IN MADAGASCAR.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1860, 20 September 1913, Page 12

IN MADAGASCAR.

SUPERSTITIOUS NATIVES

The hero of a book entitled "A Pioneer in Madagascar," recently issued, is the Rev. Joseph Pearse, of the London Missionary Society, of whom Dr. C. F. A. Moss, of Tananarive, has put together a sympathetic biography, full of interest. Mr. Pearse was ono of the second band of missionaries _ sent to Madagascar after tho reopening of the island to mission work, and his term of service extended over forty-ono years. Ho died in 1911, at the age of seventyfour, most deeply mourned by all those ■g'ho knew tho enthusiasm and devotion with which he had carried on his lifework. . It is only possible to glanco in this column at a few out of tlio many passages of interest ill Dr. Moss's book.

Offending the Ancestral Spirits. In 1875, Mr. and Mrs. Pearse wore sent to the Antsihanaka province, about 100 miles N.N.E. of Antananarivo. The natives are known as the Sihanaka tribe, "the people by the lake" : — "It is questionable whether, they had any but the most meagre ideas on religious matters. The ancestral ■ spirits, offended or neglected, wero regarded as the most potent objects of dread. Offerings to appease and charms to propitiate were the chief instruments of'worship. . . . The root-idea impelling the Sihanaka, and, in fact, all the nonChristian Malagasy, is fear, fear of the power of the dead, and fear of the occult influence of the living, as shown by witchcraft and the evil eye. To avert theso, the diviner must be consulted, and every event of importance and every scheme projected demanded his assistance. He would_ arrange hi 3 Lean's—usually a largo acacia seed —and move and transpose them, muttering his incantations tho whilo, and at the end declare the result, announcing the conditions of time and place necessary for the success of the project, the things to be avoided, the offerings required by tho spirits, and not forgetting the reward suitable for the diviner himself.

If sickness or misfortune befall, _ a similar process is gone through to discover the reason ; witchcraft is usually suspected, and the antidote, it is the business of tlio diviner to find but.

Winding-Shoots and Rum. For details of lucky and unlucky days, and other quaint beliefs of the natives, reference must bo made to the book, which thus describes the last earthly surroundings of the Sihanaka "When sickness was advancing to a fatal termination, the patient would announce that ho had seen tho spirits of certain relatives who were come to fetch him to go 'there'—the destination not being particularised. Death was' regarded as a great evil to be averted by all possible means, but when it became inevitable 1 it was accepted quite philosophically. Among tho burial customs there are many of an extraordinary character. ... In contrast to their squalor during life, at the funerals there is great ostentation, with a view to showing the importance and wealth of tho deceased. This is probably because he has now joined tho ancestors, and must, like them, be treated in a complimentary manner. A very great slaughter of oxen takes place. . . . The heads of the oxen are retained to grace tho tomb; tho oxen themselves are supposed to accompany the deceased. It would not do, they say, to slaughter only olio ox, n,s in that, case all tho time of the spirit would bo taken up in chasing it!" The body of a rich man will bo kept, the centre of drinking, singing, and lamentation, for a week, as much as £60 being spent on winding-sheets and rum, and perhaps 100 oxen niay be slaughtered.