IN PERILS BY SEA. 
155 
tananarivo or tlie districts of Ankbva, nor does 
he appear to have heard of either the one or the 
other. Indeed, at that time the present capital 
was a place of no importance, being merely one 
of many small towns in Im^rina. Judging from 
his journal, he never probably passed beyond 
what is now known as the Province of Anosy, 
at the entrance to the south-eastern corner of 
the island. 
Drury’s account of the southern tribes, amongst 
whom he passed the time of his captivity, makes 
no mention of the gods which were at that 
period reverenced as the deities of Imdrina; but 
his description of the religious ceremonies of the 
tribe with which he dwelt is very interesting. 
Their chief object of worship appears to have 
been what he calls an owley. It is not clear what 
this word means. Perhaps it is a provincial 
corruption, or rather variation, of the Hova word 
ody , a charm. He says :— 
“The inhabitants have all in their houses a small 
portable utensil, which is devoted to religious uses, and 
is a kind of household altar, which they call the owley. 
It is made of a peculiar wood, in small pieces, neatly 
joined, and making almost the form of a half-moon with 
the horns downward, between which are placed two 
alligator’s teeth. This is adorned with various kinds of 
beads, and such a sash fastened to it as a man ties 
about his waist when he goes to war. I observed that 
they brought two forks from the woods and fixed them 
