HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR, 
143 
sovereign is prefaced by a long prologue of flattery and 
servility, when the petition is made to close the address 
often in the following words: “ And since this is finished, 
since the introduction is accomplished, we have to beg 
and petition,” &c. See. Every answer to a proclama¬ 
tion of the sovereign asking advice of the chieftains, is 
commenced hy an eloquent but hackneyed detail of their 
sovereign’s royal pedigree, supremacy, equity, &c. The 
sovereign also usually smooths the way for any unpalate- 
able declaration by a little of the oil of flattery previously 
poured into the people’s ears, calling them “ the ancient 
soot,” (which has adhered for generations to the house of 
their ancestors,*) and the “ under the day,” the “ under the 
the sky,” &c. to which many other illustrations might be 
added. 
In bartering, every trader asks, at least, twice as much 
as he intends to take; and they never forget to boast of 
any instances of successful fraud. The best sign of genius 
in children is esteemed a quickness to deceive, overreach 
and cheat. The people delight in fabulous tales, but 
in none so much or universally as in those that relate 
instances of successful deceit or fraud, though involving 
loss of life, as well as of property, to the injured person. 
Lying is a common vice among all. To lie, is esteemed 
clever and pleasant, and more likely to serve one’s pur- 
pose of interest or pleasure than to tell truth. In short, 
their constant aim is, in business to swindle, in pro- 
* The native houses in Madagascar having no chimneys, and the door 
and window affording the only means of escape for the smoke arising from 
the fires which are kindled on the floor of the house, the soot collects on 
the inner side of the roofs of their dwellings, where it is never disturbed 
by the people, who consider it a badge of honourable ancestry to have 
large quantities of soot hanging, frequently in long black shreds, from the 
roof of their dwelling. 
