222 GRADUAL DISUSE OF THE RITE. 



the operation and they use a curved knife ; some wash the 

 wound with milk." * 



Mr. Richardson says that, among the Bara people, "the 

 diviner is consulted as to the fitting time for the ceremony. 

 He comes with his knife ; a good bullock is selected, killed, 

 and divided with a spear into two equal parts, from the tip 

 of the nose to the tail. The spear is then thrown over the 

 ridge of the house, and the diviner runs after it ; the half 

 of the bullock and the spear become his." Two or three 

 other curious particulars are given in the footnote, f 



Among the Sakalava generally, according to M. Grandidier,J 

 the circumcision itself is performed without any public re- 

 joicings, on account of the risk attending the operation, for 

 not unfrequently the child does not survive it. After a 

 favourable result, a thanksgiving feast called savatsd is 

 celebrated. At this time (and at this only) a bull, and not 

 an ox, is sacrificed, the child being placed upon the animal 

 during the invocation. Among some western tribes the 

 operators are women. 



It may be here remarked that, since the adoption of 

 Christianity by the people of the central provinces of Mada- 

 gascar, there has been no general observance of the ceremony in 

 the fashion of former times. The rite has been administered in 

 a very quiet and unostentatious fashion, so that for several 

 years past no European has seen the numerous minute 

 observances already detailed as preceding the circumcision in 

 heathen times. It has been felt that so much of evil was 

 mixed up with the ceremonies that they are being allowed 

 to fall into disuse, as inconsistent with the profession of 

 Christianity now made by the Hovas and neighbouring- 

 peoples. Among the heathen tribes there has, probably, been 

 little alteration in the ancient customs. 



* Antananarivo Annual, No. ii. p. 93. 



t Apud Hovas prreputium infantis in folio bananse involutum vitulis 

 datur ; apud incolas quosdam orse occidentalis in haustu alcoholico infant 

 bibendum datur. Apud gentem Bara pater praputium in flumen vicinum 

 projieit ; apud gentes Sakalava pars pracisa ex tormento [gun] vel cuspidi 

 hastae affixa emittitur super tectum patris. Si hasta recti, in terrain cadit, 

 indicio est, ut illis videtur, puerum animosum futurum esse. 



X Bull, de la Soc. dc Qiog., Avril 1S72, p. 397. 



