Stories from Tobago’s rain forest reserve

DR RITA PEMBERTON

THE Tobago rain forest reserve was established as a conservation measure to prevent loss of productivity in the fertile parts of the island. When the imperial authorities accepted the notion that there was a relationship between rainfall and agricultural productivity and established the Main Ridge Forest Reserve, they probably did not anticipate the other roles the forest would play on the island.

The forest is home to a variety of flora and fauna some of which are unique to the island, which attracted both diurnal and nocturnal visitors. Tourists visited to view plant and bird species while scientists sought to identify and document plant and animal species which were found on the island. Thus, the rainforest reserve became a major tourist attraction and at the time when focus was on profit levels of the major agricultural activity and the development of a tourist industry was not yet envisioned.

The second unanticipated users of the forest reserve were introduced to the island as the labour force for the sugar plantations that were established on the island after 1763. Although the experiences on the older sugar plantation colonies had demonstrated that resisting enslaved Africans would seek the security of locations where they could not be easily detected, thought was not given to the rain forest reserve as a possible maroon hideout on the island, nor was any thought given to its use for hunting, the popular sport of Englishmen, which would also be continued by the freed Africans after 1838. It was from this group and their descendants that a folk lore was generated from the rain forests.

It is popular belief that the rain forest is home to spirits better known as jumbies, which manifested their presence in different ways to persons who used the area as a hunting ground. The question is who or what generated the spirit presence? Since in much of folklore it is believed that spirits are associated with the dead so it can be assumed that the resident spirits of the rain forest were produced by dead users who might have been either enslaved Africans or white plantation owners. Spirits appeared in various form as rabbits, bats or fireflies and their presence was most often to terrify hunters and mislead and confuse their dogs.

The jumbies sometime misled dogs by appearing as a rabbit which caused them to engage in incessant barking and wild chase after the rabbit which led them into different location and has never been caught. When the dogs started digging wildly, in a hole in which the rabbit disappeared, the hole would branch in several different directions and yield nothing. One strategy used by some hunters is to block the hole so that no other rabbit could go under the blocked area.

A part of the ritual for preparing dogs for hunting was to clean their noses with black pepper. Hunters always carried cigarettes and lime to keep the jumbies away. When the jumbies started troubling the dogs, the lime was used to make a cross on the dog’s head as a jumbie repellent. There were good and bad days for hunting, Generally the Easter season was not considered a good time for it was considered dangerous to hunt on Good Friday and spirits were believed to be roaming the forest on Easter Saturday. There should be no hunting on Sunday nights

Sometimes the spirits would appear as bats. Hunters would pick up an animal scent and would keep going round and round in a circle with no sign of wildlife. The dogs would stop and go in circles when they appear to be following a scent, a cluster of bats would appear flying close enough for the hunter and dogs to hear the terrifying echolocation sounds with no sign of any desired animal on the ground or in the trees.

Sometimes the loud sound of drums could be heard coming from the area commonly known as Drum-ah-day with no visible signs of players. Some hunters claim to have seen drums coming towards them with no person in attendance. This suggests that there is an African connection but there have also been sightings of Massa’s ghost riding a white horse in the rain forest. Some hunters have been confused and misled by these strange developments and have been unable to find their way out of the forest and have had to remain lost in the forest overnight. Usually, they would find their way out of the forest in daylight but there was one occasion when three hunters from Speyside were lost in the forest for three days. After having traversed deeper and deeper into the forest they ended up to Pigeon Peak, the highest point of the reserve, from which they were able to make their way to Charlotteville some distance away from their point of entry from Speyside.

There are stories of the existence of caves behind the waterfalls in Belle Garden and Goldsborough which are said to be homes for jumbies and people are cautioned to stay away from them. Their presence is indicated by strange sounds of doors (some say coffins) opening and closing as can be heard coming from behind the source of the Great Dog River, the biggest river in the Richmond area,

There are also firefly stories. Fireflies come out in large numbers flickering everywhere and engaging in rituals which terrify some individuals. They crowd each other reflecting a desire either to eat each other or to mat. The forest dwellers include soucouyants which appear as a flying ball of fire and owls which barked like dogs.

Stories about a forest resident who is called Jan Jan Jakie were used to train children into desirable behaviour. Jan Jan Jakie was a dark creature which assumed different shapes who took bad children and threw them into a clump of Samason’s Pick, a plant with very sharp thorn needles, the thought of which terrifies children into good behaviour.

These stories are told to children by their grandparents at nighttime in areas where there was no electricity or when the electricity supply was cut off. In some homes special items were saved for story telling nights. These include old ochroes and local cucumbers which were kept for making soup and cornmeal to make porridge which were prepared during storytelling nights. The rain forest experiences of hunters therefore, added another level of stories to the folklore of Tobago which includes stories from fishermen and farmers.