The gods whose origin is thus accounted for as the offspring of Yemaja, are of various types. The Sea-god (Olokun), the Thunder-god (Shango), the Sun, the Moon, the Lagoon (Olosa), the three river-goddesses Oya, Oshun, and Oba, the god of Mountains (Oke), and Ogun, god of iron and war and of the River Ogun, are all the product of Nature-worship, but are not of one type, for the Sun and Moon belong to the
down from the interior, and occupy the territory in which they were found at the commencement of the present century; for the cognate Tshi tribes of the Gold Coast also have a tradition of a migration from the interior. Most probably the two traditions refer to a great southward movement of the original stock from which the Tshi, Gã, Ewe, and Yomba tribes are descended, and which, starting from some central point in the interior, spread out in fan-shape till it reached the sea-coast. The tradition of the Yoruba migration is as follows.
Long ago a certain person living in the far interior sent fifteen people from his country to go to the south, and with them came, of his own free will, one named Okambi,[1] who afterwards became the first King of Yoruba. When they were leaving, the person who sent them gave Okambi a slave, a trumpeter named Okinkin,[2] a fowl, and something tied up in a piece of black cloth. They journeyed for some time, and when they opened the gate of the south and passed into the unknown country, they found nothing but water spread out before them. At first they thought of returning, but fearing the anger of the person who had sent them, they entered the water; and, finding it quite shallow, waded on through it. This they did for some time until Okinkin the trumpeter sounded his trumpet, in accordance with the instructions the person had given, and thereby reminded Okambi of the something tied up in black cloth, which was to be opened when the trumpet
2. Okinkin appears to mean "owner of a very small portion."]
sounded. The cloth was accordingly untied, and a palm-nut, with some earth fell into the water from it. The nut immediately began to grow, and shot up so rapidly that in a few minutes it had become a tall palm with sixteen branches.[1] All the party, being very tired from their long wading climbed up into the tree and rested on the branches till next morning, in which position a certain person named Okiki[2] saw them from the country from which they had been sent out. When he saw them, Okiki reminded Okinkin the trumpeter that it was his duty to sound the trumpet again, whereupon he sounded it, and Okambi untied the piece of black cloth a second time. When it was opened, earth fell from it, and, drying up the water, made a small mound. The fowl that the personage had given Okambi then flew on to the mound and scratched the earth here and there, and wherever the earth fell it dried up the water. When there was a good space covered with earth, Okambi came down from the tree, bringing with him his trumpeter Okinkin and his slave Tetu.[2] The other persons wished to come down also, but Okambi would not
Tetu means "executioner."]
allow them to do so until they had promised to pay him, at stipulated periods of time, a tribute of 200 cowries apiece. The place where the palm sprung up from the water afterwards became Ife, and, some time after, three brothers set out from there in different directions, to make fresh discoveries. When they went away they left a slave, named Adimu,[1] to rule Ife during their absence.
This tradition is vague and meagre of detail, the only points brought out being that a certain number of persons migrated southward from the interior, and found a region covered with water. This latter detail, however, strongly supports the theory that a real migration took place; for the large stretches of shallow water of the lagoon system, which during the rainy season are enormously extended by the inundation of the low-lying portions of the surrounding country, could scarcely have failed to excite the wonder of a people accustomed to the plateaus and mountain ranges of the interior, and to leave a lasting impression upon their memories.