HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
177 
the island when he wrote his history, nearly two hundred 
years ago, and as having then existed for a long time; and 
his testimony is confirmed by the accounts of the pirates 
and other earlier settlers on different parts of the coast. 
Although the Malagasy regard this ceremony somewhat 
in the light of a religious rite, they assign no moral con¬ 
siderations for its observance. Scarcely, indeed, are physi¬ 
cal reasons adverted to. They occasionally intimate that 
it is regarded as in some way essential to manhood. In 
general, however, if a Malagasy be asked why he observes 
it, he replies, “ Our ancestors practised it, and we do the 
same and should he be still further importuned, “But 
why did your ancestors do it?” the trenchant reply is 
thrown back on the too inquisitive inquirer, “Who can 
tell that ?” 
The following account of the ceremonies, as generally 
observed, has been furnished by those who were eye wit¬ 
nesses of the proceedings described. On some occasions, 
and among different families and classes of the people, 
deviations from the particulars stated are observable, but 
they are too trivial to merit distinct notice. 
The time of performing this ceremony does not at all 
depend on the age of the child; and nothing analogous to 
the Jewish observance of an eighth day exists. All depends 
on the will of the sovereign, as the ceremony is, in some 
respects, an initiation into the rank, privileges, and obliga¬ 
tions of the members of the body politic, and, in a sense, 
transfers the subjects from the jurisdiction of the parent to 
that of the king. The sovereign, in consequence of an 
application from the parents or the friends of any number of 
children in a given province, appoints a time, and orders 
the observance of the rite. 
When the announcement has been made, that a general 
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