188 
MALLICOLLO. MADAGASCAR. 
of red sealing wax, or a piece of oyster-shell polished, is applied in 
the same manner. Girls before the age of maturity wear nothing 
but a string of beads or shells round their loins, and young women 
usually expose the breasts to view. The general character of the 
Dahomans is marked by a mixture of ferocity and politeness. The 
former appears in the treatment of their enemies ; the latter they 
possess far above the African nations with whom we hitherto had any 
intercourse, this being the country where strangers are least exposed 
to insult, and where it is easy to reside in security and tranquillity. 
Natives of Mallicollo. ^ 
These people are described as the most ugly, ill-proportioned 
people imaginable, and in every respect different from the other 
islanders in the South Sea. They are of a very dark colour, and 
diminutive size ; with long heads, flat faces, and monkey counte- 
nances ; their hair is in general black or brown, short and curly, but 
not so soft and woolly as that of a negro. Their beards are very 
strong, crisp, and bushy, and generally black and short. But what 
serves to increase their natural deformity is, a custom which they 
have of wearing a belt or cord round their waist ; this rope is as 
thick as a man’s finger, and is tied so tight round their belly, that it 
would be fatal to a person unaccustomed from infancy^to such an 
unnatural ligature ; for it cuts such a deep notch across the navel, 
that the belly seems in a manner divided, one part above and the 
other below the rope. 
The men go quite naked, except a piece of cloth or leaf used as a 
wrapper. Most other nations invent some kind of covering from 
motives of shame ; but here a roll of cloth, fastened to the belt, rather 
displays what should be concealed. Besides having the fiat broad nose 
and projecting cheek-bones of a negro, and a very short forehead, 
many increase their natural ugliness by painting their faces and 
breasts black. Some few had a small cap on the head made of mat- 
ted work. They wear bracelets of white and black shells, wdiich 
press the upper arm so closely, that they seem to have been put on 
when the wearer w'as very young ; this tends, as well as the belt, 
to reduce the Mallicoliese to that slender shape which characte- 
rizes them. The depression of their foreheads is supposed to be 
artificial, as the heads of infants may be squeezed into any kind of 
form. 
Manners and Character of the People of Madagascar. 
These people are civil and good-natured, but easily provoked, and 
apt to shew their resentrrjent when they think themselves injured. 
Another characteristic is, the very high notions they entertain of their 
king, who resides in a town built with mud, about twelve miles up 
from St. Augustine’s bay. Their physiognomy displays the appear- 
ance of frankness and satisfaction ; they are desirous only of learning 
such things as may administer to their necessities ; that species of 
knowledge which demands reflection, is indifferent to them ; sober, 
agile, active, they spend the greatest part of their time in amusements. 
