222 
MADAGASCAR. 
killed, and his “ ghost/’ being of a more unap¬ 
peasable turn, is not satisfactorily laid till his 
successor has either captured a town or shed some 
one’s blood—friend or foe, it matters not. No 
graves are dug, but the corpse is placed on the 
ground and surrounded by stones, which are 
heaped about and above the body till it is com¬ 
pletely covered. The ghastly custom, so popular 
some years ago amongst the Betsimisaraka on 
the east coast, of keeping the corpse unburied, 
and suspended from the roof of the house till it 
fell in a mass of putrefaction into a hole dug 
beneath it, does not appear to have been observed 
by the tribes of the south-west, at least to any 
extent. 
But their language and customs are horribly 
indecent and degraded; and it is no uncommon 
thing to come upon a village where the whole 
population, without exception, is intoxicated. 
There can be little doubt as to the terrible hin¬ 
drance to the real prosperity and progress of the 
people which exists in the universal drinking 
customs of the dependent tribes ; and already, as 
has been mentioned previously, the attention of 
the Government has been called to the havoc 
which is being wrought throughout the island by 
the national curse of “ strong drink.” North, 
south, east, or west, the experience of the trav¬ 
eller is the same, and one cannot but deplore 
