304 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
hours, obtain silence, to publish some other orders about 
building bridges; and, on the dispersion of the assembly, 
the buzz of joyful expression and of thanks to Radama were 
continued in every direction. 
The want of cleanliness at the capital, in the public 
streets and thoroughfares, was also another subject urgently 
demanding the attention of the king. Indeed, to this cause 
might, in a great measure, be attributed the sufferings of a 
considerable portion of the population, many of whom were 
afflicted with loathsome and painful diseases. This subject 
was therefore laid before Radama by the active and persever¬ 
ing agent, and orders were consequently issued for keeping 
the capital in a clean and healthy state; and such were the 
penalties to which the disobedient were subjected, that from 
being as filthy a town as any in the eastern hemisphere, it 
soon became, in regard to cleanliness, a pattern for the rest 
of the kingdom. 
It was a subject of sincere regret to all concerned for the 
improvement of the social state of the people, and Radama’s 
government, that many persons, endeavouring to make a 
display of respect for deceased relatives, often contracted 
debts in purchasing valuable clothes and ornaments to throw 
into the graves of the departed, agreeably to ancient usage ; 
and several instances occurred, where individuals had been 
reduced to slavery on account of their inability to discharge 
the debts thus created. Thus the dead had been enveloped 
in rich clothing, covered with ornaments, and surrounded 
with silver, whilst the nearest living relatives were by 
these means reduced to the lowest state of degradation. 
It was, however, a subject of still more serious concern, 
to observe that the custom of putting to death children 
born on a certain day of the year, was still continued; 
while both aged persons, and those in the prime of life, 
