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.
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. The finest gourds and cocoanut vessels were made to hold this water, and the decoration of these was the first step taken in Sacred Art. Among the first pictures sketched were crude representations of a stream. They called their children after this water, such being the meaning of the common names among them. “Ilo” signifies “touched with water,” and “Oboo” means “Soaked.” Rainy days were deemed more sacred than clear ones, on account of their water, whose descent from the skies was taken as influences from Shoozoo. A flood was regarded as this god coming in disguise; and to be drowned was to be lost in Shoozoo. The Lali washed oftener than the Ammi, not for cleanliness, but on account of their devotion to water; and they would not kill a snake that was still wet. As long as anything, indeed, had upon it water from the great Swamp, it was supposed to be under the protection of Shoozoo. The Apes drank water before eating, and the last thing they did when dying was to drink. To be deprived of water for certain rites was the most serious affliction that could happen to an Ape, and a rebellion once broke out among the Lali because, when on a long march, their leader would not go out of the way to find a stream for ceremonial purposes.
But the refinements of ritual among the Lali were not confined to water, although at the time of which we speak the water rites had attained their greatest ascendancy. The Apes were accustomed to make pilgrimages to Cocoanut Hill where Shoozoo performed his great exploits, which was regarded as Holy Ground, and there they often worshipped. It was the interference of the Ammi with these privileges that led to the quarrels between the Apes and the Men, of which we have spoken. The Ammi, however, claimed that the Apes came not for religious purposes, but to steal cocoanuts, and hence the reprisals already mentioned.