POLITICS AND RELIGION 
97 
The chief idol, the protector of the royal house, was 
located in a special building twenty-five miles east of 
the capital. The office of Guardian of the Idol was 
highly esteemed; it was endowed with privileges and was 
hereditary. Each idol had its special Fady ; for instance, 
the Rakelimalasa, consisting of three pieces of wood from 
a sacred tree, forbade the use of pork or shell-fish as well 
as of uncooked food. Another idol, which healed diseases, 
consisted of two lizards roughly carved in wood. In 1869 
all symbols of heathenism were burned by order of the 
government, the priests were in consequence without 
means of sustenance and this was not without serious 
political consequences. 
Sacrifice is still practised in many localities; the most 
highly considered victim is the ox, but goats, sheep and 
fowls also serve as offerings. Generally only the fat 
and the blood are offered up, the flesh being eaten. So 
late as the eighties a Hova would often offer up an ox 
in the open place of his village in thanksgiving for having 
returned with a whole skin from the war going on at 
the time against the French. 
Originally the Malagasy had no temples, though they 
recognized sacred places and altars. Among the Bara 
a tamarind tree was considered as a sacred place, and 
mats, baskets, locks of hair and the like were deposited 
before its trunk. The Hova in early times evinced a 
special reverence for old graves and remarkable rocks. 
Among the Sakalava, barren women often performed 
pilgrimages to a certain renowned rock in order to pray 
for offspring. 
It is well known that superstitious ideas are widely 
spread among the Malagasy; even at the present time, 
in spite of the introduction of European culture, sooth¬ 
sayers (sikidy) hold a prominent position among 
the Hova. 
The belief in departed spirits is diffused everywhere, 
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