Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/209

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Divination among the Malagasy.
201

Others are placed to the left side of the lower square, and others at the six corners.

Mr. Dahle proceeds to investigate each of the thirty-four words shown in the diagram; and points out that while the majority of them are Malagasy, about four or five are evidently Arabic. The Malagasy words are those in ordinary everyday use, as those for wealth, relations, village, youth, woman, enemy, house, road, inquirer, God,

Arrangement of Columns in the Sikídy Divination.

diviner, wild-cat, dog, sheep, goat, fowl, much bloodshed, etc. Of the four or five derived from the Arabic, the first word, Talé, apparently meaning "investigator" or "explorer", always represents in the sikídy the person or thing concerning whom (or which) the inquiry is made.

In reading or examining the columns, the first four (Talé—Vòhitra) and the eight below (Tràno—Fàhasìvy) are read from above downwards. The eight to the right