Robert Lalah, Staff Reporter

"Love and success!" shouts Jah Truci, the bath 'mayor' as he gives a cleansing to one of his 'patients'. - photos by Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

This is number 4 in the countdown of the top 5 editions of Roving with Lalah over the past year.

With the Rasta man grinning broadly in the background, the chubby woman in the tiny bathing suit hopped on one foot, raised her hands to the heavens and shouted, "It's a miracle, one time I couldn't do this. I couldn't even walk or talk!"

Now under normal circumstances, the woman's antics would have raised a few eyebrows, and frankly would have had me searching for the exit. But where I was standing at Bath Fountain in St. Thomas, it's an everyday occurrence.

You see, this is no ordinary place. Locals say that the steaming hot water coming from the hills is the most powerful medicine on earth and can heal any ailment from cancer to leprosy. There are famous tales of hundreds of persons who have been healed by the mystical powers of the potent water. Limp feet have apparently sprung to life and darkened eyes have suddenly seen the light. A miraculous place it seemed indeed! So photographer Norman Grindley and I wasted no time as we headed off to the aquatic wonder to see the light for ourselves and to find out from the people who live there, just what is the secret behind the powers of Bath Fountain.

The famous fountain is the star attraction in the community called Bath. Everybody we talked with had a story to tell about somebody who was healed there or of the history of the fountain. One straggler thought it fit to go into great detail about his once flaccid extremity that now springs to action with great alacrity at the slightest prompting. Needless to say, I got more information than I would have liked.

Almost there

About a half mile from the bath we came across a dreadlocked man who was standing behind a bamboo hut. There were coconuts hanging all around and a sign gave the name of the hut as 'Black Beads Shop'.

We asked the man, who gave his name as Adelaja, about the mysterious fountain. "Well is a great healing you know, Bingi. You want to see seh is jus the works of the Most High inna dat place. People pass me right here on the way up to the fountain with crutches and pass me back going down without them. So is just the healing of the Creator," the man said.

We pressed him to tell us what he knew of the history of the fountain. "Well you know Bingi, is a slave did really run away into the hills you know. Him did have a sore foot and stay up there for ten days and get healed. So when him go back home him tell the other slave dem bout the water. Dem did have sore foot too. So when dem go and get heal, then is so the whole place really get discover you know, Bingi," he said.

We bid Adelaja farewell and headed further up the hill to find the fountain.

'Mayor of the river'

Jah Anthony, the self-proclaimed natural oil man says he has the cure for everything from headaches to arthritis.

We got to a dead end where about a dozen dreadlocked men were standing around. "Greetings in the name of His Majesty. Anything you want, you get. Anything you have, we heal. The water heal everything except bad mind!" shouted a man wearing a torn pair of shorts, who later gave his name as Ras Desmond. We told him our mission. "Well I going to take you up to meet Jah Truci, him is the mayor of the river," he said. All the other men nodded in agreement and Jah Truci suddenly seemed like a worshipped being. I was a bit taken aback.

We followed Ras Desmond up a very narrow path that went straight up into the hills. We walked for about ten minutes before we heard the sound of rushing water. We could now see the water. There was steam rising from the the water as it bubbled out of the hills. There were six more dreadlocked men attending to persons in the river. Ras Desmond led us right into the water. "Wait here let me call the mayor," he said.

A few minutes later, he returned with a man wearing only a pair of underpants and a smile. It was Jah Truci. "Yes, greetings my brother. Welcome to the most powerful place on Jah earth," he said. We asked the river mayor to tell us about the fountain. "Well is a slave by the name of Jacob Stevenstene had leprosy and came up here for ten days and was healed. When the bakra massa find out about it then the place just get famous. Everybody start come here for healing and is so it continue from then until now," the man said.

Cures everything

"Well I man deh here for more than 20 years and help give healing to hundreds of people. I see this water cure bad allergies, sinus, cancer, everything. Even cripple people come up here and walk again. Is a precious ointment for the people. It really powerful, spiritually and physically," Jah Truci went on.

Just then, a woman with curly grey hair walked up to us. She had an American accent. "Hi. Look at me if you want to know about the power of the water," she said. The woman said that she lives in Philadelphia and was involved in a major car crash in 1995 that left her blind in one eye and partially paralysed. She said a friend took her to Jamaica in 1996 and she visited Bath. "Look at me now! I can sing and do everything. My eyes are working fine and I can walk again!" she said, jumping up and down. The woman said that a major university in the U.S. is working on a publication about her miraculous healing.

Jah Truci smiled in agreement. "The dawta come here every year since that and get her treatment. Is a blessing," he said.

"When you get treatment all you have to do is have a jelly and relax. Keep cool and everything will heal itself. Is the power of the ancestors in the water. That's why the water is so hot coming out of the hills. Is just the natural spirits," Jah Truci said.

"If you have a problem just come to the river. Jah mek it for everybody to get a healing and to get a blessing. Is just the powers of the Most High for the people to enjoy."

Please send comments to robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com.