Maboya (the evil demon) is very angry with the Caribs. This they say also when there comes a hurricane, not leaving off this dismal exercise till it is over, and there is no end to their astonishment that the Christians on these occasions manifest no such affliction and fear.[1] The Tupi tribes of Brazil are an example of a race among whom the Thunder or the Thunderer, Tupan, flapping his celestial wings and flashing with celestial light, was developed into the very representative of highest deity, whose name still stands among their Christian descendants as the equivalent of God.[2] In Peru, a mighty and far-worshipped deity was Catequil the Thunder-god, child of the Heaven-god, he who set free the Indian race from out of the ground by turning it up with his golden spade, he who in thunderflash and clap hurls from his sling the small round smooth thunderstones, treasured in the villages as fire-fetishes and charms to kindle the flames of love. How distinct in personality and high in rank was the Thunder and Lightning (Chuqui yllayllapa) in the religion of the Incas, may be judged from his huaca or fetish-idol standing on the bench beside the idols of the Creator and the Sun at the great Solar festival in Cuzco, when the beasts to be sacrificed were led round them, and the priests prayed thus: 'O Creator, and Sun, and Thunder, be for ever young! do not grow old. Let all things be at peace! let the people multiply, and their food, and let all other things continue to increase.'[3]
In Africa, we may contrast the Zulu, who perceives in thunder and lightning the direct action of Heaven or Heaven's lord, with the Yoruba, who assigns them not to Olorun the Lord of Heaven, but to a lower deity, Shango the Thunder-god, whom they call also Dzakuta the Stone-caster, for it is he who (as among so many other peoples
- ↑ De la Borde, 'Caraibes,' p. 530; Rochefort, 'Iles Antilles,' p. 431.
- ↑ De Laet, 'Novus Orbis,' xv. 2. Waitz, vol. iii. p. 417; J. G. Müller, p. 270; also 421 (thunderstorms by anger of Sun, in Cumana, &c.).
- ↑ Brinton, p. 153; Herrera, 'Indias Occidentals,' Dec., v. 4. J. G. Müller p. 327. 'Rites and Laws of the Yncas,' tr. & ed. by C. R. Markham, p. 16, see 81; Prescott, 'Peru,' vol. i. p. 86.
