257 
when, if the three pieces of skin are not also vomited, he is 
considered guilty of the crime in question. Generally speak- 
ing, the Tanghen is but little employed except in the province 
of Emerina, and there its application to persons is becoming 
daily more unfrequent, being confined to the test of great 
crimes, as conspiracy against the king, or accusation of sor- 
cery (Bamusawu) or of being a poisoner, where other proof 
of these crimes is wanting. The Huwa, on the slightest 
indisposition, or suspicion of having taken poison, assemble 
their slaves, and administer the Tanghen to them indiscrimi- 
nately, in order to detect the malefactor. Still, as these 
executions cannot take place without the authority of the 
king, who is daily becoming more and more enlightened, the 
Tanghen is less used on human beings, and it is common to 
substitute two dogs for the accuser and the accused, and to 
make them drink the poison; when, if the animal of the 
former dies, he is adjudged to pay a fine as a false witness, 
and vice versa if the dog of the accused person falls a victim.* 
But the most horrid instance of their savage superstition 
takes place on those days which are considered as the king's 
lucky days (Winitanih ni Endrien). If a woman bears a 
child on one of these days, she is obliged to drown it imme- 
diately. As may easily be supposed, a great annual loss of 
infant life is the consequence of this inhuman regulation, 
though these days are not numerous, and the law only extends 
to the black population. It would, however, appear, that the 
principles of humanity professed by the present king are 
likely soon to abolish this custom, so detestable in itself and 
so inimical, to the increase of the nation. 
Amulets of a kind of wood, hung round the reck, and 
enclosed in a little bag, are supposed to preserve the wearer 
from wounds and disasters of war, and this kind of charm 
(Tanafudi) is continually used. There is another kind, 
called Ramahawalu, that is held in extraordinary esteem, 
L 
* See the Appendix to this Journal for a full account of the ordeal of the 
Tanghen, and a figure of the plant (Tas. CX.) that yields the poison.—Ep. 
VOL. III, S - 
