PREFACE. 



Although many books have been written about Madagascar 

 during the last twenty years, the majority of these have had 

 reference chiefly to the religious history of the country, and 

 to the political and social changes which have followed upon 

 the acceptance of Christianity by the Government and people 

 of the central provinces. And while much has been written 

 about the Hovas, in the interior of Madagascar, little is still 

 known about the numerous tribes inhabiting other portions 

 of the island. In writing the following pages my object 

 has been to supply information of a more general character 

 than is given in most previous works ; and especially to 

 arrange in a systematic form numerous interesting facts 

 which have only recently come to light. During the last 

 nine or ten years many journeys have been made in previously 

 little known, or entirely unknown, parts of Madagascar, so 

 that our knowledge of the various tribes inhabiting the island 

 is greatly increased ; and every year continual accessions are 

 being made to our information as to the physical geography 

 and geology of the country, its luxuriant flora, its remarkable 

 and exceptional fauna, and as to the origin and divisions, 

 language and customs, superstitions and folk-lore, and reli- 

 gious beliefs and practices of the Malagasy. 



For several years past I have been noting down facts of 



