488 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
It is obvious how incompatible such an opinion is with any 
just conception of the moral responsibility of men for their 
actions. And to this may be added the prevailing idea of 
the vintana or destiny. A man commits some flagrant 
offence—it may be murder—he is deemed mamosavy, and 
this is his misfortune. He had no control over himself. 
It was his destiny to act as he did. 
The following instances related by Drury may serve to 
shew the degree of self-sacrificing devotion to which super¬ 
stition may lead. A man with whom the narrator was 
acquainted had received in a dream, through the medium 
of an evil spirit, a command to wash his lamba the following 
morning. In obedience to this divine injunction, he went 
along with the party, of which Drury was one, to a stream of 
water, where he had no other business than to do as he had 
been commanded; and as he stooped down to wash his 
lamba, he was killed by a random shot from the enemy, 
who had watched the motions of the party, and who 
retreated without injuring any one else. 
The other instance was that of a man who, having made 
his addresses to a demon, was told in a dream that his 
brother must shoot at him. His brother, however, endea¬ 
voured to dissuade him from the act, but he insisted that it 
must be done, or that worse would ensue. “ Well then,” 
said he, “ I will shoot near you, but take care to miss you.” 
“ No,” said the dreamer, “ it must be executed without the 
least prevarication, for I am fully persuaded that the demon 
will defend me from all harm. At length he prevailed upon 
his brother, who, standing at the distance of about thirty 
yards, fired at his lower parts; but notwithstanding all his 
precaution, he broke a leg; and then blaming himself for 
his credulity in acting so contrary to his own judgment and 
feelings, he ran with tears in his eyes to the assistance of 
