370 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
and speared. Contrary to the usual custom of the country, 
their bodies were given to their friends for interment, 
though, before their life-blood was cold, the dogs had 
already begun to devour them as their prey. 
Ralahifotsy was a fine young man, of noble and manly 
aspect, who had attained great eminence for his abilities in 
addressing the public kabaries, and was much esteemed by 
the people. He had shown himself friendly towards the 
Missionaries, and appeared much interested in their exer¬ 
tions for the good of the country* 
Rafaralahindera, the officer who suffered with the general, 
had been convicted of similar practices, but had not been 
a leader in the frauds, nor carried them to the same extent. 
He had once struck a slave so violently as to occasion his 
death; and this act, though committed in a moment of 
passion, and such as would have been treated as man¬ 
slaughter by English law, so aggravated his guilt in the 
sight of the Malagasy judges, that his death was decreed, 
and inflicted. 
It would not perhaps be correct to ascribe the strictness 
with which the law was enforced in these instances alto¬ 
gether to the inflexible virtue of the sovereign and the 
judges, in their determination to maintain inviolate the laws 
of the country. There is reason to apprehend that, on the 
part of the judges, a spirit of partisanship or personal feel¬ 
ings had some influence, and the apparent delight in cruelty, 
and insensibility to the sufferings of others, so evident on 
many occasions among the people, must have operated to 
some extent in devising and executing the sanguinary pun¬ 
ishments that were sometimes inflicted. 
Early in the year 1826 , Mr. Hastie had set out for 
Tamatave, where the chieftain, Jean Rene, was then ex¬ 
tremely ill. Mr. Hastie attended upon him with the 
