308 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CHAP. XI. 
up a plant of the heath, and uttering, apparently in a laugh¬ 
ing manner, a few words, cast the branches on the pile as he 
passed by. A number of bamboos were fixed in the ground 
round about, to which shreds or pieces of foreign cloth were 
attached. On inquiring what the heap was, I was told it was 
the accumulated offerings of travellers, and that my men had 
thrown their own pieces on the heap to insure a safe journey 
to the party. In other parts of the journey I passed spots re¬ 
garded with superstitious feelings by the natives, and where I 
was told offerings were occasionally presented. 
There is generally a wide open space in the centre of 
every village of any size; and in the space in front of my 
house here there were several pieces of wood about nine feet 
high, cut smooth and square at the base, but spreading into 
two or three branches at about five feet from the ground, 
and gradually tapering to a point. These, I was told, were 
objects of worship,—in fact, the idols of the village. They 
seemed to have been shaped and smoothed with care, but 
were now in a state of decay. In the same place was a large 
basaltic stone of a prismatic form standing five feet out of the 
ground, and near it a smooth round stone of the same sub¬ 
stance, and about the size of a man’s head. My informant, 
alluding to the language of the prophet about praying to the 
rock, told me that prayers, at certain times, were offered to the 
tall stone, and blood sprinkled and fat burned upon the 
other. I had observed similar stones, sometimes enclosed by 
a wooden fence, in more than one of the villages at which we 
had halted, but knowing that the adherents to the supersti¬ 
tions of the country were exceedingly sensitive on the subject, 
and averse to all inquiry or questioning, especially by 
foreigners, as well as jealous of anything that might weaken 
the influence of their imagined objects of fear and worship 
upon the minds of the natives, I had generally abstained 
from all remarks on the subject to the people around. 
