276 FANANY. 



Malagasy, especially by the BefsiMo, in which there seems to 

 be a curious mixture of fact and fable. This is the Fanany 

 or the Fananim-pitolbJia (" the Fanany with Seven Heads "). 

 This creature is variously described as a lizard, a worm, and 

 a serpent, and is believed to come from the corpse of those 

 of noble blood, and to be, in fact, an embodiment of their 

 spirits. After the completion of the revolting practice of 

 treating the bodies of such people (by so compressing the 

 corpse that a putrid liquid exudes from the foot), the pots 

 containing the liquid portion are taken great care of, for 

 the corpse cannot be buried until a small worm appears in 

 one or other of them. Two or three months are said to 

 frequently elapse before this takes place. After the worm 

 has increased in size the body may be buried ; while the 

 earthen pot with the worm is placed in the grave, but in it is 

 also fixed a long bamboo reaching up to the outer air through 

 an opening at the top. After six or eight months they say 

 that this worm climbs up the path prepared for it and comes 

 into the village. It is then like a lizard in appearance, and 

 called Fanany. The relatives of the deceased proceed to 

 question the creature, asking if it is Such an one, and believe 

 that they get an infallibly correct answer by its lifting its 

 head. Thus assured, they make assurance doubly sure by 

 fetching a plate off which the deceased ate his or her last 

 meal, and in this plate the blood from an ox's ear, together 

 with rum, are poured. The fanany's drinking these liquids 

 leaves no doubt as to its identity. A clean cloth is then 

 spread, upon which the creature steps, and it is borne into 

 the village with feasting and rejoicing. It is finally carried 

 back to the tomb from which it emerged ; there it remains 

 (so they say) and becomes the guardian deity of the people 

 living near, and grows to an enormous size. 



The Eev. J. Eichardson, from whose account the foregoing 

 description is taken, says that, although he has never seen 

 the fanany itself, he knows for certain that the bamboo and 

 earthen pot in the tomb, &c, are arranged as described. He 

 adds : " And I have heard from the lips of the chief prince 

 of one of the tribes, when his mother was dead, " She has 

 not yet appeared in the earthen pot, and so I cannot bury 



