70 ELLIOT SMITH, Distribution of Mummification. 



embalming, it is not unlikely that the Arabs may also 

 have learned the use of these preservatives. 



In support of this suggestion I might refer to the 

 evidence from Madagascar. It is well known that this 

 island was colonised in ancient times by people from the 

 neighbourhood of the Bab-el-Mandeb, probably Galla- 

 people from the Somali coast as well as Sabaeans from 

 the Arabian coast, possibly ferried along the African 

 shore by expert mariners from Oman and the Persian 

 Gulf, either the Phoenicians themselves or their kinsmen. 

 A more numerous element came from the distant Malay 

 Archipelago. Either or both of these racial elements 

 may have introduced the practice of mummification into 

 Madagascar. 



In his " History on Madagascar " (1838, Vol. I, p. 243) 

 Ellis says there " was no regular embalming," but the 

 " body was preserved for a time by the use of large 

 quantities of gum benzoin, or other powdered aromatic 

 gums." This method is strongly suggestive of South 

 Arabian influence. 



Hartland says " the Betsileo [and other Madagascar 

 tribes] dry the corpse in the air, the fluids being assisted 

 to escape" (32, p. 418). 



Grandidier, however, gives us more precise informa- 

 tion on this subject ("La Mort et les Funerailles a 

 Madagascar," U Anthropologic, T. 23, 19 12, p. 329). 

 According to him the Betsileo open the body of the 

 dead and remove all the viscera, which they throw into a 

 lake : among the Merina the entrails are removed only 

 in the cases of their sovereigns or members of the royal 

 family. 



The practice of mummification amongst the Betsileo 

 is of peculiar interest because the embalmed bodies are 

 buried in stone tombs obviously inspired by Egyptian 



