64 
MADAGASCAR. 
with the gradual growth of knowledge, and the 
customs of other nations, have already had con¬ 
siderable effect in this matter, and will ultimately, 
it is hoped, reduce the evil within very small 
limits. As in India, the marriage of persons of 
different rank has always been contrary to the 
national idea and feeling. For instance, the 
andriana or noble, however poor, must only 
marry a member of the same clan, and a Hova 
must only unite with a Hova, or the citizen with 
a person of the same class, and so on. A free¬ 
man must not espouse a slave-woman ; or if he 
does so, he is bound to redeem her, and make her 
his equal in social position. If afterwards judi¬ 
cially parted from her husband, she retains this 
freedom. In this, as in several other customs, as 
will be shown, the Malagasy resemble the Jews. 
Marriages take place at a very early age, fre¬ 
quently soon after twelve. These people do not 
as a rule have large families, and a considerable 
portion are childless. Children are therefore 
much prized by the Malagasy. The native 
mother carries her infant upon her back, and not 
in her arms, as elsewhere; and there is a very 
pleasant usage amongst the grown-up sons and 
daughters, who gather together from different 
parts of the country at each New Year, to visit 
their homes and parents, and to present the 
mother with a small gift called fofon domdsinct — 
