156 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
This enactment not only furnished the parents with 
abundant ground for disobedience to the dictate of the 
diviners, but, by giving to their offspring the flattering 
designation of the king’s children, gratified their vanity, 
and secured their co-operation. During the reign of 
Radama, the practice was generally discontinued, except in 
Imamo, where, in surrendering their independence and 
acknowledging his supremacy, the inhabitants stipulated 
for the unmolested continuance of this unnatural crime, 
according to the custom of their ancestors. The extensive 
revival of the ancient superstitions of the country, and of 
this among the rest, since the death of Radama, has not 
diminished, but increased the number thus prematurely 
hurried to the grave. 
The superstitions of the Malagasy lead them to regard 
certain days and hours as unlucky, and for an infant to be 
born at such times is considered fatal. These periods are 
calculated and declared by a class of men called Panandro, 
“ astrologers.” To these the relations or the parent of 
a new-born infant repair almost immediately after it has 
entered the world, to learn from them the vintana , or des¬ 
tiny of the child, as if they could not give free current to 
the tide of their joyous and affectionate feelings until they 
had ascertained whether those feelings must be suppressed, 
and the object of their kindling emotions be recklessly 
torn from their embrace, or whether they might venture to 
express towards it their tenderness and love. 
In some cases it is considered sufficient to make a pre¬ 
scribed offering with a special view to averting the evil 
of the child’s destiny. The parents’ hopes being by this 
confirmed, they return to indulge in the overflowings of 
their joy over the dear object of which a murderous super- 
