To leave the hair free in all its natural beauty is considered a token of mourning. The Malagaseys are generally above the middle height, and I saw many tall, powerful figures, especially among the men.
Their costume is that generally adopted by half-civilized nations who do not go quite naked; the only difference is in the name. The two chief articles of clothing used by the Malagaseys are called sadik and simbu. The first of these is as primitive as can well be imagined, consisting only of a strip of cloth worn round the loins. Many of the natives consider this garment as sufficient, and do not extend their wardrobe beyond it. The simbu is a piece of white stuff, about four yards long and three broad. The natives wrap themselves in their simbus like the Romans of old in their togas; and they really often wear them gracefully enough. Sometimes, to leave their movements unimpeded, they roll up the simbu and wrap it round the upper part of their bodies.
The dress of males and females is the same, except that the women have a little more drapery, and often wear, besides the sadik and simbu, a third garment—a short, very tight jacket, which they call karrezu.
The simbu gives its wearers continual employment. It is always coming loose, and has to be adjusted every minute. It might almost be said that men and women here had only one hand to work with, the other being monopolized by the management of this refractory garment.
The food of the Malagaseys is as primitive as their clothing. Rice and anana are the staple of every meal. Anana is a kind of vegetable very much resembling spinach, and which would be very agreeable to the taste if they would not prepare it with rancid fat. The people who live on the banks of rivers or on the sea-coast sometimes eat fish, but very seldom, for they are far too indolent to carry on a systematic fishery: meat, too, and poultry, though they are to be had in great quantity, and at the cheapest prices, are only eaten on special occasions. The natives usually eat two meals, one in the morning, the other in the evening.
The usual drink is ranugung, or rice-water, which is prepared in the following way. Rice is boiled in a vessel, and purposely burned, so that a crust forms at the bottom of the vessel. Water is then poured on, and allowed to boil. This water assumes the color of very pale coffee, and, like every thing else that is burnt, tastes abominably to a European palate. But the natives consider it delicious, and when they have drunk the rice-water, they eat the burnt crust with the greatest relish.
The Malagaseys keep many slaves, who are not considered very valuable here. A slave usually costs from thirty-six to forty-five shillings, and no difference is made with regard to age, though children of eight or ten years find readier purchasers than adult slaves. They start on the principle, ordinarily correct enough, that children may be brought up as their owner likes, but that a grown-up person who has contracted bad habits can not often be made to mend his ways. Adult males are also rarely offered for sale, except men who, once free, have been condemned as a punishment for some crime to be sold by public auction, and those among the slaves who have behaved ill to their masters. Female slaves are generally higher in price than males; and a great value is set upon those who can weave silk. A slave who is expert at this work often fetches as much as £30.
The position of the slaves is here, as among all half-civilized nations, much better than that of their fellow-bondmen among Europeans and Creoles. They have but little work to do, are fed about as well as their masters, and are seldom punished, though the laws do not at all protect them. On the contrary, a master may beat his slave to death; but the stick he uses in administering the chastisement must not be tipped with iron; for if it be thus shod, the master is liable to fine or some other punishment.
In Tamatavé the thievish propensity is very much developed, and that not only among the slaves, but it is widely diffused among almost the whole inland population, not excepting officers and exalted personages; I had to learn this to my cost. In the little hut assigned to me by Mademoiselle Julie as a dwelling, there was no lock to the door; but as my quarters were in close proximity to her dwelling-house and other buildings, and Mademoiselle Julie had not informed me of the predilection entertained by her fellow-countrymen for the goods and chattels of others, I did not think of being suspicious about it. One day, on being summoned to table, I happened to leave my watch, a valuable keepsake from a lady friend at New York, on the table, and when I returned in the evening it had vanished.
I returned immediately to Mademoiselle Julie to inform her of this circumstance, and to ask what steps I should take to regain possession of my watch, declaring myself ready to give a reward of some dollars to whoever would restore it to me. Mademoiselle Julie replied with the most perfect coolness that there was nothing to be done; the watch had probably been stolen by one of the domestic slaves, for that here every body stole; and that another time when I left my hut I should do well to lock the door and close the window apertures. She did not even take the trouble to question any of her slaves; and the only result that accrued from my loss was, that three days afterward I managed, with much difficulty, to get a lock put to my door.