398 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
for no public worship is offered to them now. Yet they 
are called god, and in many respects a regard, amounting 
to idolatry, is paid to them. The following translation from 
an account of the idols written by a native in the Malagasy 
language, will illustrate this fact. 
66 The idols are called god, prayed to, praised, thanked, 
highly regarded, honoured, and lifted up: they are said 
to be that which causes to live and causes to die, and are 
supposed to see the future, the past, and the present, 
and to be able to cast down the thunderbolts, pour down 
the hail, to remove disease and inflict curses, and to as¬ 
semble the snake tribe # against all who calumniate them. 
It is said also that their calumniators are strangled by 
them. They are called means of life, and are kept in 
boxes.” 
Much superstition is practised by the people towards the 
idols. If sick, they apply to them for a cure. From them 
they obtain charms, and to them they look for prognostics 
of future events, as well as for deliverance from present evil. 
To them they often pray for earthly good, and their thanks 
are offered to them for the enjoyments of life. Public 
assemblies are sometimes convened, when it is pretended 
that the people are blessed by the idols, or the rice-ground 
is hallowed, by sprinkling, to preserve the rice from 
locusts or blight. At such assemblies, also, the people 
are sometimes enjoined to abstain from certain actions 
or kinds of food, in order to propitiate the favour of 
the idol, and thus obtain protection against certain appre¬ 
hended evils. 
* The snakes or serpents which abound in Madagascar are supposed to 
be the special agents of the idols, and as such are regarded with superstitious 
fear by the people. 
