MADAG 
The Tpacious commons afford pafture to numerous droves 
of oxen and flocks of ftieep ; and the foil evinces its fer¬ 
tility, with little aid of culture, by yielding a crop of 
rice in the proportion of too grains to one that is Town. 
The woods afford a prodigious variety of trees, fuch as 
all kinds of palm-trees, woods ufed in dying, ebony, 
bamboos of an enormous thicknefs, as well as orange and 
lemon-trees. They alfo fupply timber for building rtiips 
and houfes. Flacourt fays, that in the year 1650 he fent 
to France 52,000 aloe-trees of the firft quality ; and he has 
given the names of two or three hundred different plants. 
Of late there have been obtained from this ifland the 
Mauritanian mulberry with green fruit, and the Gumnii- 
fera Madagafcarienfis, the juice of which, called by the 
iflanders fmguiera, concretes into an elaflic gum, fimilar 
to the caoutchouc of Cayenne. Of efculent plants this 
ifland furnifhes not only rice in abundance, but the ba¬ 
nana, yam, nymplisa lotos, feveral fruits of dolichos or 
kidney beans, gourds, water-melons, and cocoa-nuts. 
The fruits are pine-apples, tamarinds, oranges, and pome* 
granates. The fpices and other condiments are common 
and betel pepper, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, and fugar. 
The Indian fig grows here, as well as cotton and indigo. 
Many quadrupeds are peculiar to this ifland ; whence 
fome naturalifts have perhaps too hallily inferred, that it 
never joined the African continent. Here are no lions, 
tigers, elephants, nor horfes. Many of the molt valua¬ 
ble minerals might be fupplied from hence ; fuch as the 
pureft rock cryftal, gold ore, topazes, fapphires, emeralds, 
and fpotted jafper, or blood-ltones. 
The inhabitants of Madagafcar, who call themfelves 
Malegajlics, or MadecaJJ'es , are in general well-fhaped, - and 
above the middling lize : the colour of their fkin is va¬ 
rious; fome tribes being of a deep black, others tawny; 
fome having a copper complexion, but the greateft num¬ 
ber being of an olive colour. All thofe that are black 
have woolly hair, like the negroes of the coalt of Africa. 
The hair of thofe who have the complexion of Indians or 
Mulattoes, does not frizzle more than that of the Euro¬ 
peans ; their nofe is not flat; their forehead is broad and 
open, their lips not pouting, and every feature of their 
face is regular and pleafant. Their phyfiognomy bears, in 
general, the marks of a character replete with franknefs 
and amenity. Rochon compares them, with regard to 
their difpofition and general charadfer, to the favage, 
whofe condition he abfurdly extols, becaufe, like the 
brute animal, he is deftitute of all refieftion on the pulf, 
and forethought with regard to the future. From the 
hair, complexion, and make, of the natives of Madagafcar, 
M. de Pages conceived them to be defcended from dif¬ 
ferent races of men. Some who are fhort, with lank and 
fmooth hair, of an olive complexion, have a ftrong refem- 
blsnce to the Malay Indians, and do not feem to have 
originally Iprung from the aborigines of the ifland. 
Others, tall and well-proportioned, with crifped locks, 
laro-e and beautiful eyes, an eafy carriage, and an open 
nnreferved countenance, appear to be the true polierity 
of the primitive inhabitants; their colour is nearly black, 
and differs but little from that of the natives on the Ma¬ 
labar coaft. In their difpofition they are lively and oblig¬ 
ing but wholly deftitute of genius; vain, whimfical, and 
interelted ; dextrous in the ufe and application of their 
bodily faculties; but without the powers of combination; 
and, in the general conduit of life, light, precipitate, and 
incapable ot preferving a fteady conduit, or of acquiring 
a decided charaiter. With weak minds, they poflefs a 
confulerable portion of wit and vivacity, and they blend 
a variety of good and bad qualities. They wear an apron 
at the girdle, and fomething of the fame kind on the 
flioulders, with a bonnet conftrutted like an umbrella ; 
the hair is combed into fmall treffes, and the beard is per¬ 
mitted to grow only on the chin. The men are little ad¬ 
dicted to agriculture, but more inclined to look alter their 
cattle, which roam in the woods. They conftrufi war- 
canoes, as well as canoes for their ordinary occupations', 
Yol, XIV. No. 956. 
A S C A R. 67 
The latter are fmall, and 'navigated only with the oar 5 
but the former, which are the property of the chief, are 
much larger, and have a fort of rigging. Some of them 
carry a hundred men, and are in condition to fail round 
the ifland. The women are generally of the middle fize, 
with expreflive faces; and, though not entitled to be 
clafied with the handfome part of the fex, few of them are 
ugly. Round the wailt they have a long apron, with a 
kind of under waiftcoat, which barely covers the breads. 
They frequently wear, by way of ornament, a large cir¬ 
cular plate of lilver; and round the neck, falling down, 
upon the bofom, a number of fmall filver chains. Their 
hair appears in a multitude of little treffes, dangling over 
the forehead, or on the corner of the eye, or turned up in 
the form of a crefcent. The women, belides cultivating 
fields of corn, rice, and other forts of grain, are em¬ 
ployed in planting trees and roots, particularly the callsva, 
batatas, and the banana or plantain. The leaves of a 
tree named rnfm are made to fupply them with thread ; 
and with thefe materials, dyed of various colours, they 
manufacture a kind of cloth, which is woolly, and affords 
a very handfome article of drefs. They prefer, however, 
the cotton fluffs imported by Europeans from the conti¬ 
nent. Every family is provided with a loom, and carries--,, 
on a manufacture equal to its own confiumption. From 
the leaves of a tree named vacoua they procure materials 
for mats, bonnets, bags, and other ufeful articles. Their 
common food confifts of rice, bananas, and drier?'fifli j 
they confume little flelh-meat or frefh fi(h ; their drink is 
water, or the juice of the fugar-cane fermented with pi¬ 
mento and multard. Their houfes are fmall and awk¬ 
wardly conftrufted. The walls are formed of bullrufhes, 
and the roof covered with plantain-leaves. The chief 
part of the timber-work confifls of maffy pieces of wood, 
the reft being bamboo, very rudely executed. The floor 
is laid with the pith of the palm, or fome other tree, and 
is often raifed far above the level of the ground, to avoid 
the exhalations of the foil, and alfo to guard them from 
the annoyance of ferpents and infeCts during the rainy 
months. 
Although the natives have no regular form of wor- 
fliip, they neverthelefs adore One Supreme Being, as the 
patron of juftice and goodnefs, who will judge men after 
death, and reward or punifh them according to the merit 
or demerit of their aCtions. The rite of circumcilion is 
performed upon males between the feventh and eighth 
year of their age ; the day of circumcilion is obferved 
with feftivity, and clofed with the Angular cuftom of 
firing from a mufket the forelkin of the patient. They 
believe alfo in a devil, or evil being ; and upon this arti¬ 
cle is founded the craft of thePaniaret, or magician, who, 
being fuppofed to defeat or controul the machinations of 
the invifible enemy, praCIifes a thoufand tricks on the cre¬ 
dulity of the multitude. Amulets of a fpecies of wood, 
fufpended round the neck, or preferved in a little bag, 
are fuppofed to fecure the poffeffor againit -wounds and 
the diiafters of war. A fhrimp or toad, applied with 
words of incantation to the head of a perfon afilided by 
difeafe, is expeCfed to reftore him to health, Expoling 
the lick in a hut of a certain elevation, open towards the 
call, from which is let fly an affemblage. of party-coloured 
threads, is a fovereign remedy in the molt defperate cafes. 
Perfumes are introduced in abundance in all the arts and 
enchantments of the magicians. All thefe abfurd obfer- 
vances feem to be the barbarous veftiges of religious no¬ 
tions indiftinctly tranfmitted to the people from their 
Afiatic neighbours. The rite of circumcilion, the com¬ 
mon ufe of perfumes, and a profound veneration for the 
quarter of the eaft, are evidently the remains of religious 
fyftems. of the higheft antiquity. But the molt horrid 
part of their fuperttition remains ftill to be related. When 
an infant has the misfortune to come into the world on 3 - 
day efteemed unlucky, or of bad omen, by the Panfaret, 
it is fuffered to die of want, or expofed to be devoured br 
wild beaits, 
Q 
Tha 
