i8o CANOES. 



lakaminara, the fmra being a raised platform in tlie centre, 

 intended for people to sit upon, or to place any luggage. 

 One of these is described by Bishop Kestell-Cornish as being 

 " twenty-six feet in length, and in breadth only twenty-five 

 inches. It was formed of the trunk of one tree, and a plank on 

 either side was added to give the necessary depth. There was 

 an ingenious outrigger projecting some five feet on either side, 

 and on the lee side bounded by a piece of timber shaped like 

 the bottom of a canoe, which took the water when she heeled 

 over, rendering her perfectly safe without materially checking 

 her course. In so frail a structure it would be impossible to 

 step a mast ; they therefore work the sail by means of two 

 sprits, which are stepped into holes which run along the keel 

 line. If going before the wind, the sprits occupy the holes 

 which are nearest together ; if close hauled, those which arc 

 farthest apart." With a good breeze these canoes will go at 

 a speed of twelve miles an hour. 



The Malagasy along this coast are bold sailors, for these 

 canoes put out in the open sea with the wind blowing very 

 fresh ; and it is clear that the people of the north-west have 

 always been skilful navigators. From the long-continued and 

 systematic piratical excursions they used to make, they must 

 have been able to construct canoes of considerable size and 

 with sea-worthy properties ; and in keeping up such a custom 

 they seem to have perpetuated the same predatory habits as 

 those which are still common to the Malays of Borneo and 

 other islands of the Eastern Archipelago. 



Slavery. — Slavery is another institution in Madagascar 

 which, together with many other things, makes the state of 

 society very different from that in a European country. But 

 when we hear of Malagasy slavery, we must not imagine gangs 

 of men and women labouring in sugar or cotton plantations, 

 under fear of the lash of a brutal overseer, and constantly 

 liable to be sold away from their wives and children and sent 

 to a distant part of the country. Slavery in Madagascar is 

 really a " domestic institution," having much of a patriarchal 

 character about it, and many analogies to that of the Jews 

 and other Eastern nations, as described in Scripture. (See 

 chapter on " New Light on Old Texts.") Although, of course, 



