Ikpin (snake figures) featured on the roof of Ọba Palace. In the Kingdom of Benin, the crocodile and the boa constrictor are considered the guardians of Olokun, the god of the great waters or the ocean, of wealth, prosperity and fertility. When the palace was burnt down during the 1897 British expedition, the Ikpin were stolen, and they do not feature on the roof of the current palace.