WEAPONS. 329 



Mention was made just now of the " rice-pit." These are 

 dug in the hard red clay soil of Im^rina, and are a bottle - 

 shaped excavation for storing rice in the husk ; a flat stone 

 is placed over the mouth, and then the whole is covered with 

 earth, so that it is not very easy for a stranger to discover 

 the store of food. These rice-pits form a common place of 

 concealment from an enemy, and many Christians have been 

 hidden in them during the time of persecution, just as 

 the cisterns of the East are often used as hiding-places (see 

 2 Sam. xviL 15-21, describing the stratagem by which 

 Jonathan and Ahimaaz were concealed in the cistern, and so 

 escaped Absalom's servants). 



Weapons. — Before the introduction of European arms and 

 disciplined methods of warfare, the shield and spear were the 

 chief weapons of the Malagasy. The former is a round or 

 oval piece of hard wood, about twenty inches in diameter, 

 covered on the outer convex side with untanned ox-hide, and 

 having a handle cut out of the wood at the back. The spear 

 is a light shaft of ebony or other hard wood, about six feet 

 in length, and with a blade often eight or nine inches long. 

 Like the Eastern spears, it is shod with iron, ending in a 

 short spade-like point, by which it can be stuck into the 

 ground. This blunted foot is, however, capable of inflicting 

 a wound, just as Abner, in self-defence, was able, and indeed 

 obliged, to kill Asahel who was pursuing him, by striking 

 backward " with the hinder end of the spear " in his hand 

 (2 Sam. ii. 23). The bow and arrow is not now used by the 

 Malagasy generally ; one or two only of the native tribes 

 seem to be accustomed to it, and to the majority of the 

 people it has for nearly a century past been superseded by 

 the European musket. 



Houses and Towns. — In the central provinces of Madagas- 

 car where a hard red clay abounds, most of the houses are 

 made of that material. The clay is laid in courses, and makes 

 a tolerably substantial and durable walling. But it is easily 

 cut through with a spade or any sharp instrument, and 

 accordingly, a Malagasy housebreaker almost always chooses 

 this way of stealing. As in the East, " thieves break through 

 and steal," and, " in the dark they dig through houses, which 



