HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
417 
the circumstance that in such a position they must turn 
their back towards the idol. It is also forbidden them to 
eat anything that has been burned in cooking, or that has 
been cooked in some particular kinds of vessels. In some 
instances the keepers are forbidden to live in houses 
thatched with straw. There are cases also in which no 
houses may be constructed with mud walls within the vil¬ 
lages where the idols are kept. This prohibition prevails, 
however, in some villages where no idols are kept, and the 
reason assigned is not the interdiction of any divinity, but 
the “ custom of our ancestors.” 
There are also some prohibitions peculiar to the rainy 
season. At that time, white rice must not be left on the 
shelves in the houses, nor may the people amuse them¬ 
selves with their favourite game of kicking, nor with 
throwing stones at one another; neither may they burn the 
rice-chaff in their fires. These, and other similar prohibitions 
which have force during the rainy season (fahavaratra) are 
called ody havandra, or charms against the hail; it being 
supposed, that but for the careful observance of such re¬ 
strictions, all the rice then growing would be destroyed by 
the hail. 
During the approach of locusts and their destructive 
attacks upon the crops, there are also some specific prohi¬ 
bitions applied to the case, called ody valala, charms against 
the locust, such as not wearing any black or brown clothes. 
In all cases, the idol’s prohibition is determined and 
ascertained by the decisions of the sikidy or divination. 
On public occasions, when a bullock is sacrificed to any 
particular idol, an animal must he chosen entirely free 
from any streaks or spots abhorred by the idol; and it must 
be purchased by some one whose father and mother are 
living. The flesh of the bullock is then 'professedly 
2 E 
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