Page:A pilgrimage to my motherland.djvu/83

74 Shango exorcised—Existence of Spirits—Ifa—Agugu—Oro—Aspect of a City on Oro-day—Gymnastic Sports—Pugilistic Encounters—Missions.

are many Mussulmans among the Akus, but chiefly the people are heathens. They acknowledge one supreme being, of whose attributes they have as clear a conception as civilized people generally, but they do not worship him directly, but through subordinate deities representing those attributes. Thus in Shango, the god of thunder, lightning and fire, and the most revered of their deities, the Omnipotence of God is worshipped. Oro represents the retributive power, and Ifa the Omniscience of God. They profess to be sometimes possessed by these deities. The Reverend Mr. Stone, of the American Southern Baptist Mission at Ijaye, once exorcised Shango in a very summary manner from a mischievous boy living in the neighborhood of his dwelling, who, in retaliation for some affront of his parents, had