CATTLE 183 



which are fixed a number of the skulls and horns of bullocks 

 killed at the funeral of the people of whom these poles are the 

 memorial. One thing struck us as curious : several of the 

 higher poles had small tin trunks, generally painted oak colour, 

 impaled on one point of the fork ; and in several instances 

 baskets and mats were also placed on a railing of wood close to 

 the poles supporting the bullock horns. These various articles 

 were the property of the deceased, and put near his grave with 

 the hope of their being of some benefit to his spirit ; or perhaps 

 from the idea, common to most of the Malagasy tribes, of there 

 being pollution attached to anything connected with the dead. 

 In several cases, on the very highest point of the lofty poles, 

 there was a small tin fixed, having a strong resemblance to 

 those we import containing jam or preserved provisions. 1 As 

 among many Eastern peoples, so in Madagascar, the horn is a 

 symbol of power and protection ; the native army was termed 

 idndroky ny fanjakdna " horns of the kingdom." 



Some of the cattle we saw were magnificent animals, and it is 

 not strange that the bull was used frequently in public speeches, 

 as an emblem of strength, as it is the largest of all the animals 

 known to the Malagasy. It frequently occurs in this sense in 

 the formulae and the songs connected with the circumcision 

 ceremonial ; for the observance of. this native custom was a 

 time of very great importance in the old native regime. Bull- 

 fighting was a favourite amusement with the Malagasy sover- 

 eigns ; and in digging the foundations for a new gateway to the 

 palace yard at Antananarivo, the remains of a bull were dis- 

 covered, wrapped up in a red silk Idmba, the same style of 

 burial as that employed for rich people. This was the honour 

 paid to a famous fighting bull belonging to Queen Ranavalona I. 

 It seems pretty certain that anciently the killing of an ox was 

 regarded as a semi-religious or sacrificial observance, and only 

 the chief of a tribe was allowed to do this, as priest of his 

 people. Robert Drury, an English lad who, with others, was 

 wrecked on the south-west coast of Madagascar in 1702, and 

 remained in the country as a slave for fifteen years, gives many 

 particulars about this custom of the southern Sakalava people. 



An old Malagasy saying thus describes the various uses of the 

 different portions of an ox when killed : " The ox is the chief 

 of the animals kept by the people, and they are very beautiful 



