Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/817

 MADAGASCAR 811 proper culture of the highest attainments. They are more numerous than the Hovas, and occupy the western coast. The Betsileos are low in stature, slender in figure, erect and nim- ble in their movements. Their color is dark, though some are of light copper complexion. Their lips are thick, their eyes hazel, and their hair black, long, and curling. They are a modest and unassuming people, inferior to the Hovas in energy and enterprise, but peaceful and laborious cultivators of the soil. The Betsimasarakas are taller than the Betsileos, and next to the Hovas are the fairest people in the island. Their hair, though not always black, is generally frizzly. They are peculiarly distinguished for cleanliness in their houses and apparel, but are reputed to be of lower morals than any other portion of the people. On the E. coast a small part of the population is descended from the Arabs, who for centu- ries have traded to Madagascar. The Hovas, having adopted Christianity under the lead of Queen Rasoherina II., abandoned many of their heathen customs and superstitions, which however still have a footing in many parts of the island. Among these are infanticide, the victims being chiefly those born on days or at hours pronounced unlucky, and polygamy, which was limited only by the restriction of all except the king to 12 wives, and with it an almost unlimited liberty of divorce on the part of the husband. Circumcision was prac- tised, but rather as a political than a religious ceremony, being regarded in some respects as an initiation into the rank, privileges, and ob- ligations of manhood and citizenship, and in some sense as a transfer of the subjects from the jurisdiction of the parent to that of the king. The rite was performed on a large num- ber of boys at once by order of the sovereign, and at a time fixed by him. Slavery was in- troduced in Madagascar at a very early period, and still exists, although nominally abolished. Captives taken in battle and tribes conquered in war were reduced to bondage, and their descendants generally still remain in that state. Free persons also sometimes become slaves by their own act, by selling themselves when re- duced to poverty. A father may also sell his children into slavery in certain cases. Many are made slaves by the sentence of the judges or the edict of the sovereign. Slavery is considered the heaviest penalty of the law, and is attend- ed with confiscation of property and the en- slaving of the criminal's wives and children. Some of the nobles have many hundred slaves. The master has absolute power, except that death can only be inflicted by order of the king. Between the slaves and the freemen there is an intermediate class, composed chiefly of those who labor for the government, es- pecially those employed in felling timber or in burning charcoal. In one of the great for- ests near Tananarive, the woodcutters, called the "twelve hundred," though their number is nearer 2,000, are employed through life in felling and preparing for building or other purposes timber for the government. They build their huts and rear their families in the recesses of the forest, and cultivate enough land to yield them a scanty subsistence. Their male children are woodcutters from their birth, and labor at their vocation without any pay ; and were any of them to abandon their occupation, they would be treated as criminals or deserters. The smiths or general workers in iron, the gunsmiths and spear makers, carpen- ters, tailors, and all other workmen employed by the king of the Hovas, are expected to labor for life without wages, and to provide for the support of themselves and their families. The Bezanozano, a class inhabiting the eastern dis- tricts, are required to carry all goods for that sovereign from the coast to his capital, a dis- tance of 300 m., without pay. The Mada- gascans are generally remarkably hospitable. Whenever a stranger enters a village, a pres- ent is brought him of whatever refreshment the place affords. If he approaches a house, he is cordially invited to enter, and treated with the utmost attention and civility. Vege- tables of all kinds are abundant, and cattle and poultry are plentiful and cheap. Locusts, of which large swarms appear in the spring and summer, form an important article .of food. They are gathered in baskets by the women and children, and after the legs and wings have been picked off they are partially boiled, and then dried in the sun. The silkworm also in its chrysalis state is cooked and eaten in some provinces. But the most general ar- ticle of support is rice, which is native to the island. Next to it, the most valuable kinds of food are maize, manioc, arrowroot, which is the principal food of the Sakalavas, and sev- eral varieties of yam, together with a number of European vegetables which have been intro- duced. In 1872 several parties of English sub- jects began to plant cotton in the S. part of the island, having brought seed from the Feejee islands. They employed Madras coolies, as labor in Madagascar cannot be relied on. Par- ties from Mauritius have planted sugar cane and built mills for making sugar; but the crop is exported to Mauritius for refining. Coffee also has been planted by foreigners in several parts of the island, with good success. The government fosters all such enterprises, and makes free grants of land for cultivation to any extent desired. A lichen used in dyeing grows on the bark of the thorny shrubs of the S. W. region, and constitutes its chief com- mercial wealth. The natives weave cotton and 'silk into handsome fabrics on looms of the rudest description. They also make beau- tiful carpets. The Madagascans are temper- ate in drinking, and water is almost the uni- versal beverage, though a distilled spirit called toaka is occasionally used as a luxury. Ar- dent spirits are prohibited in Tananarive, and drunkenness is almost unknown except at the seaports frequented by Europeans. Tobacco