368 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
last generation;—if any of you serve any other than him 
who is thus consecrated and appointed, let him not see the 
light, nor find place any more for the sole of his foot, and 
let universal nature bear testimony against him.” The 
speaker then apostrophises east and west, north and south, 
all that is hallowed in earth and heaven, and the line of the 
twelve monarchs, as witnesses of the solemn transaction; 
and then again turning to^ and addressing the party to be 
sworn, he adds, u If any should rebel, let him he accursed , 
whether all has been named or not, expressly mentioned or 
not: whoever rebels, let him be accursed ! If any of you 
retract from, or break this oath, lord god destroy him !” 
The people express their solemn assent by striking the 
water with the boughs in their hands, the spear also being 
struck into the pool, and the musket being fired over it. 
Thus the ceremony terminates, securing fidelity just so long 
as the parties find it most convenient and advantageous to 
themselves to observe it. 
In the milefon-omby, or spearing the young bullock, the 
ceremony corresponds in part with that already described. 
The anathemas in the oath are similar, the witnesses 
appealed to the same, and in some particulars the mode 
of swearing is the same. It is, however, not only used in 
swearing allegiance to the sovereign by persons suspected 
of disaffection, but by the different ranks and parties of 
the kingdom—the judges, the army, the police, heads of 
districts, &c., on the accession of a new sovereign, or on 
the announcement of a successor to the reigning king. 
The young bullock used on this occasion, is led to the 
spot where the oath is to be administered, and there killed 
and dismembered in the same manner as the lamb in the 
ceremony of the Tangena, the head and tail being cut off, 
and reversed in their position at each end of the animal. 
