HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
149 
usages of the people. The husband, under these circum¬ 
stances, excepting where cruelty and vice have brutalized 
his nature, is also more than usually attentive and kind,* 
and, influenced by the fond emotions which the anticipation 
of parental affection excites, a number of little preparations 
are made to indicate the tenderness with which the infant 
will be welcomed, and to meet the exigencies of the occa¬ 
sion. 
As the period of accouchement draws near, a temporary 
apartment is prepared within the dwelling-house, and near 
the fire-place, by fixing posts in the floor, which is of earth, 
and forming partitions by fastening thick mats to these posts; 
a space sufficiently large for the purpose designed is thus 
enclosed, the chief furniture of which consists of a mattress 
of straw placed on the floor, a brisk fire is at the same time 
kept up within the houes, but .on the outside of this apart¬ 
ment, in connexion with these preparations. A short time 
before her confinement, the female undergoes a ceremony of 
purification by her intended nurse, as essential to her safety, 
and feasting is a general accompaniment of this and other 
preparatory observances, as it is in nearly every cere¬ 
mony. 
Practitioners (mpampivelona, L e. those that cause to live, 
midwives) are always females; not that delicacy and 
refinement are characteristic traits of the people, but 
custom has established the rule that her own sex alone 
There are, however, cases in which the heartless and sordid husband, 
unwilling to bear the trifling expenses, or endure the slight inconvenience, 
that may be occasioned by the confinement of his wife, and the support 
and care of his child, publicly divorces her as soon as there is reason to 
expect she will become a mother, even though there should not exist th6 
remotest suspicion of her fidelity; and so debased are public morals, that 
the laws sanction divorce for such a cause, and public feeling attaches no 
odium to the conduct of the unfeeling husband. 
