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CHAPTER IX. 



CURIOUS AND NOTEWORTHY CUSTOMS AMONG THE 

 DIFFERENT TRIBES. 



KOADS AND TRAVELLING — CANOES AND BOATS — SLAVERY — RANKS OF SOCIETY 

 — HOVAS OR COMMONERS — ANDRIANS OR NOBLES — ROYALTY — OATHS OF 

 ALLEGIANCE — ROYAL PROPERTY — A MALAGASY KABARY — NATIVE ORATORY 

 — OCCUPATIONS AND MODES OF LIVING: — HANDICRAFTS. 



Roads and Travelling. — One of the first things which strikes 

 a stranger upon arriving in Madagascar is the absence of 

 anything like a carriage or wheeled vehicle, and the con- 

 sequent necessity for using men as bearers of passengers 

 and goods, instead of employing horses or other animals. 

 This arises in part from the conservative feeling of the Mala- 

 gasy, who dislike innovation upon long-established usages, 

 but still more from there being no roads, in our sense of the 

 word, in the island ; so that any wheeled vehicle would be 

 almost useless except for very short distances on the level 

 plains of the coast. The Malagasy, therefore, except people 

 of the upper and wealthier classes, are accustomed to travel 

 long distances on foot; and the men who are employed by 

 the Government to take letters and despatches to distant 

 places have wonderful powers of speed and endurance. 

 Some of these have been known to travel from the capital 

 to Tamatave on the east coast, a distance of about 200 miles, 

 in four days ; this journey, it must be remembered, being 

 performed not over a smooth and level road like an English 

 turnpike, but over rough and rocky hills, long descents 

 slippery with mud, rapid streams without bridges, dense 

 forest, and deep sloughs through which it is impossible to 

 move rapidly. The endurance of most of the bearers also 

 is no less remarkable. These are mostly young men who 



