All round the compound the much-branched, peeled wands sacred to Amad’ongha are to be seen. Beneath one of these, two pottery drums were placed, one half embedded in the ground and one above. By the principal shrine before the main entrance a curious adjunct was noticed. From a sapling, cut so as to form a fork, hangs a large oval calabash. Between the prongs a farm hoe is held, while beneath it two tortoises are impaled. The explanation of this given by the chief was that one night his god ordered them to be placed beside the shrine. The combination of objects, taken in conjunction with the fact that this priest of the Thunderer may only eat amid the seed corn and yams, suggests that this is another of the many Jujus for augmenting the fertility of the farm. It is not without significance that, beside that of Amade Onhia, the only other shrine of importance in Omo Chuku is dedicated to Ale. At Okehin, the Thunderer, instead of occupying a whole building, is only given the front verandah of a house. At one end was to be seen the figure of a mother with a new-born babe in her arms; at the other, a group representing a corpse laid in the grave with a pot of offerings beside it and a pet monkey watching at the foot by the seated figure of a woman. The pot of offerings usually contains a small plate, knife, pipe, tobacco, snuff and bottle of gin, rum or palm-wine. Between these two groups representing birth and death stands the figure of a medicine man, a magic horn in his right hand and a Juju knife in his left. In niches cunningly contrived in the rear wall, or upon the low clay ridge which separates the verandah from the road, carefully modelled birds sit upon nests of interwoven twigs, containing eggs, tinted or speckled in close imitation of nature. Small monkeys climb the pillars, dogs mount guard, while the phallic serpent twines and twists between all. [Illustration: FIG. 20. Burial scene in Amade Onhia shrine, Okehin] V SKY GOD AND EARTH GODDESS Among Etche Ibo, especially those to the west of the Otaminni River, Amade Onhia has practically usurped the place of Chi, the Creatrix, and reigns as supreme deity. For months after our arrival, we were invariably told by natives of all parts of the Division that the Thunderer was distinct from his brother Igwe, Lord of the Bright Sky. Later on, while collecting information concerning rain-making by magical means, it transpired from the words of the invocation used that the two originally symbolised different aspects of the same personality--Zeus of the thunder, lightning and storm cloud, Lord of the dark sky as well as the bright. Now, though most people regard them as separate deities, the old idea has not yet died out, especially among rain-makers.