HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
47 
the chief weight of its body on its hind legs. Whether 
this custom originated in accident or design, is uncertain, 
but it is universal, and is supposed to aid in fattening the 
animal better than our European mode of allowing them 
to stand on a level floor. Sometimes animals are fed in 
this manner for three or four years, and attain an enor¬ 
mous size, especially those belonging to the rich, and 
intended for the day of slaughter at the annual feast, or 
some other season of rejoicing and display. 
Besides cattle, sheep, and swine, goats are also numerous. 
The sheep, which appear to be aboriginal, resemble those 
of the Cape of Good Hope, covered with short hair instead 
of wool, and having large tails, that weigh from ten to twenty 
pounds each. Their flesh is considered greatly inferior to 
the mutton of Europe. 
Tame swine are of comparatively modern introduction, 
and, from the name soa, or kisoa, seem to have been 
brought from some part of India. There is a species of 
wild hog in the forests, said to have two short horns grow¬ 
ing from the snout. It is supposed by some to resemble 
“ the wild boar of Africa.” The substances supposed to 
be horns appear to be only the large tusks which grow 
out of the upper jaw, and running upwards towards the 
eyes, through a kind of groove in the flesh at the edges of 
the snout, in some respects resemble horns. Hedge-hogs, 
(tandraka) of which there are several species, are numerous, 
and their flesh is occasionally eaten by the natives. To 
these may be added an animal of the badger kind, found 
chiefly, if not exclusively, in the Sakalava country; it is 
called fosa. 
Dogs and cats, both wild and tame, abound in most 
parts of the island. The wild cat, called kary, though 
exceedingly beautiful, is an object of great terror to the 
