Formerly, it is said, Igwe was more generally worshipped than at present. This was explained as due to the fact that the God of the Bright Sky only gives advice by his oracles and does not ensure wealth, health or special good fortune to his votaries; while these additional gifts may be obtained through prayer to Amade Onhia. In January 1915 good fortune led us to Ozozo, where stands the greatest of all shrines of the Thunder God--a temple not made with hands--the sanctity of which is so great that pilgrims come thither from hundreds of miles. Until now its existence had been carefully guarded from the knowledge of Europeans, and the chief priest had so far avoided coming into contact with any white man of the few who had visited the neighbourhood. Early next morning we set out to seek the place of pilgrimage. The way led through a part of the bush set aside for the reception of the corpses of the unburied dead. At intervals the road was strewn with cowries, while ghost-offerings such as pots, broken that their astral forms might be set free for the use of the shades, and lengths of cloth, faded by sun and rain, were to be seen in the bush on either hand. Here and there, too, a long, narrow crate formed of palm stems was passed, half covered by the dense undergrowth. In these the bodies of the unblest dead had been borne to their last resting-place, thence to be flung forth for vultures, ants and other carrion-feeding creatures to work their will upon--leaving but a handful of bleached bones for the luxuriant vegetation to cover with its charitable mantle. Through these ill-omened shades we hurried, only stopping to pluck a new flower, the white cups of which together with masses of their strangely flattened calices had been found strewing the pathways of the beautiful Oban District, but hitherto it had been impossible to secure any leaves owing to the height of the trails, which had eluded discovery amid the network of giant branches to which they clung. Here, in the glade of the unburied dead, the path was festooned from side to side with spray upon spray, rich in flower, fruit and leaf. [Illustration: FIG. 21. The Aroid which grows round about the great Amad’ongha shrine at Ozozo] Thence we crossed the market-place and, by a network of many mazy paths made apparently for no other purpose than to mislead chance-comers, reached an open space shaded by giant cotton trees and heavy-scented Monodoras. In the low bush round about sprang great aroids, said to be connected with the worship of the Thunder God’s children. It is possible that the idea is due to the phallic-like appearance of the central spike, the long, thin, basal flowers of which give it somewhat the look of the Schlange im Schilf--the Pangwe description of the phallus. At the further end of the space lay the compound of the head priest, its open sheds full of cult objects but deserted; for the priest and all his family had fled at our approach.