252 SAKALAVA MARRIAGES. 



co-habit with their future husbands before tliey are actually 

 married. McUifahana is a word used for breaking an engage- 

 ment to marry, " a breach of promise." 



Among the S^kaltiva tribes marriage between a brother 

 and sister was not forbidden by the laws. One of the kings 

 of Iboina, the northern of the two great Sakalava kingdoms, 

 a chieftain, named Andriamahatindy, is said to have married 

 his youngest sister, and to have had by her six daughters. 

 Such marriages were, however, preceded by a ceremony of 

 sprinkling the woman witli consecrated water, and reciting 

 prayers asking for her happiness and fecundit}^, as if there 

 was a fear that such unnatural unions would call down upon 

 the parties the anger of the Supreme Being.'" 



It should, however, be observed that such marriages were 

 usually made because of the difficulty sometimes occurring of 

 finding a wife of equal rank with the chief or king. There was 

 also often a jealousy of any claimant to the supreme power, on 

 account of the brother of the chief being, of course, older than 

 the chiefs own children. Thus the founder of the southern 

 Sakalava kingdom of Menabe sent away his younger brother 

 to the north, but gave him at the same time a body of 

 soldiers. With these he followed the example of his elder 

 brother, and before long, by the conquest of several tribes, 

 founded the northern Sakalava kingdom of Iboina. 



Lawful marriages are termed Mny, an imperative verb 

 implying " ought," " should," behoveth." 



Although gross immorality \vas common among the Hovas, 

 and is still so among the Betsimis^raka and other tribes, 

 amongst whom the very idea of purity seems unknown, there 

 being no word for virgin or maid (for mpitbvo, which is com- 

 monly used as an equivalent for these words, means only an 

 unmarried girl), there are some other tribes, more isolated, as 

 certain of the eastern peoples, where a higher standard of 

 morality prevails, girls being kept scrupulously from any in- 

 tercourse with the other sex until they are married ; and this 

 notwithstandincc the sli^'ht use of clothintf, unmarried girls 

 merely wearing a cloth or mat round the loins, while the 

 upper part of the body remains uncovered. But amongst 

 * See Guillain, op. cit., p. 26. 



