Show or I I TO 10 PRAY TO The women n of Madagascar are riot not I pt allowed to pray to God Thy Th must pray to the devil as the themen men alone are afe to address the great judge as supreme being is styled said Mr E EH EHLow H Low of Norway who was among the missionaries attending th ec conference in New York Olty arid and who was the first white man to goto go Mada Madagascar Madagascar gascar as a missionary GIrls are given in hi marriage marri ge very young The fhe ceremony consists in smearing the front part of the bodies of f both the bride and groom with the blood of an ox killed for the occasion This ox is given glyen by the groom Just as asan an American would buy a alice s Man Mad n do not buy b y their wives al at although although though they pay for them when the wo wa women wamen men are killed or injured If a man kills his wife her father or his represent representative tive demands thirty oxen and receives them If he injures her in any ant n way lie must pay fifteen en oxen These two pen ped penalties are abut about t the only protection proto tion a aI woman has against her husbands huband band I cruelty The parental affection at least for forI I those children who are allowed to Uve I I is beautiful They treat them as their I most precious p possessions But the one I whom the vilest priest declares is cursed by God is buried buri d alive or placed on ah an ant anthill hill iiii as soon as its fate is decided The Thea instant a child Is born a near Icar relative of the family runs to the priest arid and d ac him of cf tile the fact He the e ei I stars or pretends to and sends s ba b bak k word to the parents whether whet er the child i is favored or c r hated bated by their G GO d If 1 I abed he the infant Is as u I if favored It itis is allowed to e be bei i comes the object of the greatest solloi soUal i tude Not until six months after its i birth is the mother allowed to stir out j I of her hut or do any work time her husband and r wives must work for her she sh de dei d i votes herself to the care care of the child Many of the babies from sore I eyes caused by keeping them thein so sp long longin 1 in a dusky hut and around a smoky lire fire r p rI I Of course th the wom the slave I of the men That is invariably inv ri the case ase 1 lin in uncivilized countries v plant and gather the rice all house hou e ef f hold duties and weave w the cloth This weaving w by the way is one of pi the sim elm simplest simplest and most interesting operations I have ever witnessed The cloth both gilk and cotton Is good to look at and durable 5 Among mong the unenlightened people I mean those who have not come under the influence of the missionaries mISs and traders they are never clothed until after fter death During life they go on an ani i naked except for grass mats matsi i 1 worn around the waists and strings of beads and charms worn around their i necks and bodies But when they die diethe i i the bodies are often wrapped with as many as forty fort robes which they call t lambas These lambas Jambas are like a sheet sh let and are woven by the women and laid aside to be used as winding sheets The I richer Picher a man Is the more lambaS he has They are of both silk and cotton The silk may be any color But you I must not imagine that these lambas are used when a woman dies Oh no noi nothey i j they are not wasted on women Only f I the men are buried burled in cloth wrappings but the women take great pride in I making m king them When a woman dies she is put away with almost no cere ceremonies ceremonies I Ii i monies and as soon as possible They i do not dig graves ves but plabe the body c on the ground and heap up stones and earth above it When a man goes to war his wives must ni st not light a fire in their huts nor partake of any food until his return After fter the war party leaves S the wives of the warriors all a at the tha palace as they call can fin 2 kings hut t although it is anything but palatial 1 in appearance or size and led by the tin 1 several queens these thee women perform the most curious dance Their heads and arid bodies are decked with ith green I leaves and they go back baek and forth and gesticulating weaving alin go in inid t b id i out until it makes ones head swim to look at them This performance is carried on until the war party Is sight sighted si ht ed Oil d or heard h ard approaching when the whole company goes forth to meet mc t them shouting and singing Fortu Fortunately Fortunately Fortunately these war excursions never last long as the men always return home at nightfall nf LAFAYETTE MLA WS |