HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
.475 
They carry small wands in their hands, with a flower fixed 
at the top. All dress in their best robes, and wear what¬ 
ever decorations or ornaments they can procure for the 
occasion. They sing as they advance, the females clapping 
their hands. The song consists simply of a repetition of 
the congratulatory expressions, 44 Come as the good, not 
lying; we are found innocent, without lying.’ , This is 
continued, with occasional dancing, till the party reaches 
home. Then feasting commences; cattle are killed, and 
meat distributed. This is called the 44 Henandoza,” 44 meat 
of the judgment or curse,’’ and is forbidden to the guardians 
of the idols as profaning their sanctity. 
Such are the general circumstances attending the custom, 
and from which it will be seen that the test is not whether 
the tangena proves fatal, but whether the three pieces of 
skin are ejected by it as an emetic. Many live, as will be 
shewn presently, who are yet pronounced 44 mamosavy,” 
and treated as such. But it may not be unsuitable to add 
here an anecdote illustrative of the effects of the tangena 
when given alone, and when, according to customs on the 
coast of the island, it was exhibited (or pretended to be so) 
to kill, if the party were guilty. The case occurred at 
Tamatave in I821. # Mr. Hastie, the British agent, had 
lost about thirty-three pieces of Pondicherry cloth. Two 
men were suspected, and one of them, who happened to be 
on the spot, was immediately apprehended. The chieftain, 
Jean Rene, proposed to administer the tangena,—at least in 
a sufficient quantity to extort a confession. The man, hea¬ 
vily ironed, was taken to a small tenement on the premises, 
whither an elderly person, and several attendants, came with 
the ordeal. The nut was put into a dish, and two knives 
The Rev. Dr. Griffiths was an eye-witness. 
