The Malagasy were under the baneful sway of the most degrading superstitions. Hence polygamy, infanticide, trial by the poison ordeal, and all the attendant horrors of heathenism were everywhere rampant. The people were goaded on to commit the most cruel and heartless crimes against their nearest and dearest by the _Mpanàndro_ (the astrologers), or the _Mpìsikìdy_ (the workers of the oracle), and the _Òmbiàsy_ (the diviners or witch-doctors). They and theirs were harmed or made ill, as they thought, by the _Mpàmosàvy_ (the wizards or witches). They thought that all disease arose from bewitchery, and hence medicine was known as _Fànafòdy_, i. e. that which removes or takes off the _Òdy_, the charm or witchery. The far-famed _Òdi-mahèry_ (powerful-charm) for which Vònizòngo, my own district during my first term of ten years in Madagascar, was once so famous, was mainly composed of the same ingredients as the witches’ broth in _Macbeth_--the leg of a frog, the tongue of a dog, the leg of a lizard, the head of a toad, and such like. The great poet says that ‘One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,’ and the same may be said of the touch of superstition. The people had been sunk for ages in ignorance, and formed a counterpart to the heathen world which the Apostle Paul describes as ‘having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in them, because of the hardening of their heart. Being past feeling, they gave themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.’ This made them mere playthings in the hands of the ‘astrologers,’ ‘workers of the oracle,’ and ‘diviners’; for without their assistance they regarded themselves as completely at the mercy of the much feared _Mpàmosàvy_ (the wizards or witches). Everything--marriages, business, journeys--could be happy or successful only if undertaken on an auspicious day, and hence the proper authorities had to be paid to find out the lucky days. If a child was born on an unlucky day, or during the unlucky month of _Àlakàosy_, it had to be put to death, otherwise it was believed it would grow up to be a curse to its parents and its country. Of a child born on one of the so-called unlucky days, or during the so-called unlucky month, the diviner would at once say: ‘This child must die, or it will grow up to be a curse to the country, _Mànana vìntan-dràtsy ìzy_ (it has a bad destiny hanging over it).’