called _Aub_ or _Ob_."
'_Obion_,' is still the Egyptian name of a serpent.' 'Moses, in the name
of God, forbids the Israelites to inquire of the demon _Ob_, which is
translated in our Bible, charmer or wizzard, _Divinator aut
sorcilegus_.' The woman of Endor is called _Oub_ or _Ob_, translated
Pythonissa; and _Oubaois_ (he cites Horus Apollo) was the name of the
Basilisk or royal serpent, emblem of the sun, and an ancient oracular
deity of Africa. Their etymology, if admitted, connects the modern
superstitions of the west of Africa, with the ancient ones of the east
of that continent, from which source they have also been spread in
Europe.
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