360 REY. GEORGE A. SHAW, F.Z.S., ON 
red rice it sustains their strength and prevents their becoming 
hungry for a longer time. 
Then as to the houses—nearly all the houses in the country are 
built on piles, so as to get as far as possible above the mists and 
malaria. None of them are built on the ground that I know of; 
but they all have a flooring of split bamboos put on rafters about 
3 ft. 6 in. or 4 ft. from the ground, and in a few instances, if they 
are chiefs’ houses, they may have a second floor above. 
As to the Jewish origin of these people I have not made a point 
of that, though I could have brought forward a great number of 
points to show in what respects the Malagasy customs resemble 
the Jewish; but it has always struck me that they came into the 
country in the same way as the Arabic element came in—that the 
Arabic element has brought in the Jewish customs; for instance, 
in killing animals at their feasts, it is a curious thing that at their 
annual feasts they should always take a wisp of grass and 
sprinkle the lintel and door-post with the blood of the animals. 
That is one point, and I could bring forward many others. 
With regard to the names of the days of the week and the 
months of the year, | am not a Malagasy, or able to translate 
them—my Arabic knowledge does not go far enough. I have 
given in the second column (the months of the year) the 
derivations furnished by Mr. Dahle, one of the missionaries in 
those parts; but so far as the days of the week are concerned I am 
not sure that they can be translated into English. There is a 
Malagasy scholar in the room, I believe, who, perhaps, can tell us 
whether that is so or not. 
Then with regard to the sign in the book, I think this mark is 
on all fours with the marks on the other side. I asked a native 
teacher the meaning of these and he said he was not sure; but 
these things serve one of two purposes—they were either put in as 
marks in order that those who were able to read the characters 
and words, though not understanding them, or that they might 
know in what part of the book to look for words suitable to 
certain occasions. The gentleman to whom I showed this at the 
British Museum said that some of these were purely cabalistic 
signs. 
In regard to French influence, it would take too long to explain 
what French influence now means; but I can say whatever it has 
been in the past, in the present it is having a soothing influence 
