390 REV. GEORGE A. SHAW, F.Z.S., ON 
British Museum, the information I required. I have been 
assured that the book is a copy of some portions of the 
Koran, badly done, as though written from dictation, not 
transcription, by one who, though familiar with the Arabic 
characters and their equivalent sounds, yet did not know the 
language nor the meaning of the words, Said my informant: 
“Had I not known the original text, I should not have been 
able to read or translate it; and it is so full of mistakes and 
repetitions that it would occupy a long time to reduce it to 
a readable form.” The invocation to Allah and Mohammed 
which precedes the various chapters of the Koran is repeated 
ad nauseam, with but a verse or two intervening; while in 
the centre of the book are a set. of cabalistic signs for use in 
case of sickness, etc., to be copied on to pieces of paper and 
then washed off into the water to be drunk by the person 
who is ill. 
It seems strange that these people, who, when they first 
arrived in the island, were without doubt Mohammedans and 
in possession of the Koran, should have degenerated into 
the idol and charm manufacturers they have now become, 
and that their influence in this direction should be so 
universally felt throughout the island. For the Taimoro, in 
small bands, travel the whole length of the land from Fort 
Dauphin to Androntsanga, and over to the west to Meénabe. 
Into every part of the country these idol-makers and charm 
consecrators make their way, and return with herds of cattle 
and a good store of money and goods, engaging men en route 
to drive their herds home, when they contemplate a longer 
stay or a more extended excursion. ‘These absences from 
home have been known to continue for two or three years, 
the party bringing or sending home more than a hundred 
head of cattle and a good round sum in dollars. 
Parties cf the T'aimoro not only migrate for the purpose 
of selling their 6dy (charms), but they appear to enjoy the 
novelty of working for the foreign trader. They have no 
objection to earning wages from foreigners away from their 
own country, although they look upon it as derogatory to 
their pride to labour in the same way for their more wealthy 
clansmen, or for the traders in their immediate vicinity. 
Perhaps, as being hired regularly by the month implied 
under the Hova régime freedom from fanompoana (unpaid 
government service), this was another element which induced 
the Taimoro to prefer to work for the foreigner. 
A curious idea of being defiled by contact with other tribes 
