Famine, scarcity, and even their consequence, pestilence, are assigned to him.

He is said to have in his hand a "flaming sword," with which he effects his works of destruction; and this "flaming sword," which probably represents lightning, becomes his emblem upon the tablets and cylinders, where it is figured as a double or triple bolt.

[PLATE XIX., Fig.

4.] Vul again, as the god of the atmosphere, gives the rain; and hence he is "the careful and beneficent chief," "the giver of abundance," "the lord of fecundity." In this capacity he is naturally chosen to preside over canals, the great fertilizers of Babylonia; and we find among his titles "the lord of canals," and "the establisher of works of irrigation." There is not much evidence of the worship of Vul in Chaldaea during the early times.

That he must have been known appears from the fact of his name forming an element in the name of Shamas-Vul, son of Ismi-dagon, who ruled over Chaldaea about B.C.1850.