Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/219

Rh what columns (i.e., from what combinations of columns) they have been derived. For instance, if the figures in the two columns Fàhasìvy and Andrìamànitra in the diagram are combined square by square, the new figure would be an Adìbijàdy, but this new column would always have the name Lòzabè ("great calamity"). Another combination would give the name to a new column called Rèsy ("conquered"); and so on.

3. But there are also other possible combinations, viz.:—

But these combinations are not done at random; on the contrary, they are subjected to strict rules, stating clearly which two columns can give birth to such and such a new one. In this manner Mr. Dahle's native helper gets 81 new columns (besides those in the diagram), subjected to as many rules, and contributing materials for as many new answers to questions. To give these in full, with their various meanings, would occupy a considerable treatise, and the above may probably be considered intricate enough. This sikìdy, says Mr. Dahle, reminds him of the Danish proverb, "Deceit is a science, said the Devil, when he gave lectures at Kiel." A long list of rules (23 in number) is given by native professors as to the proper means of obtaining fàditra or piacula for the different evils to be averted.

VI.——In all the varieties of sikìdy hitherto dealt with, the chief object in view has been to get an answer to questions, while it has been only a secondary and subordinate object to find out the remedies against evils, that is, if the answer informed us that some evil might be apprehended. But now we come to some sikìdy practices, the chief object of which was to remedy the evils, or