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are generally in a state of perfect nudity, and disgustingly 
filthy. 
The costume of the women is similar to that of the men: 
but they adjust the cloth in a different fashion, and frequently 
wear an Akandzu, which covers the bosom. The hair is 
divided into a great number of small tresses, varying accord- 
ing to fancy, and a great deal of time is spent in keeping it 
in order. 
Though the Huwa women cannot generally claim the 
praise of having fine figures, yet a great many are endowed 
with expressive countenances and brilliant eyes. Of this, they 
seem sufficiently aware; they are almost, without exception, 
addicted to intrigue, and their love of money and of dress, 
aided, unhappily, by the intercourse of Europeans, divests 
them of all sentiments of honour and of decency. Gay and 
affable in disposition, with ingeniously braided hair, and 
. White teeth, these women, wrapped in their Tuturanuh, are 
as skilful as any Parisian or Florentine females in setting off 
their charms and captivating the attention of spectators; and 
the ancient law of Emerina, which sentenced a woman, con- 
victed of adultery, to lose her head, and made the husband 
the executioner, now remains a dead letter. 
_ The people of Emerina, though without any form of divine 
worship, yet acknowledge a Supreme Being, as the patron of 
justice and virtue, who will punish or reward men after 
death, according to their deeds. The initiatory Hebraic:rite 
of circumcision (Mamurah) is every where performed on 
boys, seven or eight days after their birth, and is solemnised 
with much festivity in the family. One of their great periods 
of rejoicing is at the commencement of the year, and is called 
the Feast of Bathing. 'The year in this country, is measured 
by thelunar evolutions; thus it sometimes consists of 12, some- 
times of 13 portions, and the termination and commencement - 
ofthe year do not occur on the same day, nor always in the. 
same month. It is generally in June or July, and on the first 
day of the new moon, that the year begins, and it is marked 
by the ceremony which I have elsewhere described. _ 
Madagascar exhibits an extraordinary number of absurd 
