The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1894-01-10


messenger and his retinue, and in q
day or two the bride starts out for her
new home under the escort of the
husbands messenger and her fathers
men. She is carefully guarded dur
ing the journey. When she meets her
husband il is her first view of him.
Their acquaintance with each other
is of gradual growth, and usually the
Hova family is stable one. Families
are small, and with the birth of each
child the name of the parents is
changed, until with the birth of the
youngest child the name becomes per-
mnnent.
There is q peculiar custom Of adop-
tion among the Malagasys, called blood
brothership, which is accomplished by
cutting the breasts of both the men
who desire TO become related, and
soaking n piece of cotton cloth in tho
blood of each. These delica - tokens
are then exchanged and swallowed,
sster which interesting and appetizing
process the two are brothers for all
purposes, even to the inheritance of
white residents of the island are often
adopted by the Malagasys in order to
facilitate trade.
The dwellings of the tribes differ
considerably. The Hovas live in sub
stantial houses built of sun-dried
bricks, which they manufacture them
selves. These houses have partitions
Il IL nd 10 ,f,r -
able. The Sakalavas live in bamboo
and grass houses, square, one-roomed
structures, with sloping roofs. Tho
floor is of dirt and fairly swarms with
feas, which are peculiarly ravenous in
Madagascar. When the grass house
becomes too full of heas the owner
burns it down.
In one corner of the Sakalava hut
the fire is built, and here all the cook.
ing is done. The furniture is exceed.
ingly primitive. There are no chairs
and the bed is formed of bamboo
sticks. The natives wear no jewelry
and do not care for il. They are all
exceedingly avaricious and prefer to
have their wealth in money. They
precious stones, and though most OF
the women wear earrings they are fre-
quentlv of wood or horn. Personally
the natives are very dirty and have
repugnance for water. Besides, they
anoint their hair with rancid lard, SO
that on warm days they are very odor-
Gus.
The natives have soft, musical
voices, and are ready speakers. They
have printed and a spoken language,
which differ almost entirely. Two
newspapers are printed on the island,
one by the French and one by the
English, between whom the rivalry is
very keen. Both papers are printed
in Malagasy. The natives read them
and incline first one way and then tho
other, as their own interests dictate.
The Hovas, who take kindly to the
Christian religion, wear the most
clothes, and even wear shoes OCCASION
ally, but when they begin to pinch the
feet they take them off and carry them
home in their hands. The Hova wo-
men wear single garment square
sheet of linen, cotton or silk. The
other natives wear n garment much
like gunny sack, only that it is made
of woven grass, with holes cut for
legs, arms and head.
The Sakalavas bury their dead on
the surface of the ground, with pref
erence for high elevations, and over
the body erect pile of rocks The
Hovas build tombs of masonry, which
are always oblong and run east and
west. The body is wrapped in
''lamta," or square cloth of silk or
grass. and laid in the family vault
1t is considered great honor b be
the founder Of family tomb. Whena
Hova dies the relatives put on dark
blue clothes and unbind the hair.
The period of active mourning, when
all the relatives mourn and wall,
lasts one day. Then until the day of
the funeral the slaves do the mourn
ing The funeral does not occur un-
til the rum and oxen provided for by
the will of the deceased are entirely
consumed. A wealthy Hova always
leaves a considerable sum to be ex-
pended in a funeral feast. The tomb
is usually near the house and the pro-
cession thither is exceedingly uncere-
monious, the only care being to pre-
vent the dead body from coming
anywhere near the presence of royalty.
When Hova dies away from home he
is buried in surface grave and later
his bones are inferred in the family
Tault.
During the funeral ceremonies the
Sakalavas beat drums made OF hollow
logs with OK hide drawn over the ends.
They also fire guns, and express their
sorrow-or joy-with noisy demon
strations These festivities last
week, and during that time the divis-
ion of property takes place. They
bury all the clothes of the deceased
with him, as his spear and any per-
sonal property which is not valuable.
The Betsimasarkas bury their dead
on top OF the ground in hollow tree
trunk, one end of which is left open