HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
391 
possession and Andria-nanahary has the same significa¬ 
tion, being the same word radically, with andriana, or 
prince, affixed to it. 
If a Malagasy be asked the signification of these terms, 
he replies that he cannot tell. Ask him if they all mean 
the same thing, if they are different terms used to convey 
the same idea, and he answers “ Yes,” or he will perhaps 
say that Andria-manitra is the male god, and Zanahary the 
female. Name to him his idols, and he avows that they 
are andria-manitra, or, if rather more speculative than the 
general mass of the people, he will perhaps say, they are 
sampy, i.e. “helpers,” or auxiliaries, all the idols being called 
sampy, helpers, at the same time that the word may also 
signify an object by which a solemn oath is taken, in which 
sense the king may say aza misampy ahy, i. e. “ do not 
swear by me.” If, however, a Malagasy be asked with 
respect to these sampy, whom they do help, the reply is 
vague and unsatisfactory. They help, andriamanitra— 
they help the people in going to war, in obtaining blessings, 
in recovering from diseases, &c. Then again, the genius 
invoked by the Malagasy in their ordeal of tangena, under 
the name of manamango, they also denominate and declare 
to be andriamanitra. The king they also call andria- 
manitra, and sometimes with the addition of hita maso— 
“ seen by the eye,” i. e. the visible god. In short, whatever 
is great, whatever exceeds the capacity of their under¬ 
standings, they designate by the one convenient and com¬ 
prehensive appellation, andriamanitra. Whatever is new 
and useful and extraordinary, is called god. Silk is consi¬ 
dered as god in the highest degree, the superlative adjective 
being added to the noun—andriamanitra-indrindra. Rice, 
money, thunder and lightning,* and earthquakes, are all 
* It is related of Radama, that in a heavy thunder-storm, which occurred 
one evening, he amused himself with firing some pieces of cannon. The 
