NATIVE NAMES. 5 



Da Cunha's expedition, he speaks of the discovery of the 

 island ; so that within a short time several of the most in- 

 trepid Portuguese navigators discovered various portions of 

 the Madagascar coast while on their voyages to or from the 

 far East; in fact, they seem to have almost, if not quite, 

 circumnavigated the island. 



During the early times of the French intercourse with 

 Madagascar (reign of Henri IV.), they called it by the name 

 of He Dauphini, but this appellation was never accepted by 

 other nations. 



A few words may here be said about the name by which 

 the island has been known for the last two hundred years. 



There is much reason to believe that Madagascar is not a 

 native name, but one given to the country by foreigners, and 

 has only in modern times been accepted by the inhabitants. 

 The spelling of the word in its present form is opposed to 

 the laws of the native orthography, which do not allow the 

 joining of two such consonants as s and c (c, moreover, is not 

 used), and all native words end in a vowel. Ndsin-ddmho, 

 or " Isle of Wild Hogs," was a name occasionally given to it ; 

 but when the Malagasy speak of the whole of the island, they 

 usually call it Izao reMtra izao, " This all," or Izao tontblo izao, 

 " This whole," thinking, like many insular people, that their 

 own country was the most important part of the world, and 

 that the Arabs and other foreigners who visited their north- 

 west coast came from some insignificant islands across the 

 sea. Another term, somewhat poetical in form, and occa- 

 sionally used by the people, is Ny anivorC ny rlaka, i.e., 

 " The (land) in the midst of the moving waters," a term 

 which might be used of any island, but is only applied to 

 Madagascar itself, ndsy being the word employed to denote 

 the small islands off the mainland. This term was engraved 

 on the huge silver coffin of the first Eadiima, who was there 

 called Tompori ny anivorC ny riaka, " Lord of the island," 

 as above described. The form of the word,'"'' like the name 



* By Copland and other writers the island is called Madecassa, which, by- 

 substituting I: for c, would be a correct enough native word. In many books 

 the peox^le are called Madccasse, but the origin of these forms of the name is 

 obscure. 



