46 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
are reserved for some distinguished occasion of domestic, 
civil, or religious festivity. Their mode of feeding their 
oxen is singular. Each village has its fahitra, or rather 
cattle-folds, into which the horned cattle, for security, are 
driven every evening, and whence they go forth to pas¬ 
turage in the morning. Cattle are also kept in the fold 
for the purpose of being fattened. 
The fahitra is an enclosure, usually a large square pit 
or excavation, dug out in front of the owner’s house, and 
within the walls by which the family residence is sur¬ 
rounded. It is generally about six yards square, and 
about five feet deep. A sort of shed is sometimes erected 
in it, under which the provision is placed for the cattle. 
The provision is sometimes placed in a kind of rack, but 
it is also placed so high, that the animal is compelled to 
stand, the whole time of feeding, in a position that forces 
