164 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
The ceremonies in marriage are neither numerous nor 
imposing, neither is the bond indissoluble. 
Certain ranks are not permitted under any circumstances 
to intermarry, and affinity to the sixth generation also 
forbids intermarriage, yet the principal restrictions against 
intermarriages respect descendants on the female side. 
Collateral branches on the male side are permitted in most 
cases to intermarry, on the observance of a slight but 
prescribed ceremony, which is supposed to remove the 
impediment or disqualification arising out of consanguinity. 
This preference for preserving uncontaminated the female 
line, and the custom of tracing the genealogy of the sove- 
reign and the nobles by the female, and not by the male 
line, involves a censure on the existing morals of the country; 
since they proceed on the supposition of its being impos¬ 
sible in any given case to ascertain with certainty the male 
parent of a child, or, that parentage is more easily and 
obviously identified on the mother’s than on the father’s 
side.* 
Among the parties prohibited from intermarrying, may 
be noticed, 
First, as to caste, grade, or rank 
1. A noble may not marry a Hova. 
2. A Hova may not marry a Zaza-hova, i. e. a Hova 
reduced to slavery. 
3. A Zaza-hova may not marry an Andevo, i. e. slave ; 
viz., a slave not originally a Hova. 
A freeman cannot marry a slave, but he can raise her 
to a state of freedom by redeeming her, and then he may 
* An unmarried queen is supposed to have the right of having a family 
by whom she may think proper. The children are recognized as legiti¬ 
mately royal by their relation to the mother, and no question made as to 
paternity. 
