122 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
Hovas. This is the principal residence of the olive- 
coloured race, and as they seem to be the proper and 
original Hovas, they give name to the district where they 
reside. But these olive-coloured are not the only inha¬ 
bitants of Ankova. There are quite as many who are black, 
but who are also called Hovas, from their residing in 
Ankova; in fact, there are comparatively few who are not 
black residing out of Imerina, and Imerina forms only one 
division of Ankova; and in Imamo, Mandridrano, Voni- 
zongo, Valalafotsy, and Vakinankaratra, a large majority 
are black. Yet, in a restricted sense, all these, as belong¬ 
ing to Ankova, may be called Hovas. Hence, then, the 
race of the Hovas (olive-coloured) resides in Ankova, 
and gives name to the district. But all are not olive - 
coloured Hovas who reside in Ankova, for there are black 
natives also who are Hovas. So that in one sense, all are 
Hovas that live in Ankova—that is, so far as the name of 
a district is concerned. But in another sense, all are 
not Hovas that live in Ankova—that is, so far as a dif¬ 
ference of origin prevails. 
Another signification of the term is, perhaps, the most 
important: the Hovas are a race distinct from all the 
rest of the natives of Madagascar, an olive-coloured race, 
and evidently not the aborigines of the country; whether 
they are of Malay origin, or of an African kingdom north 
of Mosambique, (as was thought by Prince Coroller,) or 
from Abyssinia, as the same prince at one time supposed, 
are matters for inquiry and speculation. There is, perhaps, 
considerable reason for thinking that the Hova race may 
be a colony of Javanese; but to detail the circumstances 
on which that opinion has been founded, might be thought 
tedious and uniteresting. 
If a stranger were to land on the coast, say, at Tamatave, 
