218 SAVAGE SUDAN 



plains. 1 When they see a whirlwind passing by, they 

 say that God walks in it. Others say that the whirlwind 

 is God. One man said that God is black, the underlying 

 sentiment being that, since God is unseen, He must 

 therefore exist in darkness. 



"Man, the Shilluk believes, is made or created by 

 God and, when he dies, is taken back by God. When 

 a very old man dies they say he has ' gone to his people ' 

 meaning to God. 



"Here is a Shilluk form of prayer: 'God, leave 

 us men alone, that we may escape ; for you are great, 

 you are God, and none can speak to you (in the sense 

 of denying). You are God ; whom you kill, die. Spirit 

 is in you. You are God ; save us and we escape.' While 

 praying thus, some stand erect, spear in hand ; . others 

 kneel. 



" In a sort of unconscious effort to bring the mystery 

 of God nearer to the sphere of human comprehension, 

 the Shilluks personify the Deity by introducing an 

 intermediary of man-like form whom they call Nikawng. 

 After praying to God as above, they offer a supplementary 

 prayer to His subordinate, thus: 'Nikawng, you were 

 given the earth by God ; you rule the Shilluks. Now 

 go and intercede for us with God that the cow we are 

 about to kill shall be a cow of God.' The sacrifice is 

 then killed and, the spear being washed, the water 

 (together with the contents of the stomach and intestines) 

 is sprinkled over the people. 



"God is greater than Nikawng, His prophet; yet 

 by reason of His incomprehensible distance and the 

 mystery which shrouds His being, God is more intangible 

 to the Shilluk than Nikawng whom he pictures as a 

 man." 



1 In winter, after the universal grass-burning, these whirlwinds are 

 charged with black burnt ash, and form vast rotating columns often 

 hundreds of feet in height and speeding, a dozen at a time, across country. 

 At Khartoum where, instead of ash, they are charged with sand, they are 

 popularly known as " dust-devils/' 



