62 
MADAGASCAR 
earlier people called Vazimba, and honoured with religi¬ 
ous awe. The Vazimba were small; they were ignorant 
of the use of iron, and must have used spears differing 
from those of the Hova. A remnant of this people 
is said still to exist in West Madagascar. 
Earlier French travellers, such as Flacourt and the 
botanist Commerson, mentioned the Kimos, a dwarfish 
race with bright coloured skin and long arms, which was 
said to live in the southern part of the island. The 
Count de Modarve, who was governor of Fort Dauphin 
from 1768 to 1770, describes a woman whose height 
was little more than three feet. 
Dwarfish individuals have given rise to fanciful opinions 
among all nations, and the Malagasy are much given to 
romancing, so that the existence of an autochthonous 
race of dwarfs is only to be accepted with caution, and 
the fact does not appear exceedingly probable, for it is 
difficult to suppose that tribes of Bushmen have made 
their way here from the continent; possibly we have to 
do with a degenerate negro tribe. 
The first immigration of negro peoples from Africa 
probably took place from the East African coast, for the 
Mozambique Channel offers no insuperable difficulties 
even for vessels of primitive construction. The Malay 
element appeared far later, and even to the time of 
Flacourt seems to have played a by no means promi¬ 
nent part. 
It must be considered as an important fact for arriving 
at a true conclusion about the conditions of this immi¬ 
gration, that the domestic cattle of Madagascar undoubtedly 
come from the xVfrican continent, and are to be considered 
as belonging to the East African Sanga race. 
I have put forward a hypothesis which is perhaps not 
to be entirely rejected, that the general settlement by 
African peoples did not take place till about a thousand 
years ago. This supposition is based on the following 
