5.So the lowly have their own,
The great also have their own;
The kingdom is a staircase,
Not causing to stumble,
Not wearying to traverse.
6.Salutation, Rabòdonàndrianimpòina;
There are no desolate ones;
The orphans are well fed,
Those whose parents are living
Are all fat and flourishing.
Some of these songs are wordy and full of repetitions, especially in the choruses, which are very much in what we should call, in English, the "tra-la-la" style; but several are composed in a grave and serious strain, some enforcing the honour due to parents, others expounding the nature of true friendship. In one of these latter the hearers are cautioned not to make "mist friendship," which soon dissolves; nor "stone friendship," which cannot be joined again if broken; but to form "iron friendship," which can be welded again if severed; or "silk friendship," which can be twisted in again; not "tobacco friendship," liked but not swallowed; nor "door friendship," liked indeed, but pushed to and fro; and so on.
As in the proverbs and oratorical pieces, so also in some of these songs, the different places in the central province are referred to, in some cases with a punning on their names, to the effect that although they may be called So-and-so, those only who act in accordance with the name have truly such-and-such qualities. Thus:—
A place-name is Tsianòlondròa (lit. "Not-for-two-people");
Yet it's not the place is (really) Tsianòlondròa,
But 'tis the wife who is "not for two people."
A place-name is Ambòhipòtsy (White-village);
Yet it's not the place is (really) Ambòhipòtsy,
But those who hate uncleanness are white.
A place-name is Ambòhibelòma (Village-of-farewell);
Yet it's not the place is (really) Ambòhibelòma,
But it's those who go home who say, Farewell.
Similar allusions are often brought into Malagasy canoe songs. Many of these are both musical and amusing, and few experiences are more pleasant in Madagascar travelling than to glide rapidly down or across one of the large rivers in the early morning, the time when the eastern rivers, at least, are the smoothest, and in a large canoe, with
