Meant to post this back on St. John's Eve but it got lost in the shuffle. Piaba was Creole for "cleansing” or “purifying.” From the Latin, literally “to atone.” Also covered above and in other threads:

man-piaba: Christmas candlestick or lion's ear (leonotis nepetifolia.)
woman-piaba: One or another variety of bushmint. typ.: Comb bushmint (hyptis pectinata.)

Also, Discogs credits songwriter Walter E. "Jack" Rollins (1906-1973)(Peter Cottontail &c.) as Belafonte's 'writing' partner but that it not correct.

It was HB's, soon-to-be-ex, business manager Jack K. Rollins (1915-2015)(born Jacob Rabinowitz.)

Que theremin background: Read those Belafonte lyrics again and realize he is just about to hand his sanity over to C.I.A. headshrink Janet Alterman. FYI: The wife of Belafonte's new business manager Jay Richard Kennedy (1904/06-1991)(born: Samuel Richard Solomonick) also a Federal Government 'intelligence' apparatchik. Yikes!