184 VOYAGE TO MADAGASCAR. 



poifon acquires more ftrength and activity* 

 Let us leave to Flacourt the barren tafk of 

 prefeuting a melancholy pidure of the fuper- 

 ftitious practices of the MadecafTes: this fub- 

 je^l would afford no ufeful lefibn to the 

 reader. Ought we to be aftoniflied, that a 

 weak and tender being, expo fed from his 

 cradle to a number of infirmities, fhould, 

 during the fhort period of his inconceivable 

 exiftence, err refpeding the caufe of thofe 

 calamities which opprefs him ? it matter 

 of furprife, that the favage, in the delirium 

 of his deranged imagination, fhould have 

 recourfe to chimeras of every kind, in order 

 to avert the dangers with which he is 

 threatened ? Hurricanes ravage the fields 

 which he has cultivated ; lightning ftrikes 

 the fhelter he has formed ; the earth opens 

 under his feet, and, by dreadful and con- 

 vulfive motions, fwallows up in an inflant 

 vaO: trads of country, Amidfl fo many 



difafters, 



