THE HOURS 95 



about the ridge-pole, or at least its reaching the meridian, 

 clearly showed twelve o'clock. Then, as the sunlight gradually 

 passed westward and began to peer in at the door, at about one 

 o'clock, it announced " the peeping-in of the day " (mitsldika 

 dndro) ; and then, as successive points on the floor were reached 

 by the advancing rays, several of the hours of the afternoon 

 were sufficiently clearly marked off : " the place of rice- 

 pounding " (am-pitotdam-bdry), as the light fell on the rice- 

 mortar, further into the house ; " the calf-fastening place " 

 {am-pamatoran-jdnak omby), as the rays reached one of the 

 three central posts supporting the ridge, and where the calf 

 was fastened for the night ; and then, " touching " (tdfapdka), 

 when the declining sunshine reached the eastern wall, at about 

 half -past four in the afternoon. Other words and notes of time, 

 it will be seen, are derived from various natural phenomena. 

 Some other words for the division of time used by the Malagasy 

 may be here noted. Thus " a rice-cooking " (indray mdhamdsa- 

 bdry) is frequently used to denote about half-an-hour ; while 

 " the frying of a locust " (indray mitona valdla) is a phrase 

 employed to describe a moment. 



Many words exist in the Malagasy language to denote different 

 appearances of nature which are somewhat poetical and seem 

 to show some imaginative power. Thus the light fleecy clouds 

 in the upper regions of the atmosphere are called " sky 

 gossamer " (faroran-ddnitra) ; the sun is the " day's-eye " 

 (masoandro) ; the galaxy is the " dividing of the year " (efi- 

 taona) ; the rainbow is " God's great knife " (dntsiberi* Andria- 

 mdnitra) ; and a waterspout is the " tail of the sky " (rdmbon- 

 ddnitra). 



We saw just now that in Imerina the native houses, with the 

 sun touching different parts of them, form a kind of primitive 

 sun-dial ; so it may be well here to say something about the 

 structure and arrangement of a native house in this part of 

 Madagascar. 



A Hova house of the old style is always built with its length 

 running north and south ; it is an oblong, the length being 

 about half as much again as the breadth, and the door and 

 window always on the west side, so as to be sheltered from the 

 prevailing south-east winds ; for, as there is no glass, there 

 would be much inconvenience in facing the windward side. 



