M A D A G 
large and regular curls; at other times.braiding it in great 
order, and making it dune with a particular oil which the 
ifla.nd produces. The men always carry in their hands a 
wooden lance headed with iron, which is commonly made 
very neat; and they are fuch excellent markfmen, that they 
will ftrike with it a very fmall- objeft at thirty or forty 
yards diftance. They have alfo commonly a mulket, which 
they get from Europeans in exchange for cattle, and are 
always fpre to keep in excellent order. I am forty to fay 
that the Engliffi are frequently guilty of great impofitions 
in this kind of traffic, by difpoling of cheap and ill-tem¬ 
pered barrels among the poor inhabitants, who fometimes 
lofe their lives by the burfting of thefe pieces. Such ini¬ 
quitous praftices as thefe mult in the end prove injurious 
to the nation; and has indeed already made the name of 
more than one-half of thefe traders truly infamous among 
the deluded but hitherto-friendly Madagafcarians. 
“ During our liay at this illand, I obferved with great 
concern feveral miferable objects in the lad ftage of the 
venereal difeafe. They had not been able to find any 
cure ; and, as far as I could learn; their doffors are to¬ 
tally ignorant of medicine. The only method they ufe 
for curing all diflempers, as well external as internal, is 
the wearing on the arm or neck a particular charm or 
amulet; or befmearing the part affected with earth moif- 
tened with the juice of fome plant or tree, and made up 
into foft pafte. 
“ I took fome pains to learn their religious tenets; and 
find that they worffiip one Univerfal Father, whgm, when 
they fpeak in Englilh, they call God ; and in whom they 
conceive all kinds of perfection to refide. The fun they 
look upon as a glorious body ; and, I believe, as a fpiritual 
being, but created and dependent. They frequently look 
up to it with wonder, if not with praife and adoration. 
They make their Applications to the One Almighty, and 
offer facritices to him in their diftreffes. I had the curio- 
iity to attend a facrifice, at the hut of John Anderfon, 
whofe father had for a long time been afflifted with fick- 
pefs. About, funfet an ox was brought into the yard ; 
and the foils wffio officiated as pried, flew it. An altar 
was reared nigh, and the poft of it w>as fprinkled with the 
blood of the victim. The head, after its being fevered 
from the body, was placed, with the horns on, at the foot 
of the altar: the caul was burned on the fire, and mod 
of the pluck and entrails boiled in a pot. The fick man, 
who was brought to the Boor, and placed on the ground 
fo as to face the facrifice, prayed often, and feemingly 
with great fervency. His eyes were fixed attentively to¬ 
wards the heavens, and his hands held up in a fupplicating 
pofture. The ceremony ended with the fon’s cutting up 
the ox into fmall pieces; the greateft part of which he 
diftributed among the poor Haves belonging to his father 
and himfelf; referving, however, fome of the beft pieces 
for his own ufe. Upon the whole, I faw fo many circum- 
ffiances in this Madagafcarian facrifice fo exattly refetn- 
bling thefe deferibed in the Old Teftament as offered up 
by the Jews, that I 'could not turn my thoughts back to 
the original, without being fenfibly ftruck by the exaft- 
nefs of the copy.’’ 
When the fquadron firft arrived at Madagafcar, the 
king of Baba, a man of about fixty years of age, was ill 
of the gout. Having demanded of admiral Watfon fome 
prefents, the latter complimented him, among other things, 
with fome brandy. The monarch then afked him if he 
bad any doftor with him, and if he was a great doctor, 
and a king’s doctor ? To all which being anlwered in the 
affirmative, he defired him to bring fome makomets (medi ? 
cines) for his fick knee. With this requifition Mr. Ives 
defigned to comply ; but, having waited until fome officers 
Iliould be ready to accompany him, his nwjefty, in the 
mean time, took fuch a dofe of the brandy as quickly fent 
the gout into his head, and occafioned his death. Mr. 
.Ives obferves, that it happened very luckily for him that 
•the monarch’s deceafe happened without his having taken 
.an'y-ef the medicines intended for him, as it would have 
been impoffible to avoid the imputation of having poifoned 
him, which would certainly have been relented by his 
loyal fubjefts. 
Under the article Benyowski, vol. ii. p. 898, we have 
given fome account of that romantic adventurer’s endea¬ 
vours to ettablifh himfelf as fovereign of Madagafcar. In 
the fecond volume of his Memoirs and Travels, we have 
the following account of the religion, government, &c. of 
the people of this illand. “ The Madagafcar nation be¬ 
lieve in a Supreme Being, whom they call Zanhare, which 
denotes Creator of all Things. They honour and revere 
this Being ; but have dedicated no temple to him, and 
much lefs have they fubflituted idols. They make facn- 
fices, by killing oxen and ftieep, and they addrefs all thefe 
oblations to God. With regard to the immortality of 
the foul, the Madagafcar people are perfuaded, that, after 
their death, their fpirit will return again to the region in 
which Zanhare dwells; but they by no means admit that 
the fpirit of man, after his death, can fuft'er any evil. As 
to the diftinfrion of evil or good, tiiey are perfuaded that 
the good and upright man ffiall be recompenfed, in this 
life, by a good ftate of health, the conftancy of his friends, 
the increafe of his fortune, the obedience of his children, 
and the happinefs of beholding the profperity of his fa¬ 
mily; and they believe that the wicked man’s fate ffiall 
be the contrary to this. The Madagafcar people, upon this 
conviftion, when they make oaths, add benedictions in 
favour of thofe who keep them, and curfes againft thofe 
who break them. In this manner it is that they appeal 
to the judgment of Zanhare, in making agreements; and 
it has never been known, or heard of, that a native of 
Madagafcar has broken his oath, provided it was nrade in 
the ulual manner, which they fay was preferibed by their 
forefathers. As to their kings and form of government*. 
&c. the Madagafcar people have always acknowledged the 
line of Ramini, as that to which the rights of Ampanfa- 
cabe, or fovereign, belongs. They have confidered this 
(male) line as extinft fince the death of Dian Ramini 
Larizon, which happened fixty-fix years ago, and whofe 
body was buried upon a mountain, out of which the ri¬ 
ver Manangorou fprings; but, having acknowledged the 
heir of this line on the female fide, they re-effabliffied 
this title in the year 1776 [in the perlon of Benyowlki 
himfelf], 
“ The Madagafcar people, having no communication 
with the main land of Arthiopia, have not altered their 
primitive laws ; and the language throughout the whole 
extent of the illand is the fame. It would be a raffi at¬ 
tempt to determine the origin of this nation ; it is certain 
that it confifts of three diltinft races, who have for ages 
pad formed intermixtures which vary to infinity. The 
firff race is that of Zafe Ibrahim, or defendants of Abra¬ 
ham ; but they have no veflige of Judaifm, except cir- 
cumcifion, and fome names, fuch as Ifaac, Reuben, Jacob, 
See. This race is of a brown colour. The fecond race is 
that of Zaferamini: with refpect to this, fome books which 
are ftill extant among the Ombialfes affirm, that it is not 
more than fix centuries fince their arrival at Madagafcar. 
With refpeft to the third race, of Zafe Canambou, it is 
of Arabian extraction, and arrived much more lately than 
the others from the coaltsof ^Ethiopia: hence it polfeffes 
neither power nor credit, and fills only the charges of 
writers, hifloiians, poets, &c.- 
“ In regard to arts and trades, the Madagafcar nation 
are contented with fuch as are neceflary to make their 
moveables, tools, utenlils, and arms for defence ; to con- 
ffru.Ct their dwellings, and the boats which are neceflary 
for their navigation; and laltly, to fabricate cloths and 
fluffs for their clothing. They are defirous only of pof- 
feffing the neceflary fupplies of immediate utility and con¬ 
venience. The people always live in fociety; that is to 
fay, in towns and villages. The towns are fim'ounded 
by a.ditch and paliifades (as already mentioned), fit the 
extremities of which a guard of from twelve to twenty 
armed men is kept. Tlie houfes of private people conffff 
