The tendency to skepticism and the introduction of new gods, deplored by Lookoo, as well as the explanation of the Alligator and other theological truths as phenomena of nature—fire, earthquake, wind, etc.—has generally been found among the Reformers, who early tried to explain all religion away, or else resolve it into natural causes and effects. CHAPTER XXI. [Illustration] Among the Lali the religion of Shoozoo was preserved in greater purity. There had not been such a great departure from Shoozoo himself, as among the Ammi, where he was entirely lost in his symbols. Neither had there been so many splits and reformations. The Apes preserved the unity of the church better than the Men. Instead, however, of losing Shoozoo in the Alligator, like the Ammi, and then losing the Alligator in the dragon-fly, and the dragon-fly in the cross, and the cross in the short beam of the cross, the Lali went to the opposite extreme of deifying and worshiping not only Shoozoo, but everything connected with him. Before one generation had passed Shoozoo’s wife, Simlee, was admitted to equal divinity with him, and it was known as the Shoozoo-Simlee religion. There was thus a male and female deity, or king and queen of heaven. Soon after this Shoozoo’s parents and children were likewise added to the divine family, and worshiped by the Apes. Next came the dart with which Shoozoo struck the moon, and finally the moon itself. Everything was deemed sacred with which Shoozoo had to do, except the Alligator, which the Apes persistently refused to worship, because the Ammi had taken it up. They claimed, instead, that Shoozoo had killed the alligator in order to take the swallowed moon out of it. Many relics of the dead alligator, indeed, were furnished, and kept as a perpetual testimony to the achievements of Shoozoo, and as a rebuke to the unbelieving Ammi, who dared to worship it. These relics were worn as charms, and many cures were alleged to have been effected by them. Among others the gallant Oboo had been cured of a violent disease. The Swamp in which the Alligator was killed was deemed sacred, and in their devotions the Lali turned their faces to it. Water from this Swamp was likewise deemed sacred, and was always kept on the altars of the Apes, and great devotion was paid to it when exposed to the sight of the worshippers. Forty apes were once killed for sacrilege committed by spilling water, most of them for being mere witnesses of the outrage. A drop of Swamp water was put on every Ape’s head when he was born, and the ceremony was often repeated through life. This water was used in the consecration of their priests, and its application once turned the scales of war. Its appearance was consulted for omens, and it was invoked by monkeys when about to go after fruits. Bad luck was attributed to certain disturbances of it. Water-songs were the first specimens of music known to the Apes, and were always sung at exhibitions of water taken from the Swamp.