190 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
parties respectively saying as they take it, “ These are our 
last words, We will be like rice and water;* in town they 
do not separate, and in the fields they do not forsake one 
another: we will be as the right and left hand of the body; 
if one be injured, the other necessarily suffers and sympa¬ 
thizes with it.” 
The terms of the covenant are not regarded as binding 
literally; the respective possessions of the parties, such as 
cattle, slaves, money, &c., are not considered as common pro¬ 
perty; but the engagement involves a sort of moral obligation 
for one to assist the other in every extremity: and, however 
devoid of meaning some parts of the ceremony of forming- 
brotherhood may appear, and whatever indications of bar¬ 
barity of feeling may appear in others, it is less exceptionable 
than many that prevail among the people. 
The design of the engagement—which is in fact a cove¬ 
nant to render mutual help in seasons of peril or need—is 
highly commendable; while the limited number embraced 
in the same fraternity, prevents its ever threatening, as 
combinations so permanently binding are sometimes sup¬ 
posed to do, the peace of society. So far as those who 
have resided in the country have observed its effects, they 
appear almost invariably to have been safe to the com¬ 
munity, and beneficial to the individuals by whom the 
compact was formed. 
The practice of a similar mode of entering into the most 
sacred engagement, by the inhabitants of the large but 
extremely remote island of Borneo, especially by the Dayaks, 
one of the chief aboriginal tribes of that country, adds 
greatly to the opinion generally entertained, that Mada- 
* This is a natural, simple, and beautiful allusion, in common use among 
the Malagasy, to denote an inseparable association. The rice is planted in 
water—grows in water—is boiled in water—and water is the universal 
beverage taken with it when eaten. 
