2g6 EXORCISING AN EVIL SPIRIT. 



a worn-out spade, suspended by a string, with a hatchet, 

 quite close to their ears, making a horrid din. I thought as 

 I stood by that if it wanted anything to make an indisposed 

 person downright ill this would be a good recipe. The idea 

 of this is to drive the (angatra (evil spirit) possessing the sick 

 person into one of those dancing. But the two sick persons 

 sat perfectly motionless, while the drums were beaten louder 

 and louder, and more and more voices and hands joined 

 in the chant and the clapping until it reached a perfect 

 shriek ; when I was rather astonished by seeing the two sick 

 girls jump up and commence dancing round the inside of the 

 circle formed by the performers. All this goes on twice, and 

 sometimes three times, a day, and if the sick persons are not 

 speedily cured appeal is made to the diviners, who tell them 

 that not enough rum has been brought, or enough beef, or 

 that the persons dancing are not of high enough rank, or 

 anything else for an excuse." 



Note. — Since the above was written I notice in the 4th No. of the 

 Antananarivo Annual, p. 4r, the following items of curious supersti- 

 tious practices related by the Rev. P. G. Peake of the Bez&nozdno tribe : 

 — " At the funeral, if the heir is young, the fruit of a very bitter creeper 

 (hofiha) is cooked for him, that he may learn to bear hardship and have a 

 foretaste of endurance, lest he consume foolishly his possessions. If a 

 person of consequence dies, the horns of the gable-ridge of the house are 

 broken off, and the appellation An-trdno jdloka ('at the house of humilia- 

 tion') is given to it." 



