Worship of cabined spirits on full moon eve—Goat-sacrifice on marriage days—Practice of besmearing the forehead with the blood of the victim—Non-Aryan cults imbibed by the Aryans—Hindu and Parsi beliefs in water-spirits compared—Antiquity of water-worship among the Parsis—Worship of _Ardevi Sura Anahita_—Influence of the _genii locorum_ on the community—Mahomedan patron saints of Parsi household—An anthropological puzzle—Ecstatic possession of a Parsi woman—The Gunbow well—_Murgha Bâwâ’s_ well—Cures effected by the grace of water-saints—Beliefs common to the whole world—Association of life with motion—Water-worship in the East has its counterpart in the history of Western thought—Professor Robertson Smith’s description of the worship prevailing in Arabia—Well-worship in the West probably more widespread and primitive than in the East 18-26 PART II. WATER-WORSHIP IN EAST AND WEST. CHAPTER V. _THE MOST WIDE-SPREAD PHASE OF ANIMISM._ Deification of fountains and rivers a general cult—Max Müller’s theory of poetic personification—The spiritual element uppermost in the worship of water—Water an important factor during the first three days of Creation—Rabbi Ismael’s saying—Babylonian conception of the god Nun—Rising of Shu from water—The Akkad triad of gods—Worship of streams absorbed by the Hittites into their pantheon—Two triads sacred to the Phœnicians—The Vedic god Varuna—How the conception of the night served to convey the idea of the ocean—Greek beliefs—Okeanos and Skamandros—Neptune, the Latin sea-god—Nēreus, the Old Man of the Sea—The Scandinavian god Niörd—Midsuno Kami, the water-god of Japan—The Peruvian sea-god Virakocha—Worship of Mamacocha, Mother Sea—The Egyptian Nile-god—Parsi festival in honour of Ardevi Sur Anahita—The Greek goddess Aphrodite—Wells of water bestowed by Greek saints—Healing virtues of the waters of Egeria—Dedication of likenesses of diseased limbs to the water-nymph Egeria—Similar offerings to Virgin Mary at Mount Mary’s Chapel at Bandra—The holy well of Smyrna Cathedral—Cures effected with ordinary water just as well as with the sanctified water—Archæological evidence of the British cult—American examples of animistic ideas concerning water—African rites of water-worship 29-39 CHAPTER VI. _CHRISTIAN TOLERANCE OF THE CULT OF WATER._ A non-Christian custom—Edicts of Kings, Popes and Church Councils prohibiting the practice—Total eradication of beliefs and customs of age-long existence impossible—Continuance of pagan worship under Christian auspices—A dual system of belief—Supplication of a Scottish peasant at a sacred well—Grimm’s examination of the result of the Christian tolerance of paganism—Mr. Edward Clodd’s testimony 40-43