_Obeahism.--Ventriloquism_ (Vol. iii., pp. 59. 149.).--T. H. will find, in the authorities given below, that Obeahism is not only a rite, but a religion, or rather superstition, viz. _Serpent-worship_. _Modern Universal History_, fol. vol. vi. p. 600.; 8vo. vol. xvi. p. 411.; which is indebted for its information to the works of De Marchais, Barbot, Atkyns, and Bosman: the last of which may be seen in Pinkerton's _Collection_, vol. xvi., and a review of it in _Acta Eruditor._, Lips. 1705, p. 265., under the form of an "Essay on Guinea." In Astely's _Collection of Voyages_, there is an account compiled from every authority then known, and a very interesting description of the rites and ceremonies connected with this superstition. According to the same authors, the influence of the Obeist does not depend on the exercise of any art or natural magic, but on the apprehensions of evil infused into his victim's mind. See also Lewis's _Journal of a Residence among the Negroes in the West Indies_. The following references will furnish a reply at once to two Queries; to that here noticed, and to that on "Ventriloquism" (Vol. ii., p. 88.). The name of the sacred serpent, which in the ancient language of Canaan was variously pronounced, was derived from "ob" (inflare), perhaps from his peculiarity of inflation when irritated. See Bryant's _Analysis_, vol. i.; Deane's _Worship of the Serpent_, p. 80. From a notion of the mysterious inflation produced by the presence of the divine spirit, those who had the spirit of Ob, or Python, received the names of Ob, or Pythia; according to the not unusual custom for the priest or priestess of any god to take the name of the deity they served. See Selden, _De Dis Syris_, Synt. 1. c. 2. It is a curious coincidence, that as the Witch of Endor is called "Oub," and the African sorceress "Obi," from the serpent-deity _Oub_, so the old English name of a witch, "hag," bears apparent relationship to the word _hak_, the ancient British name of a species of snake. In Yorkshire, according to Stukeley, they call snakes "hags" and "hag-worms," (Abury, p. 32.). In the Breton language, _Belech_ is "Priest," and may similarly indicate a priest of Bel-the-Dragon. From the Hebrew _Ob_, the Greek [Greek: ophis] was probably derived; for the same word, in Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek, which denotes "divination" denotes a "serpent." "Nachash,"[4] "ilahat,"[5] "[Greek: oiônizesthai],"[6] have the same double signification as if the serpent were recognised as the grand inspirer of the heathen prophets. See Faber's _Horæ Mosaicæ_, vol. i. p. 98.