Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 1 1883.djvu/223

 Rh site of the shrine was a temple to Ηελιος, the Homeric Sun-God—a remarkable coincidence." It is said the Jews are still expecting the return of Elijah, and in heavy storms whisper to one another "Elijah is coming!" Bede records that when S. Wilfrith converted the inhabitants of Sussex to Christianity "no rain had fallen in that province in three years before his arrival, whereupon a dreadful famine ensued. . . . . . . But on the very day on which the nation received the baptism of faith there fell a soft but plentiful rain; the earth revived again." Upon which Fuller quaintly remarks, "On that very day wherein he baptised them (as if God from heaven had poured water into the font) he obtained store of rain, which procured great plenty. Observe (though I am not so ill-natured as to wrangle with all miracles) an apish imitation of Elijah (who carried the key of heaven at his girdle, to lock or unlock it by his prayer); only Elijah gave rain after three years and six months, Wilfrith after bare three years, it being good manners to come a little short of his betters." The assumed connection between saints and rainfall is thus clearly illustrated.

We may now glance at the legend of S. Swithin, the details of which it is not necessary to repeat in detail. The essence of the story seems to be that interference with the bones of the saint caused an excessive rainfall, and it is somewhat remarkable to find the important part dead men's bones occupy in the procedure of professional Rainmakers. A letter from a native teacher at the Island of Maré (Western Polynesia) to the Rev. Mr. Buzacott (of the London Missionary Society) describes an interview with a Rainmaker of that island: "I again requested him to do his best to procure rain at once, that I might be his witness. He then answered, ' I do not my work openly, but secretly, because the instruments I use are in the bush.' I asked, 'What kind of instruments are they?' He answered, 'Dead men's bones; but not anybody's but those of my own relatives.'"

In New Caledonia they have similar customs, and the Rev. George Turner (of the same Society) writes:—"There is a rain-making class