242 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
No one except the sovereign is permitted to continue, if 
ill, within the precincts of the palace, in case death should 
ensue. No member of the royal family may approach any 
corpse, excepting it be the corpse of a member of the 
family, or one recognized as a most intimate friend. Radama 
waived these national observances in his own attentions to 
the late James Hastie, Esq., during his illness, and forming- 
part of his funeral procession ; but this was a mark of that 
monarch’s particular esteem for the British agent, and was 
equally honourable to the king and his deceased friend. 
The rites of burial—simple and soothing as the expecta¬ 
tion of them may be to the benighted mind of the dying 
Malagasy, who, from his superstitious belief, cherishes a 
hope that, if duly performed, his ghost will not associate 
with wild cats and owls, creatures of ill omen, and with 
evil spirits, but enter on a state of repose or enjoyment— 
are not always rendered. And consolatory as the perform¬ 
ance of them may be to survivors, and high as may be the 
respect which their due observance secures for the children 
and relatives, who expect the same honours to be paid to 
their own remains—cases in which the sanguinary and 
heartless usages of the country do not allow them, are 
frequent. Criminals sentenced to death by the sove¬ 
reign, and those pronounced guilty of witchcraft by the 
ordeal, after being barbarously put to death, are thrown 
down a steep rock, or left on the plain on which they have 
been killed, a prey for the hungry dogs which prowl about 
the capital or village, and mingle among the crowd who 
throng the path along which the miserable culprit is led 
to execution. These animals are frequently seen contend¬ 
ing with savage ferocity, strengthened by hunger, for 
their prey, before the spectators have retired, or the 
shades of night cover as with a veil the revolting scenes 
