254 POLYGAMY. 



Hovas to the sovereign, and Andriamasinavalona (who is 

 fifteenth on the list of Hova princes, the present sovereign 

 being the thirty-sixth) is the first recorded in native accounts 

 as having exercised this right, the names of the twelve 

 wives being preserved. These Ro&mbinifblo Vavy, or " Twelve 

 Wives," had a recognised place among the great people of the 

 kingdom, and their advice was always asked in all matters 

 of importance. There are still (or were until very recently) 

 some two or three aged ladies in the palace who are the 

 survivors of Eadama the first's wives ; but their influence is 

 now a thing of the past, for since 1828 there have been 

 (with eighteen months' exception) only female sovereigns. 

 Among some of the other tribes polygamy is carried to a 

 much greater extent than it was with the Hovas, some chiefs 

 having from twenty to thirty wives; and one of the Bara 

 kings, Ivoatra, is said to count his wives by the hundred ! 



The power of divorce is legally in the husband's hands, 

 although a wife can practically divorce herself in many cases. 

 But in some cases the husband can divorce his wife so that 

 she cannot marry again, and can also make certain restrictions 

 as to children and property after she is divorced, a power 

 expressed by the word Mdindrano, whose literal meaning is 

 not very clear (hady is trench, r&no, water, or possibly it is 

 trano, house). Among the Tanala, if a woman of noble birth 

 marries a commoner, he cannot divorce her, but she can divorce 

 her husband. As to the significant native words for poly- 

 gamy and divorce, see chapter vii. 



Money or property is occasionally given on the separation 

 of husband and wife, to prevent the woman becoming the wife 

 of another man, except by consent of the husband. This is 

 called taha. 



If a wife is divorced as to be unable to marry again, " she 

 is often treated personally with extreme cruelty, and during 

 the formal process of being divorced receives, first, a Mack fowl, 

 expressive, it is supposed, of the wish of her husband that 

 she may ever be to all others a repulsive object ; second, a 

 walhing-stick, indicating that for the future she is to have no 

 home, but is to be an outcast on the roads ; third, a small 

 ■piece of money, signifying that she is to be dependent on what 



