252 MAN : PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



pre-Christian times, just like the Sanskritic elements in the 

 Oceanic tongues. 



The evidence that Malagasy is itself one of these Oceanic 



Uniformit tongues, and not an offshoot of the comparatively 



of the lan- recent standard Malay is overwhelming, and need 



pri] o O'p 



not here detain us 1 . The diffusion of this Malayo- 

 Polynesian language over the whole island even amongst dis- 

 tinctly Negroid Bantu populations, such as the Betsileos and 

 Tanalas to the absolute exclusion of all other forms of speech, 

 is an almost unique linguistic phenomenon more easily proved 

 than explained. There are, of course, provincialisms and even 

 what may be called local dialects, such as that of the Antan- 

 karana people at the northern extremity of the island who, 

 although commonly included in the large division of the western 

 Sakalavas, really form a separate ethnical group, speaking a some- 

 what marked variety of Malagasy. But even this differs much 

 less from the normal form than might be supposed by comparing, 

 for instance, such a term as maso-mahamay^ sun, with the Hova 

 maso-andrO) where maso in both means " eye," mahamay in both 

 = " burning," and andro in both = "day." Thus the only difference 

 is that one calls the sun "burning eye," while the Hovas call it 

 the "day's eye," as do so many peoples in Malaysia". 



So also the fish-eating Anorohoro people, a branch of the 

 Sihanakas in the Alaotra valley, are said to have " quite a different 



dialect from them 3 ." But the statement need not 

 Gothamltes. ^ e ta ken too seriously, because these rustic fisherfolk, 



who may be called the Gothamites of Madagascar, 

 are supposed, by their scornful neighbours, to do everything 



be due to the same Sabaean or Mincean peoples of South Arabia, to whom the 

 Zimbabwe monuments in the auriferous region south of the Zambesi have been 

 accredited by the late Theodore Bent. 



1 Those who may still doubt should consult M. Aristide Marre, Les 

 Affinites de la Langue Malgache, Leyden, 1884; Mr Last's above quoted Paper 

 in theycwr. Anthrop. Inst. and Dr R. H. Codrington's Melanesian Languages, 

 Oxford, 1885. See also Eth. pp. 331-2. 



- Malay, mata-ari; Bajau, uiata-lon; Menado mata-roir, Salayer, mato-allo, 

 all meaning literally "day's eye" (inafa, ))iato = Malagasy uiaso eye; </';-/, 

 allo *Scc. = day, with normal interchange of r and /). 



' Rev. J. Sibree, Antananarivo Annual, 1877, P- 62. 



