HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
435 
The directions of the sikidy respect two different kinds 
of offerings; the sorona being intended to obtain favours, 
and the faditra to avert evils. Both, perhaps, partake more 
of the nature of charms than strictly of sacrifices, and the 
sorona especially. The faditra is a thing rejected; and in 
throwing it away, the offerer believes he averts some dreaded 
evil. There is, in this ceremony, something analogous to 
the institution amongst the ancient Jews, of sending away 
into the wilderness the scape-goat, bearing on his head the 
weight and curse of the confessed iniquities of the congre¬ 
gation of Israel. The material of the ceremony differs, 
and so does the mode, but the spirit and design have a 
resemblance; and hence the idea which first occurs to a 
Malagasy, in connexion with such texts of Scripture as 
represent Christ bearing the sins of the w r orld, is that of a 
powerful faditra—the taking away of evil—the averting of 
suffering or death. 
The sorona is essentially different. This is connected 
only with good, as the faditra is with evil. The sorona 
operates as a charm to bring the desired favour, and is 
sometimes an animal sacrifice, of which, when killed, the 
principal fat is eaten. In some cases it consists in wearing 
some article specified by the sikidy; and in such instances 
it becomes, in course of time, an ody—that is, a charm or 
amulet—which, though adopted at first for a particular 
object, is ultimately regarded as possessing some intrinsic 
virtue, and therefore is still worn after the imagined cause 
for its immediate use has ceased. 
These sorona sometimes consist of pieces of silver, or of 
silver chains; and sometimes of beads, more or less valu¬ 
able. Occasionally strings of beads, of different colours, 
are made, and worn around the neck and wrists of the 
offerer. These are called, mananarivo— <£ possessing a 
2 f 2 
