POPULATION 
8 i 
place in the house of the bride’s parents. The young- 
couple eat with the same spoon out of the same dish, 
then they are enfolded in a coloured lamba. In many 
places it is the custom for the bridegroom to tear the 
lamba to indicate that the bond of marriage is not 
indissoluble. The ceremony becomes legally valid after 
a sum of money has been handed to the parents of the 
bride. Among the Sakalava the wooer must first have 
given proof of his courage by taking part in warlike 
sports. As to chastity on the part of unmarried women, 
not a word can be said in general, and it is indicative 
of the morals of the inhabitants that their language has 
not any word for it. The intercourse of the sexes before 
marriage is very free, and this among many tribes leads 
to dissoluteness. The Bara especially are notorious for 
their licentious natures, and even the Hova do not stand 
quite in the odour of sanctity, even if they pay more 
regard to appearances. 
The Sakalava whom I asked concerning the absence 
of restraint on the unmarried girls explained to me quite 
gravely that the system had its advantages, as one could 
form a timely judgment as to their conduct, and they 
draw a delicate distinction between immodest and reluc¬ 
tant girls. The fact that a girl has had a child forms 
no impediment to her marriage—on the contrary it 
increases the chance of her getting a husband. This 
circumstance becomes fully intelligible in a country where 
all the vices of civilisation have been disseminated by 
European adventurers, and where in consequence the infer¬ 
tility of marriage has taken considerable hold. Polygamy 
was formerly much practised, and is so to some extent 
even to the present day. The old Hova chiefs had a 
right to twelve legitimate wives. Since the spread of 
Christianity among the Hova circumstances have altered, 
but in many cases only in appearance. Things are less 
edifying among other tribes. It is recorded of one 
6 
