i63 EXPRESSIVE WORDS. 



laiarivony, Prime ]\Iinister and Commander-in-Chief? How 

 is Eainimahartivo, Chief Secretary of State ? How is Eala- 

 itsirofo, Chief of the Judges ? How are the Queen's relatives 

 and the Twelve "Wives ? How is the kingdom of Ambohi- 

 manga and Antananarivo ? How are the cannon ? How 

 are the muskets ? How are the Christians in Imerina ? &c., 

 &c. Finally, How are you our friends after your journey ? 

 and how is your fatigue ? " &c., &c. And so the inquiry- 

 drags its wearisome length along ; but it is all mdnantsafa, 

 pretended ignorance, and pretended interest too ! 



Although slavery in Madagascar seems, and actually is, 

 mild compared with that of many countries, yet, after all, 

 the common word used in speaking of it is an unmistakable 

 proof of the feeling with which it was regarded, at least in 

 former times, when probably it was much more to be dreaded 

 than now. To become a slave is in Malagasy to be very, 

 tliat is, to be "lost," a terrible phrase, which is still retained 

 in ordinary use. 



Another expressive word, tlrrowing light upon the way in 

 wliich buying and selling is carried on in Madagascar, is that 

 for "bargain," ddivdrotra, literally, "a fought-out sale;" for, as 

 in the East generally, a bargain is a long and tedious busi- 

 ness, the seller beginning by asking many times the sum he 

 is really willing to take, and the buyer offering as little in 

 proportion, until, after an immense amount of haggling and 

 talk, an approximation is gradually made and the purchase 

 effected. The word for "paying" is mandda, exactly the 

 same word as is used for the act of vomiting ! 



A remark or two upon some of the words used in religious 

 matters may conclude this part of the subject. 



And first of these is the word employed in speaking of 

 religion itself Throughout Madagascar Christianity is uni- 

 versally known as the fivavdlmna, "the praying;" so com- 

 pletely has the true religion become identified with prayer 

 that when any one becomes a Christian they say of him, 

 much in the same way as was said of one of old when he 

 became a believer in Christ, "Behold, he prayeth !" 



And then it is interesting to remark how in Malagasy, as 

 in other languages, the Greek, for example, words which 



