THE ARAB IMMIGRATION INTO SOUTH-EAST MADAGASCAR. 355 
dants circumambulate the house three times before she appears 
at the east door and salutes those inside with, ‘“ Salutations 
to those who possess separate households!” The man comes 
out of the house, turns out any of his friends who may be 
present, and leaves the field clear for the woman and her 
friends to put the house in order. For two daysrumis fady, 
and feasting goes on for a week. 
Unfortunately the custom, though elaborate, does not 
appear to be wonderfully binding, as it is very easy for the 
woman within a week of her marriage to leave the newly- 
made husband. But if she stays more than a week, he 
presents her with two or three dollars, a yard of cotton cloth 
for a jacket, and a lamba, either the striped native cotton one 
(arindrcmo), or one made of rofia. These are hers if she stays 
with her husband, but if she leaves him, they revert to him. 
But although it is so easy to leave her husband, it is not so 
easy to get another, if the first husband is annoyed at the 
separation, as she is unable to marry again without his 
consent, 
There is another way in which haphazard marriages are 
contracted when there are a great number of marriageable 
girls in the tribe. The parents or nearest relatives of the 
girls take them to the nearest village in which there are 
some marriageable men, and tell them they are to choose 
whom they would like for husbands. There appears to be 
little objection on the part of the young men, and though 
usually the case, it is not the invariable outcome, that the 
girl chcoses a bachelor. Some appear to prefer those whose 
reputation as husbands has been tried, and lay claim to the 
widowers; and it is not out of the question that the girl may 
choose one who has already one or more wives. There is no 
fecling of disgrace in being one of several wives. A week: is 
allowed for these newly made couples to ascertain whether 
or not they can mutually agree to live together for life; and 
according to their finding at the end of that time, they either 
separate, or go through the ceremonies mentioned above. 
Divorce is terribly easy, as a man simply misaotra (= wishes 
a blessing upon) the woman, and tells her she is no longer 
his wife, and the deed is done. But by a strange perversity, 
a woman who is divorced, easy as the process is, remains un- 
married, “ waiting for the man,” as it is called, for even four 
and five years, and although he may have been married three 
or four times meanwhile, she is often willing to go back to 
him as his wife. 
Ay 
