procured a fagot with which he attempted to fire their dwelling. Had he succeeded, a great conflagration might have ensued, from the combustible nature of the materials of the houses. The inmates of the jeopardized dwelling made no other attempt to arrest him in his projects, than pitifully imploring the deity to leave him. Mr. Stone, however, hearing of the affair, procured a rod, and seizing the young scamp soon dispossessed Shango, and so well too, that the god is never likely to possess him again.
They believe in the spirit after death, and in its power of being present among the living for good or evil purposes, hence they frequently resort to the graves of the deceased with offerings, consulting them in affairs of importance, and imploring their protection from the dangers of life.
Ifa, one of their inferior deities, is much resorted to as an oracle. He has a numerous corps of priests, who realize great profit from the offerings made the god, to induce favorable responses, He is consulted by means of a sort of checkerboard, covered with wood-dust, on which the priest traces small squares. The party consulting the god hands him sixteen consecrated palm-nuts, which all the votaries of Ifa carry constantly. He throws them into a small urn, from which taking a few, the number being left to accident,
