238 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
during life. Affection prompts to this, as a means of 
administering comfort or affording gratification to the de¬ 
parted. On returning home, the chief mourner, who is 
the nearest relative of the deceased, immediately washes 
himself; some particular kinds of grass are also brought, 
and dipped in water, in which the several members of the 
family wash themselves. The garments which have been 
worn on the occasion must also undergo purification, which 
is effected by dipping their corners in water. 
During the season of mourning, which in some of its 
requirements continues twelve months, the bereaved family 
absent themselves from dances and other public amuse¬ 
ments ; but the only badges of mourning, excepting the use 
of inferior clothing, already referred to, consists in putting 
off all ornaments, and neither anointing nor braiding the 
hair, but allowing it to remain loose and dishevelled, in 
which state it is never seen but on the members of the 
family in which a death has recently occurred. 
The Malagasy seem to imagine that some degree of 
humiliation and self-denial is becoming during the season 
appropriated to mourning for departed relatives, which, it 
appears, varies in continuance according to the rank of the 
deceased, or the relationship of survivors ; hence, while, for 
some, mourning is continued twelve months, for a son or 
daughter six months is the usual time. Not only is the 
hair dishevelled, all oils or perfumes neglected, the looking- 
glasses in their houses turned towards the wall, but they avoid 
sitting on a chair, as that is by many deemed an unsuitable 
indulgence during this season of grief. 
The national mourning for the sovereign extends through 
twelve months, unless the period be shortened by a special 
order of the government, as was the case after the death of 
Radama. During the season of national mourning, all 
