THE ARAB IMMIGRATION INTO SOUTH-EAST MADAGASCAR. 
bury their dead in a great house built of logs and surrounded 
by a palisade. The corpses are wrapped in a native lamba 
and laid side by side, and layer upon layer, the women and 
children on one side of the doorway (which is in the centre 
of the long side of the house), and the men on the other 
side. No one is allowed in or near this house or hibdry, as it 
is called, except those appointed by the tribe. 
Little or no difference is made in the ceremonies observed 
at the burial of a king from those at the interment of one of 
his subjects. But the feasting and number of mourners may 
be greater, according to the wealth of the individual. One 
exception, however, is made. When the corpse of a king is 
carried to the kibory, it is not carried on the shoulders, but 
by the hands and below the knees of the bearers, to show 
that, although a king when alive, he has no honour above 
other men when dead. (It is curious that while alive, kings 
are never dressed in shirt or coat, nor do they wear any 
kind of headgear, as kings, they say, should not be covered.) 
When a Taimoro is approaching death, a number of old 
women are appointed to perform the last offices, and this 
they are said to do by hurrying the dying into death, and at 
once preparing the corpse for burial, and cutting off all the 
hair over the forehead. Then the scribes of the village 
assemble in the house, and each of them writes four 
passages from the sacred books upon separate pieces of bark 
aper. One of these slips from each scribe is taken and 
attached to the forehead of the corpse, and one from each 
on the breast and on each leg. They are then bound on 
with proper wrappings, that there may be no danger of 
displacement when the corpse is conveyed for burial. In 
explanation of this custom they say: “ Much evil has been 
done while here on the earth, so we confess this to the Great 
Spirit and make supplication for forgiveness.” It 1s also 
believed to have some power as a charm to preserve the 
body from decay and annihilation after burial. 
The body is carried to its last resting-place, and one of the 
young men, who has been trained to read and remember 
some of the words in the books of sacred writings, repeats 
some passages which are considered suitable for the 
occasion, although, as with very much of the erudition of 
the tribe at present as regards their sacred writings, he may 
not have the remotest idea what the words mean. But they 
are supposed to contain a prayer to God and his prophet 
Mohammed for the dead. 
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