338 REV. GEORGE A. SHAW, F.Z.S., ON 
wise with the Taimoro, where, although much of their so- 
called history bears the impress of a folk-lore tale, yet there 
is no uncertainty in the minds of the people as to their 
origin; and the accounts I have heard in different sections 
of the tribe correspond in a remarkable degree. All agree 
in certain particulars: that their ancestors emigrated from 
Arabia; that they inhabited a district near Mecca; and that, 
living in troublous times, they were driven out of their 
country by enemies.* The usually accepted account of this 
emigration, which, as [ have said, savours strongly of a folk- 
lore tale, is as follows :— 
One day a girl had left the town to fetch water and, while 
at the well, was surprised and captured by the enemy’s 
scouts, who took her as spoil. (Hereditary enemies are 
indicated here, not that any war had been declared, or any 
quarrel existed.) She asked them the object of thei visit, 
and what they were in search of, to which they rephed— 
“We have come with the intention of making war on this 
town, so tell us where the road is by which we can enter the 
town and overcome its defenders.” 
“No!” she said, ‘‘ [ will not tell you. You may kill me or 
torture me, but I will not show you now.” 
They threatened her and cajoled her, but all to no purpose. 
At last she said: 
“If you go up to fight against this town with sword or 
spear, you will not overcome it; but return whence you 
came, and I will there tell you how you may become masters 
of the place.” 
So they returned and carried this captive maid with them. 
And when called upon, this was her counsel :— 
“ Collect together a great number of dogs, take them with 
you, surround the town, and urge on the dogs to the walls, 
and you will find that it will be easy to take the town with- 
out any fighting.” 
* Tt is known that several tribes of Arabs, as for instance the 
Emosaids, were in the disturbed time of the eighth century obliged 
to leave Arabia and seek a new home across the sea. And as Arab 
traders had found their way down the east coast of Africa and to some 
of the adjacent islands, there is little doubt that they ventured across 
the Mozambique Channel, and finding such a fertile land as is presented 
by the south-east of Madagascar, would eventually make it a home. The 
historian Masadi, who lived in the tenth century, speaks of an expedition 
to Cambalu, which, as they started from the neighbourhood of Mozam- 
bique, was doubtless Madagascar. 
