308 VISITS TO MADAGASCAE. chap. xi. 



up a plant of the heath, and uttering, apparently in a laugh- 

 ing manner, a few words, cast the branches on the pile as he 

 passed by. A number of bamboos were fixed in the ground 

 round about, to which shreds or pieces of foreign cloth were 

 attached. On inquiring what the heap was, I was told it was 

 the accumulated offerings of travellers, and that my men had 

 thrown their own pieces on the heap to insure a safe journey 

 to the party. In other parts of the journey I passed spots re- 

 garded with superstitious feelings by the natives, and where I 

 was told offerings were occasionally presented. 



There is generally a wide open space in the centre of every 

 village of any size ; and in the space in front of my house 

 here there were several pieces of wood about eight or nine 

 feet high, cut smooth and square at the base, but spreading 

 into two or three branches at about five feet from the ground, 

 and gradually tapering to a point. These, I was told, were 

 objects of worship, — in fact, the idols of the village. They 

 seemed to have been shaped and smoothed with care, but 

 were now in a state of decay. In the same place was a large 

 basaltic stone of a prismatic form standing five feet out of the 

 ground, and near it a smooth round stone of the same sub- 

 stance, and about the size of a man's head. My informant, 

 alluding to the language of the proj^het about praying to the 

 rock, told me that prayers, at certain times, were offered to the 

 tall stone, and blood sprinkled and fat burned upon the 

 other. I had observed similar stones, sometimes enclosed by 

 a wooden fence, in more than one of the villages at which we 

 had halted, but knowing that the adherents to the supersti- 

 tions of the country were exceedingly sensitive on the subject, 

 and averse to all inquiry or questioning, especially by 

 foreigners, as well as jealous of anything that might weaken 

 the influence of their imagined objects of fear and worship 

 upon the minds of the natives, I had generally abstained 

 from all remarks on the subject to the people around. 



