Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/234

226 Talé (which represents the man in question), he is in danger of being taken ill on Tuesday. If the figures in Làlana and Mpànontàny are like Talé, Wednesday is the unlucky day for him; and so on with other combinations. It is needless here to detail the remedies for these supposed evils.

Mr. Dahle says in his concluding sentence: "The sikìdy and vìntana was once the most tremendous power in Madagascar; let us thank God that its spell is broken, and its influence passing away." I fancy there are few who will not say "Amen" to that sentiment; for whatever may be the interest which these old Malagasy customs have for us as students of folk-lore and humanity (and I venture to think that Mr. Dahle's researches are full of interest), we must surely rejoice that such a system of folly and credulity on the one hand, and of trickery and deceit on the other, is losing its hold over the most influential tribe of Madagascar, the people who have gradually become the dominant race of the island. And I trust I shall be pardoned when, as a Christian missionary, I remind you that the remarkable changes which have passed over the central provinces of the great African island are the direct result of the educational, the enlightening, and the purifying influences which attend the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ. It was this which, from forty to fifty years ago, enabled about 200 Malagasy believers to lay down their lives for their faith; it is this which is now, especially in the interior provinces, promoting education, forming an extensive literature, and furthering civilisation; and it is this alone which is slowly but surely lifting up the entire community to the level of an intelligent, enlightened, and Christian people.