HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
419 
individual sacrifices and makes offerings to the idols, ac¬ 
cording to his riches or property; either in oxen, sheep, 
fowls, or money. In Ankova it is the custom to give to 
the idols only the head, the blood, and the fat; the heads 
of the sacrifices being fixed on poles: and the blood and 
fat rubbed on the stones of the altar. The whole carcase 
is then devoured by the sacrificers and their friends, the 
priest not forgetting to secure his share of the feast. 
There are many occasions on which the idols are publicly 
exhibited, and supposed to be instrumental in averting 
national or general evils. The ceremony of sprinkling the 
people is one of sufficient importance to merit a particular 
description. On one of these occasions, a few years ago, 
the assembly consisted of at least six thousand people. 
They were ordered to squat on the ground in such a way 
as to admit those bearing the idol to pass to and fro through¬ 
out the assembly, and all were especially commanded to 
sit with their shoulders uncovered. The idol was then 
carried through the multitude in different directions, fol¬ 
lowed by a man bearing a horn of honey and water. As 
they proceeded, the man sprinkled the people on each side 
of him by shaking his wisp of straw towards them, after 
it had been dipped in the liquor. A blessing was at the 
same time pronounced by the bearer of the idol, in words, 
which, given by a native writer, may be thus translated :— 
“ Cheer up and fear not, for it is I who am the defence 
of your lives, and I will not let disease approach. Cheer up, 
therefore, on account of your children and wives, your pro¬ 
perty, and your own persons, for ye possess me.” 
Of that part of his proclamation which related to the 
idol’s antipathies, the following is a translation:— 
“ Practise abstinence well—let each of you take good 
heed to avoid what is prohibited by his idol, whose anti- 
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