312 MALAGASY HADES. 



as it is often employed •when people spend the niglit at a 

 place and return home the following day. 



A belief in ghosts is found all over the island. There are 

 several names for these shades, as matdatda, amlirba (with 

 many variations), and Iblo* The B^tsileo, TanMa, and probably 

 other southern tribes, have also the words Idnbly, a grotesquely 

 horrible being, more like an animated skeleton than anything 

 else, and also a curious word, fahasivin' ny maty, which is 

 literally, " ninth of the dead," or simply, fcthashy, " ninth." 

 The word dvibirda (or dmeroy) is also used by the Tanala to 

 denote the spirits of the living. T\iq?,q faJiasivy are said to 

 appear in dreams, and are propitiated by offerings of an ox. 



The spirits of the dead are believed to go to Ambondrombe, 

 a lofty mountain covered with forest on the eastern edge of 

 the highland of the Betsil^o country and dividing it from the 

 lower Tanala territory. While travelling in the southern 

 part of the island in 1876, I was much interested to have 

 this Malagasy Hades pointed out to me when near the Hova 

 fort of Imahazony. It had the appearance of a long regu- 

 larly-curved mountain, stretching like the outline of a bow 

 from north to south, and many miles distant to the east. 

 The summit is often covered with clouds, and thus, from its 

 height and almost inaccessible character, it has been invested 

 for ages past with an atmosphere of dread. No one resident in 

 the surrounding country would- dare approach it, and strange 

 stories were told of the firing of cannon and making of salutes 

 whenever a royal ghost arrived to take up his abode there.f 



About three years ago, Mr. G. A. Shaw solved the j)roblem 

 raised by the strange sounds reported to be heard from 

 Ambondrombe, by a personal examination of the dreaded 

 mountain. He was unable to induce any Betsileo to accom- 

 pany him or bring hatchets to cut open a path, but some of 

 his bearers were bold enough to follow him, and after three 

 hours' hard work, cutting away the undergrowth and creepers, 

 he reached the summit. 



He describes the mountain in the followincj terms : — " I 



* Lblo is also the word for " butterfly : " a curious analogy with the similarly 

 double meaning of the Greek ypvK-q. 



t See AntanCinarlvo Annual, Ko. i. pp. 95-97 ; No. ii. p. 99. 



