246 ADOPTION AND POSTERITY. 



child," or simply amp6la ; for every Malagasy woman can 

 spin as well as weave. So that we have here a close analogy 

 with our English word " spinster," which recalls the time when 

 our great-grandmothers and their mothers before them could 

 all use their spinning-wheels. 



Adoption of relatives' children being very common, owing 

 no doubt to a great extent to the somewhat large proportion 

 of people who have no children, there are several words 

 denoting the different relationships arising from this fanan- 

 gcinan' itnaka (literally, "raising up children"), as it is 

 termed. Thus zaza-lava (literally, " tall children ") are 

 children of near relatives united by adoption, so as to be 

 treated as children of the same parents, and to inherit equally. 

 Ziiza mbviba reny (" children of a barren mother ") are step- 

 children who live with their mother and step-father. 



To die without posterity is looked upon as a great calamity, 

 and is termed mdti-maso, " dead as regards the eye." And 

 the Malagasy have a practice similar to the Levitical law of 

 the Jews, viz., that if an elder brother die childless, his next 

 brother must marry the widow to keep his brother in remem- 

 brance ; the children of sucli marriages being considered as 

 the elder brother's heirs and descendants (see Deut. xxv. 5, 

 6). This is called mitbnclra lolbha {mitondra, to carry, lolbha, 

 a family under the protection of the elder son or guardian) ; 

 and he who thus preserves heirs for his elder brother is said 

 to mavi^lo-mdso, " make to live the eye," while, as above stated, 

 he who dies heirless, dies mdti-mctso, " dead as regards the 

 eye." 



Fcira is a word for " offspring," " heir," or " progeny." 

 " Marba fara aman-dhnhy," i.e., " Be numerous in offspring 

 and descendants," is a frequent marriage benediction or 

 salutation ; and faraina {" last life ") is a word applied to 

 the youngest child. There is also a special word for the last 

 child when the mother is again pregnant, aizana. Foster- 

 child is miolo-nbno, " suckling together with." 



The words ICbto and Kdtaka are applied to children who 

 have had no name given them ; and although meaning little 

 more than " lad " and " lass," are often retained for a con- 



