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with dishevelled locks, and wrapped in old pagnes, have as- 
sembled around, to weep and to convey it to the place of inter- 
ment; during which interval, guns are fired off before the 
door, as frequently as the defunct had given orders should 
take place, and which is according to his means. All the 
slaves of the house, carrying the most valuable effects, with 
the family, surround the coffin, uttering the most lamentable 
cries, When arrived at the tomb, which is of masonry, and 
often rises to ten or twelve feet high, the corpse is deposited 
there, and with it are buried all the best clothes, along with 
the money of the deceased, often amounting to a very large 
sum. Notwithstanding the poverty of the surviving relatives, 
they never take back this money, which gave rise to the re- 
mark, that * the mines of Madagascar would be richer than 
those of Peru, as the silver lies there all ready purified and 
coined.” After the tomb is closed, and the stones arranged 
above it, a great sacrifice takes place; The wealthy often 
slay twenty, thirty, fifty, and even an hundred oxen, which 
are divided among the family, friends, and guests. The horns . 
of the beasts, with a kind of white drapery stretched along 
them, are arranged upon the tomb, to prove to the passers by 
the riches of the deceased. At the year's end, the same cere- 
mony is renewed, the tomb is opened, and the corpse turned 
on its belly, and those families which can afford it spread 
new and consecrated mats (dzihi massinna) over the tombs, 
at the time of the Bathing Festival, alleging that the spirit of 
their friend would be offended at finding that his dwelling 
was not cleaned. There being no cemetery in this country, 
the tombs are frequently seen in the court-yards or at some 
spot in the land which the deceased had himself selected, and 
it is difficult to walk ten steps without meeting with one. 
The Royal Family is interred in the enclosure of the King's 
court, and on their tombs are erected little houses, or sacred 
houses (thranu massinna). One of these is always in a state 
of dilapidation, though frequently rebuilt; and the people 
allege that the defunct is averse to having anything built 
above his grave, and that he always destroys it during the 
night. When a Huwa dies at a distance from his own 
