Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/544

 446 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. appear to have been at some time much subject to Arab influences. The Zafe- Raminia, or " Whites," mentioned by Flacourt and other contemporary writers, were certainly either Arabs or Hindus professing the Mohammedan religion. Numerous chiefs amongst all the local tribes claim Arab descent, while the onibias or priests, corresponding to the omasai of the Sakalavas, disseminate usages and ceremooios which are undoubtedly derived from the precepts of Islam.* The Betsimisarakas and Sihanakas. Of all the nations on the eastern seaboard, the most numerous are the now reduced lietsimisarakas or " United People," well known to travellers, who have to cross their territorj' on the route from Tamutave to Tananarive, capital of Madagascar. Both the Betsimisarakas and their neighbours, the Betanimenas, or " People of the Red Land," who claim to be descended from the Babakoto Indris, are tall and robust, but of a gentle, patient disposition, in other respects differing little from their Ilova rulers. They number collectively about three hundred thousand souls. Prominent amongst the other peoples of the eastern seaboard are the Ant' Ankai, or " Gladesraen," and the Bezanozano, or " Bushmen " (?) t who occupy the long narrow Ankai Valley between two parallel ranges of forest-clad mountains. These tribes have become intermediary agents, a sort of middlemen, for the trade between the Hovas of the plateau and the Betsiinisaraka coast- landers. Nearly all the merchandise is transported by them over the difficult mountain trucks and passes, and their habit of cairying heavy loads on the bare shoulders has gradually developed fleshy welts which protect the shoulder-blade from sudden shocks. The children are all born furnished with these protecting excrescences. J Farther north, in the depression now flooded by Lake Aloatra, dwell the Ant' Sihanakas, that is, the " Lake People," or according to William Ellis, the '* Independent," flshers and shepherds, who tend the herds of their Hova masters. Nearly all the utensils used by this tribe are made of reeds. During the rainy season the inhabitants of some of the riverain and lacustrine villages do not take the trouble to retire to the higher grounds rising above the level of the inunda- tions. They simply embark, with their household goods and matting, on stout rafts also made of reeds, and thus drift about with the current till the waters subside. The Sihanakas belong to the same tribal group as the Betsimisarakas ; but farther on, the northern extremity of Madagascar is occupied by quite a different people, the Ant' Ankuras, that is, either v Men of the North" or " Men of the Rocks," who are distinguished from all the other inhabitants of the island by their distinctly KuHr-like appearance, with wonlly hair and thick lips. Of all the • Max Leclerc; A. Walen, Antananarivo Annual, 1883. t So Jurgcnsen explains the word, which others interpret in the sense of " Anarchists " or ••Rebels." t Mtm9%r$ oftkt Anihropolojfieal Sofiety, 1877.