165 



circumstances under which it appeared, and the direction it took ; 

 all the day lightning they attributed to Jupiter ; all the night 

 lightning to Summanus. * 



In like manner the god Mamas, to whom the people of Gaza are 

 said to have clung with extreme tenacity till late in Christian 

 times, " was a Philistine weather god corresponding to Baal and 

 Zeus, and to him in preference all resorted in times of drought 

 and sterility." t 



We find similar superstitions to have been prevalent in other 

 countries, and some that exist even at the present day in uncivilized 

 nations. Max Miiller, speaking of the earlier history of some 

 of the Turanian tribes, relates, on the authority of Chinese 

 historians, "that the Huns worshipped the sun, the moon, the 

 spirits of the sky and the earth, aud the spirits of the departed, 

 and that their priests, the Shamans, possessed a power over the 

 clouds, being able to bring down snow, hail, rain, and wind.":}: 



Mr. Fergusson, in his " Tree and Serpent Worship," states that 

 " the chief characteristic of the serpents throughout the East in all 

 ages seems to have been their power over the wind and rain," 

 which they gave or withheld according to their good or ill-will 

 towards man. || 



A curious Hindoo custom is said to be observed in some places 

 in Bengal in seasons of great drought. " At night all the women 

 of many of the villages walk naked to some neighbouring tank or 

 stream, aud there with songs and invocations seek to propitiate 

 the offended heavens, and to induce the gods to send them rain." § 



We are reminded also of the rain-makers spoken of by Dr. 

 Livingstone in his " Missionary Travels in South Africa" who, by 

 the help of certain charms and medicines, profess to have power 

 over the clouds, to induce them to pour down rain in seasons of 

 long-continued drought, such as appear to be of frequent occun-ence, 

 in some of those districts. IT 



Such then were the religious beliefs and practices in heathen 



* Dollinger; Jew and Gentile, II., 102. f Id. I., 433. 



J " Lects. on Sci. of Relig." Fraser's Mag., June, I87O, p. 712. 



II Quoted in Antlirop. Joum. No. I. July, 1870, p. lOi. 



J "Notes and Queries," Ser. III., vol. viii., p. 225. II Travels, p. 22. 



