§4 
Madagascar 
operation was accompanied by grand ceremonies and 
rejoicings, at present it is carried on in secrecy. Even 
the Sakalava avoid all external show, and only when the 
operation has been successfully accomplished, that is 
without any harmful consequences, is it celebrated by a 
thanksgiving feast. The Bara proceed somewhat more 
ceremoniously, according to Richardson, for they employ 
a soothsayer to fix the most suitable time, and for this 
he receives half an ox and a spear. 
The custom of Blood-brotherhood so widely spread 
among African peoples is practised by nearly all the 
tribes. Those who enter into a bond of this kind 
pledge themselves mutually to perform the most devoted 
acts of friendship. Some blood is taken from the breast 
of each of the future blood-brothers^ it is mixed with other 
ingredients and stirred up with spears, the two contract¬ 
ing parties then drinking some of the mixture. Alfred 
Grandidier entered into a blood-brotherhood of this kind 
with the chieftain Zomena. The ceremonies were very 
elaborate, but the blood used was that of an ox. After¬ 
wards the relations of the chieftain came to pay homage 
to their new relative. 
The well-known adventurer Benjowsky succeeded in 
getting the chieftains of Antongil Bay to pledge themselves 
to him by means of blood-brotherhood, and ultimately to 
allow him to be proclaimed as king over them. This trick 
caused great surprise in Paris at the time, but it really 
had no great significance, considering that even at the 
beginning of this century a simple corporal succeeded 
in raising himself to the position of king of Taniatave. 
An important part in the life of the natives is played 
by Fady^ in which there is not much difficulty in recog¬ 
nizing the taboo of the Polynesian peoples, with but 
slight alteration. Fady signifies inviolable, not to be 
assailed, sacred, but also at the same time unlucky, and 
thus plants, animals and all kinds of other objects 
