friends.

+928+. The office of diviner, though it has always been an influential
one, has followed in its development the general course of social
organization, becoming more and more specialized and defined. In the
simplest religions the positions of magician and diviner are frequently
united in one person. In Greenland the Angekok, acting as the
interpreter or mouthpiece of a supernatural being from whom men learn
how they may be fortunate, foretells the condition of the weather and
the fortunes of fishing.[1698] A similar combination of the offices is
found among the Ainu, and apparently among the Cakchiquels, among whom
the divining function is said to have related particularly to war.[1699]

+929+. There was, however, as is remarked above, a tendency to invest
the priest with the function of divination. The Arabian _kahin_ was a
soothsayer, the Hebrew _kohen_ was a priest.[1700] The Yorubans have a
special god of divination whose priest is the soothsayer of the
community. In Ashantiland priests and priestesses, who are exceedingly
influential and powerful, owe a great deal of their importance to their
ability to explain signs and omens, especially to discover guilt and to
foretell events.[1701] In the elaborate divinatory ceremonies of the
Ahoms of Southeastern Asia, the conductors, who are highly considered in
the community, are priests; these people are partly Hinduized, but
probably retain much of their ancient religious forms.[1702] A
noteworthy specialization of functions is found among the Todas of
Southern India, who distinguish the diviner from the magician, the
prophet, and the dairyman. The diviner is inspired by a god, gives his
utterances in an ecstatic state, and for the most part limits himself
to the explanation of the origin of misfortunes.[1703] It would be a
matter of interest to trace, if it were possible, a history of this
specialization, but the early fortunes of the Toda religion are without
records and can only be surmised. In ancient Gaul the diviner, it is
said, was distinguished from the priest and the prophet.[1704] Where
divination is the duty of the priestly body, there is sometimes a
differentiation within this body, some persons devoting themselves
specifically to soothsaying; so among the Babylonians, where this
function was most important.[1705]

+930+. Among the old Hebrews the soothsaying function is connected not
only with priests but also with prophets.[1706] The priest was t