HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
389 
charms, or sikidy, or god, every thing is summed up with 
them in one comprehensive ultimatum— 44 Izany ny vin- 
tany”—“ Such was his destiny or fate.” 
Madagascar, it is true, exhibits no outward and visible ob¬ 
jects of worship, calculated to charm the senses or claim the 
veneration of the inhabitants of the country. It recognizes 
no order of priesthood, and has no classic associations with 
objects of long-established adoration. But it is not without 
its idols, its ceremonies, its sacrifices, and its divinations. 
It has its altars too, its vows, and its forbidden things—for¬ 
bidden, because hateful to the imaginary genius of the 
place. It has its mythology, crude as it is, and its guardians 
of the gods, all impoverished as they are. It has its sup¬ 
plications, deprecations, oaths, and forms of benediction. 
It has also, as may justly be imagined, its full share of 
puerile credulity in ghosts, spirits, and apparitions, and in 
the legendary wonders and feats of giants and other mon¬ 
sters of former days. It makes its appeal by ordeal to 
some superior power, for preservation from the malevolent 
though unenviable craft of the sorcerer ; and in order that 
the land may be purged from the evils of witchcraft, it is 
imbued with the innocent blood of the unfortunately 
suspected victim—poisoned, speared, strangled, or dashed 
over the fatal precipice. In a word, the Malagasy are 
heathen, destitute of the volume of divine truth, and in 
its absence carefully observing the faith, institutions, and 
traditions of their ancestors. Vague, absurd, and unsatis¬ 
factory as their creed may be, they cling to it with unyield¬ 
ing tenacity. Dark and perplexed as are their minds on 
the great principles of true religion, they are not without 
thoughts and feelings on the subject. Their minds are not 
a blank, upon which truth may at once be inscribed in legible 
characters, but filled with vain imaginations, erroneous 
