Surgery and superstition in Neolithic times / by A.W. Buckland.

  • Anne Walbank Buckland
Date:
[1882]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Surgery and superstition in Neolithic times / by A.W. Buckland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    and names of the lunar months, were derived from the Arabic, and it has recently been shown, not only that the latter are the Arabic names of the constellations of the Zodiac, but that the days of the Malagasy month were originally the Arabic names of the twenty-eight moon stations. Mr. Dahle supposes that the descendants and proselytes of the Arab settlers on the south- east coast carried into the interior the names of the constella- tions, which, to enable them to teach the natives the system of divination founded on the idea of lucky and unlucky days, they transferred to the lunar months. Not only does he trace the Malagasy notion of vintana, or destiny as depending on time, to this source, but also the practice of divination, or counter- charming, by the sikidy. Moreover, Mr. Dahle affirms, also on the evidence of language, that the Arabs have introduced to the Malagasy the use of dress (although not many of the different kind of clothes), and the knowledge of money ; have given them the names of most of their musical instruments, their words referring to books and writings, and the terms of saluta- tion, besides many other words. Whether Mr. Dahle's opinion as to the extent of the Arabic contribution to Malagasy civilisation and superstition will be fully accepted is perhaps doubtful, but his general conclusion cannot be denied. A reference to certain Malagasy customs will sufficiently prove its truth. Thus, the offering of human sacrifices was formerly prevalent on the south-east coast, the position where Arabian immigrants are supposed to have landed, and the sacrifice of persons of high rank was thought by the Malagasy of that region to be the most appropriate offering to their divinities, as we know was the case also with various Semitic peoples. The practice of faditra, or the use of expiatory offerings to avert evil, reminds us of the scape-goat, which had almost its counterpart in the sheep on which the evils to be removed were imprecated by the Malagasy priest. The tangena ordeal closely resembled the ordeal by bitter water mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures. The superstitious use of large stones, and the anointing of them with sacrificial blood and fat, is probably due to Arabian influence. The custom of building towns on the tops of hills prevalent in central Madagascar is not specially Semitic, but the use of large circular stones for the purpose of closing the entrance to their house enclosures, formerly customary among the Hovas, was probably thus derived. The rite of circumcision, which the Malagasy look upon as of great importance, cannot well be traced to any other but an Arab source, especially if it is a remnant of human sacrifice, unless it was practised by the
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