THE PEOPLE OF MADAGASCAR 



287 



thatch or shingles; it is a high- 

 pitched gable, and does not rest 

 on the walls, but on a central 

 ridge-pole, supported by three 

 vertical poles. One characteristic 

 feature of the houses is that the 

 timbers of the gable-ends continue 

 upward beyond the ridge, and 

 the projecting ends are carved or 

 decorated by wooden figures. The 

 length of the "house-horns" 

 varies from about 1 foot up to 

 10 or 13 feet in some of the 

 old palaces. 



All the tribes are agricul- 

 turists, and most of them have 

 cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry. 

 The main food of the Eastern 

 Malagasi is rice, which is grown 

 by the aid of extensive irrigation. 

 Amongst other points in which 

 the Sakalava approach nearer to 

 the East Africans than do the 

 Hova is that the sweet potato 

 and cassava replace rice as the 

 national food. 



The chief industries are 

 weaving, especially grass mats, 

 basket-making, and metal- 

 working, which includes the 

 manufacture of filigree orna- 

 ments. Bamboo is largely used 

 for domestic vessels and 

 appliances. 



The system of internal com- 

 munications is more organised 

 than on the mainland. People 

 of any importance travel in a 

 palanquin, or pilanjana, borne 

 by four porters, who, on level ground, trot at the rate of six miles an hour. Luggage is 

 carried by porters, but not on the head, as is usual in East Africa, but on the ends of a 

 pole resting on the shoulder, as in Abyssinia. The larger rivers are navigated by canoes made 

 from hollowed tree trunks. On the coast the people use boats made of planks sewn together 

 with palm fibre, or canoes which, as in Malaysia, are balanced by outriggers. 



The original religion of Madagascar was idolatry and ancestor-worship. Traces of both 

 remain, especially of the latter, in the elaborate funeral rites. The simplest type of burial is 

 met with among the Tanala, who wrap the corpse in matting and throw it into a large pit. 

 Coffins, made either from planks or from a section of a canoe, are used by some tribes, such 

 as the Sakalava, whose customs are especially remarkable, owing to the direct worship of the 

 former kings. The Sakalava funerals used to be accompanied by human sacrifices, the victims 

 being buried in the grave with the corpse, some small relics of which, placed in the hollow 

 tooth of a crocodile, are preserved in a sacred house at Mojanga, on the north-west coast. 



Photo by the Traitpist Monastei*y] 



A KAFFIR INDUNA. 



[Mariana Hill, Natal. 



