HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
245 
structures are stated to be twenty feet in width, and fifty 
feet long. 
The large slabs used in forming the tombs, as described 
already, are usually of granite or sienite. The natives 
have long known how to detach blocks of stone from 
the mountain mass by means of burning cow-dung on the 
part they wish to remove, and dashing cold water along 
the line on the stone they have heated. Having been 
thus treated, the stone easily separates in thick layers, 
and is forced up by means of levers. Odies,” charms, 
are employed in marking out the desired dimensions of 
the slab, and to their virtue is foolishly attributed the 
splitting of the stone, though they well know that not all 
the “ odies” in the kingdom would split one stone, if the 
usual heat were not applied. When the slab is detached, 
