MARRIAGE. 323 



by the use of words much the same as the text, " The king's 

 business requireth haste." 



The power of the Crown itself is theoretically unlimited 

 over the property and personal service of the people, so that 

 for all Government work, such as building a palace or fort or 

 workshop, every one is liable for an uncertain amount of labour 

 and expense until its completion, and without any payment. 

 The description given by Samuel to the Israelites as to the 

 demands that would be made upon them by their future king, 

 with its somewhat sarcastic conclusion as to their ultimate 

 chagrin on account of their folly, might have been applied 

 very well to Malagasy sovereigns up to a recent period. But 

 the present Queen, under the influence of Christian teaching, 

 has shown a laudable desire to lighten the burdens of her 

 subjects, and is known universally by the appellations, mbra 

 be sy maldmy fandhy, i.e., " exceedingly kind and gentle- 

 spirited." 



Marriage and Family Life. — In few countries is more re- 

 spect paid to age and to elders than in Madagascar, and very 

 fully is the precept carried out, " Thou shalt rise up before the 

 hoary head, and honour the face of the old man " (Lev. xix. 

 3 2). And such sentiments as those expressed by Elihu, " I 

 am young, and ye are very old ; wherefore I was afraid, and 

 durst not show you mine opinion " (Job xxxii. 6), might be 

 paralleled by many a passage taken from the kabdrys or 

 public speeches which have been noted down. And this 

 respect for age is also carried out to a considerable extent for 

 seniority. Thus, if two brothers are taking a journey and 

 any burden is to be carried, the younger one always carries 

 it, as a matter of course. ■ 



In customs connected with marriage, the betrothal is re- 

 garded as a much more formal and binding ceremony than 

 it is in England, so that a betrothed girl is much more like a 

 wife than with us, just as was also the case under the Jewish 

 law ; and this, notwithstanding the fact that marriage was held 

 in far lower estimation in heathen times than it is now. 



The Hebrew law, by which a man was, on the death of his 

 elder brother, bound to marry his widow and so preserve his 

 name and family possessions, finds a very close parallel in 



