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The Myth of Racial Strife and Merina Kinglists: The Transformation of Texts*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Gerald M. Berg
Gerald M. Berg*
Affiliation:
Sweet Briar College
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Extract

Early history of the central highlands of Madagascar, called Imerina, must be written from oral literature. The first European account dates only to the late eighteenth century, long after the Merina monarchy arose, and it is not until the nineteenth century with the establishment of the London Missionary Society that detailed written sources appear. Moreover, unlike his colleagues in African history, the historian of Imerina cannot refer to archeology to test conclusions derived from oral sources since archeology in Imerina has only a few years of work behind it. Thus oral literature alone holds the key to questions about the foundations and growth of the Merina monarchy which by the mid-nineteenth century ruled all of Madagascar.

In one respect, however, the historian of ancient Imerina is more fortunate. The Merina have produced perhaps the largest corpus of historical literature in any part of Africa. I intend first to describe this literature and to point out in very general terms the problems of using it. I will focus not only on the Malagasy milieu which gave rise to historical material, but also on two related aspects of European influence. First, I will show how European ideas of social evolution penetrated Merina thinking. Second, and perhaps more important because it has received such scant attention, is the effect of the introduction of writing and printing on Malagasy texts. I consider this the outstanding historiographical problem: how did writing, editing, and redacting change the Merina's own view of their distant past. Finally, to illustrate general points raised in the first section of this study, I will examine a particular historical problem, the founding of monarchy, and show how the transformation of Merina kinglists through years of editing created a new vision of the past. I see this transformation of Malagasy texts by writing as the most important European influence on the development of a Merina history.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 4 , 1977 , pp. 1 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1977

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Footnotes

*

Preparation of this paper was made possible by grants from Sweet Briar College, the Mednik Foundation, The Mabelle McLeod Lewis Memorial Fund, and the Regents of the University of California. An earlier version was presented to the Nineteenth Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, 3-6 November, 1976. I wish to thank Maurice Bloch, Simon Ayache, Raymond Kent, Elizabeth Colson, Catherine Payne, Margaret Mooney, and Joseph Miller for comments on earlier drafts, though I alone am responsible for what appears here. Many of the ideas discussed in this paper are developed at length in my “Historical Traditions and the Foundations of Monarchy in Imerina,” Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 1975.

References

Notes

1. The most comprehensive survey of nineteenth-century Merina historical literature is Delivré, Alain, L'histoire des rois. Interprétation d'une tradition orate (Paris, 1974).Google Scholar

2. Ibid., pp. 163-65; Berg, , “Historical Traditions,” pp. 41–47.Google Scholar

3. Maurice Bloch has called the basic kinship unit of Imerina, the deme, which he characterizes as bilateral and territorial. See his Placing the Dead (London, 1971), pp. 45–50.Google Scholar

4. On the coasts of Madagascar, Malagasy had been written in Arabic script for some time, but in Imerina Arabic script had been used only a short time before it was replaced in the 1820s by a Roman orthography developed by two missionaries of the London Missionary Society, David Jones and David Griffiths. See Bloch, Maurice, “Astrology and Writing in Madagascar,” in Goody, Jack, ed., Literacy in Traditional Societies (Cambridge, 1968), pp. 278–97.Google Scholar

5. The decades between the arrival of English missionaries in 1818 and the adoption of Christianity as the state religion in 1861 have yet to receive adequate attention from trained scholars. The best study of the European impact on Malagasy intellectuals is Ayache, Simon, “Raombana. L'his-torien, 1809-1855,” these 3éme cycle, Lettres, Paris, 1970Google Scholar, which Ayache has summarized in “Un intellectuel malgache devant la culture européenne,” Archipel, 12(1976), pp. 95–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Political and religious aspects of this period are treated in Mutibwa, P.M., The Malagasy and the Europeans (London, 1974)Google Scholar; and Delval, Raymond, Radama II (Paris, 1972)Google Scholar discusses at length the turbulent events of 1861-1863 which led to the re-opening of Imerina to Europeans. See Chapus, G.S. and Mondain, G., Rainilaiarivony. Un homme d'état malgache (Tananarive, 1953)Google Scholar for an outdated overview of the mid-nineteenth century Merina elite.

6. The most important intellectual journals of the period were sponsored by various missionary societies. The first, Teny Soa, began publication in 1866, and was followed by Resaka in 1874, and Mpanolo Tsaina in 1877. The first Malagasy newspaper, Ny Gazety Malagasy, began in 1875. By the end of the century there were about two dozen Malagasy periodicals. For the most comprehensive list of Malagasy periodicals to date see Poitelon, Jean-Claudeet al, Périodiques malgaches de la Bibliothèque nationale (Paris, 1970).Google Scholar

7. By far the largest nineteenth-century collection of Malagasy historical literature is Callet, François, Tantara ny Andriana eto Madagascar (Tananarive, 1873-1902).Google Scholar In this essay I will refer to the reference edition of 1908, hereafter called TA. See Delivré, , L'histoire, pp. 119–38Google Scholar, for the European influence on Malagasy literature. For a history of Merina historical writing about the remote past see Berg, , “Historical Traditions,” pp. 26–54.Google Scholar

8. Rabatrano, Tantara ny razan'Andriana nolazaind-Rabetrano sy ny Tetiarana fikabariana, MS. (1844?), Archives de l'Acadèmie Malgache, provides information for Raombana, Histoires, MS. (1853-1854), I, fols. 106-111 in the typescript edition of Simon Ayache. TA (1875) pp. 5 and 11, and 8-9 provide information for Rainandriamampandry, Tantarany Madagascar, MS., first redaction (1875-1880), Archives de la Republique Malgache, SS. 22, fols. lr, and 40r-52r.

A full discussion of these derivations is beyond the scope of this essay, but two qualifications should be made. First, it is possible that the two sets of versions are connected. Rainandriamampandry copied and glossed the Rabetro manuscript in the former's Livret de famille et de biens, MS, s.d., Archives de la République Malgache, pp. 35, fol. 31r-31v, and information from Rabetrano may well have been used by Rainandriamampandry in Tantarany, fols. 15r-16v, and 40r-52r. Second, with regard to the TA-Rainandriamampandry derivation, Delivré, , L'histoire, pp. 91–92Google Scholar, suggests that Rainandriamampandry did not copy TA. rather, TA and Rainandriamampandry drew from a third source which is now lost.

9. Delivré, , L'histoire, pp. 47–48Google Scholar, explains this technique and applies it to his discussion on the provenance of portions of TA. I have found, however, that in more than half of the Malagasy texts consulted, the use of locative prefixes is inconsistent, making the determination of provenance impossible.

10. See Ibid., pp. 163-65. Adequate documentation of nineteenth-century performances remains an important task for historians.

11. Berg, , “Historical Traditions,” pp. 41–47.Google Scholar

12. Ibid., pp. 26-41.

13. Raombana, Histoires, I, fols. 92-95.

14. The most popular version of Merina king lists is Grandidier, A., Ethnographie de Madagascar, 2 vols. (Paris, 1908), I/1, pp. 73–85.Google Scholar

15. Vazimba are the genitors of modern Merina social groups. For a full definition of the term, see Berg, “Symbolic Aspects of Merina Historical Literature,” in Joseph C. Miller, ed., African Oral Traditions, forthcoming, which challenges the accepted racial definition.

16. Hova are the free-born inhabitants of Imerina, a geographical designation. Merina are all the inhabitants of Imerina.

17. Berg, , “Historical Traditions,” pp. 2–15.Google Scholar

18. Ibid., pp. 15-26, for missionary encounters with vazimba legends.

19. Berg, “Symbolic Aspects,” passim.

20. The Rev. Maurice Rasamuël was the first to suggest that the grotesque characteristics of vazimba were literary representations of wickedness having little to do with physical qualities, but his observation has been largely neglected. See his “Ny Vazimba,” Mpanolo Tsaina, 24(1927), p. 250.Google Scholar

For descriptions of vazimba and related images see: Dahle, Lars, Specimens of Malagasy Folk-lore (Tananarive, 1877), p. 93 and pp. 294Google Scholarff under “Sampon'zavatra sasany Mahagaga”; Renel, Charles, “Anciennes religions de Madagascar. Ancêtres et dieux,” Bulletin de l'Académie Malgache (1920/1921), pp. 66–68Google Scholar; Lars Vig, letter of 30 December 1877, Vet Norske Missions Tidende, no. 43(1888), pp. 276–77Google Scholar; Firaketana ny fiteny sy ny zavatra malagasy, no. 53(1941), pp. 241 et seq., no. 232(1962), pp. 222-23, no. 238(1963), p. 314.Google Scholar

The meaning of grotesque images in Merina literature is discussed at length in Berg, “Symbolic Aspects.” In Cwezi tradition, the uncouth Bito kings were black and the civilized Cwezi were white. Here, the colors seem to represent a conflict between order and chaos. For interpretation of the color conflict in Cwezi myth, see Gilsenan, M., “Myth and the History of African Religion” in Ranger, Terence and Kimambo, Isaria, eds., The Historical Study of African Religion (London, 1972), p. 61.Google Scholar I have briefly examined the color problem in Merina historiography in Berg, , “Historical Traditions,” pp. 59–62.Google Scholar Victor Turner has noted that in Central Africa white stands for purity, creation, and efficacy while black stands for death, loss, and evil. See his “Colour Classification in Ndembu Ritual,” in Banton, Michael, ed., Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion (London, 1966), pp. 47–84.Google Scholar

21. For beautiful female vazimba see: TA, pp. 240-43, 309; Lars Vig, coll., Manuscript Notebooks [in Malagasy] (c. 1875-1889?), Madagassisk Afguder, RUM. C, VIII-1, Archives of the Norske Misjonsskolen, Boky VIII; Firaketana, No. 37(1940), pp. 14–15, No. 43(1940), p. 59Google Scholar; T … [Rainitiary], “Andriambolilova, Andriantsimandafika, Ranoro,” Mpanolo Tsaina, 7(1909), pp. 193–200Google Scholar; Dahle, Lars, Specimens, p. 301Google Scholar; Ferrand, G., Contes populaires malgaches (Paris, 1893), pp. 91–92Google Scholar; Antananarivo Annual (1886), pp. 239–44.Google Scholar

For Rapeto, the vazimba grant see: TA, pp. 15-17, 239, 632, 698-699; Dahle, Lars, Specimens, p. 302Google Scholar; Renel, Charles, “Anciennes religions,” p. 49Google Scholar; and Griffiths, David, “From Tananarive to the West” (1 August 1822-10 April 1823)Google Scholar, Archives of the London Missionary Society, Journals I/5A, pp. 12-13.

22. Ellis, William, History of Madagascar (2 vols.: London, 1838), I, p. 425.Google Scholar

23. Ibid., I, p. 125.

24. Berg, , “Historical Traditions,” pp. 9–15.Google Scholar

25. Ellis, , History, I, pp. 122–23.Google Scholar

26. Ibid., I, pp. 401 ff.

27. Ibid., I, pp. 424-28.

28. In late 1840 word reached Ellis of converts being killed and their heads fixed on poles. David Jones to William Ellis (20 July 1840), Archives of the London Missionary Society, Letters received, II/3/B.

The persecution of Christians was amply covered in the official organs of the Society. See Annual Reports (1841), p. 17Google Scholar; (1842), p. 87; (1843), pp. 14-15; (1846), p. 13; (1849), pp. 13-14; (1850), pp. 93-94; (1852), pp. 69-70; and Missionary Magazine, which had a much wider audience, (1838), pp. 19–23Google Scholar; (1839), pp. 31-32; (1841), p. 10; (1843), pp. 11-15; (1846), p. 126; (1849), pp. 41-42; (1851), pp. 258-61.

29. Such histories, especially those by English and Malagasy clerics, portrayed the persecution of Christians as a natural outgrowth of the barbarism inherent in traditional religion. See Ellis, , History, 2, Chapter 18Google Scholar; idem, Faithful unto Death (London, 1876); Freeman, Joseph J. and Johns, D., A Narrative of the Persecution of the Christians in Madagascar (London, 1840), pp. 56–57Google Scholar; Andriamifidy, , Ny Tany Maizina (Tananarive, 1889)Google Scholar; Pr. Rabary, , Ny Daty Malaza na ny Dian'i Jesosy teto Madagascar, Vol. 1 (Tananarive, 1929)Google Scholar; Rabary, Pr., Ny Maritiora Malagasy (Tananarive, 1910)Google Scholar; Rainandriamampandry, Tantarany, III; Raombana, , “Histoires,” ed. Ayache, , fols. 995–996Google Scholar; Rajoelisolo, Pr., Tantaran 'ny martiora malagasy farany (Tananarive, 1957).Google Scholar For cogent observations about the Merina elite's reaction to the persecution see Ayache, , “Un intellectuel,” pp. 113–16.Google Scholar A sympathetic view of the persecution is taken by the royal talisman guardians of Ranavalona I in Merina manuscripts, MS., II (c. 1869-1870), Cahier lla, Départment de Madagascar, Musée de l'Homme, Paris.

In Three Visits to Madagascar (London, 1859), pp. 159–60Google Scholar, Ellis told a story about a young girl burned at the stake to whom, “amid the smoke and blaze of burning wood, and the pangs of maternity were added to those of an agonizing death, and at this awful moment the martyr's child was born.” The newborn babe, according to this version of mission tradition, was thrust into the flames and burned with its parents, “its spirit to ascend with theirs to God.” The story has become a part of Merina Christian hagiography, and in 1973 it was made into a feature length color film by the Lutheran mission in Madagascar. The film, which climaxes with a dramatic re-enactment of the stake burning episode, gives the impression that pre-Christian Merina were barbarous in the extreme.

30. The Rev. James Sibree of the London Missionary Society is a good example of the new missionaries who were greatly influenced by Social Darwinism. He was the most widely read English-speaking Malgachisant in the second half of the nineteenth century. Sibree credited Merina superiority to the highlands' bracing climate which, he claims, made the Merina more self-reliant than the population of the tropical coasts. His keen interest in historical linguistics led Sibree to examine Malagasy's affinity to Ur-Malayan. Even Darwin's observation on sinking islands surfaced in Sibree's discussion to support his conclusions about Malayan migration to Madagascar. See Sibree, , The Great African Island (London, 1880), pp. 115-22, 135–38.Google Scholar

Members of the London Missionary Society kept abreast of the latest developments in social theory since many actively participated in the various geographical and ethnographic societies of their day. In Madagascar, the Society established in 1875 its own journal, Antananarivo Annual, where missionaries published their views of Malagasy society and history. The Social Darwinist thread runs throughout its pages.

J.F. Ade Ajayi shows how bowdlerized versions of Social Darwinism affected members of the Church Missionary Society in his Christian Missions in Nigeria, 1841-1891 (London, 1965), Chapter 8.Google Scholar

31. See Berg, , “Historical Traditions,” pp. 26–47, for details.Google Scholar

32. Andriana and hova are status groups, not ethnic divisions (Maurice Bloch, personal communication). For the effects of the hova-andriana rivalry on Merina historiography, see Berg, , “Historical Traditions,” pp. 41–47.Google Scholar

It is surprising that so little work has been done on the hova-andriana rivalry of the period. The best is Delval, Radama II, which discusses the court intrigue surrounding the death of Ranavalona I and the installation of her successor in 1862. The broadest survey is Chapus and Mondain, Rainilaiarivony, which traces the rise to power of the Andafy-Avaratra hova and their struggle against the andriana in the period roughly from 1860 to 1895. See also, Malzac, R.P., Le royaume hova (Tananarive, 1912), pp. 264, 330-33, 341–57Google Scholar; and Rasamimanana, J. and Rafindrazaka, , Contribution à l'histoire malgache. Ny Andriatompokoindrindra [bilingual text], (Ambohimalaza, 1909), Vol. 3.Google Scholar For the relation of internal rivalries on Merina foreign policy, see Mutibwa, , The Malagasy and the Europeans, pp. 76–100.Google Scholar

The hova managed to undermine andriana authority by a reform of law which deprived the andriana of customary rights over land, and returned those rights to the local fokon'olona. The cornerstone of this reform is the Sakaizam-bohitra plan of 1878. See the royal decree, Ny Didy hotanan'ny Sakaizam-bohitra eto Imerina (14 July 1878); The Code of 305 Articles (29 March 1881) reviewed in Notes, Reconnaissances, Explorations, 6(1900), 93-186, 467 ffGoogle Scholar; and The Reform of 1889 reviewed by Julien, in Bulletin de l'Academie Malgache, 1/1(1902), pp. 23–32.Google Scholar

For rich archival documentation in English see London Missionary Society, Letters received, VI(1859-1863) and Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, D25/4, D38, D42.

33. “Andriana niara-niakatra tamin'ny kisoa,” a popular phrase cited by Andriamifidy, , “Andriana,” Mpanolo Tsaina, 5(1908), p. 46.Google Scholar

34. Ibid., pp. 45-46. Andriamifidy pointed to the popular belief that the Andriana were of mundane origin and cited the proverb, “Tsy notsoroka avy an-danitra; ary tsy nitre-bona avy ety an-tany, fa loharan' Andriana olombeloma” [Andriana did not tumble from the heavens nor spring from the earth; they came from human beings].

35. Delivré, , L'histoire, pp. 163–65.Google Scholar

36. Callet, Abinal, and Sibree were associated with the Palace School at various times, and many of their students were active in mid-nineteenth-century Merina politics. See Ayache, Simon, “Introduction à l'oeuvres de Rainandriamampandry,” Annales de l'Universite de Madagascar. Lettres, 10(1969), pp. 16–21Google Scholar; and Delivré, , L'histoire, pp. 38, 347 n30.Google Scholar

37. David Jones, “Ancestry of the Kings of Imerina,” MS., Library of the Rev. Hardyman. I am indebted to Simon Ayache for allowing me to consult his redaction of this manuscript.

38. Compare Ellis on Ralambo in his History, II, p. 119Google Scholar, with Jones, , “Ancestry,” p. 3.Google Scholar As Foreign Secretary of the London Missionary Society, Ellis received much ethnographic and historical information from David Jones who was then stationed in Tananarive.

39. Ellis, , History, I, pp. 115–28.Google Scholar The list on p. 115 is undivided. Ellis later mentioned that Andriamanelo was a vazimba. Ibid., I, p. 117.

40. Ibid., I, pp. 122-26.

41. Ayache, , “Raombana,” pp. 35-36, 126, 96-114, 189–90Google Scholar; Ayache, , “Introduction,” pp. 16–19Google Scholar; and Delivré, , L' histoire, pp. 98–101.Google Scholar

42. Ayache, , “Raombana.” p. 156.Google Scholar

43. Ibid., pp. 198-232.

44. Raombana's manuscript in three volumes is now conserved in the archives of the Académie Malgache. I will refer to the unpublished typescript edition by Simon Ayache, who is currently editing the complete works of Raombana. Ayache has entitled Raombana's historical works, Histoires. The manuscript was first mentioned in print in Antananarivo Annual (1900), pp. 451–75.Google Scholar

45. Raombana, , “Histoires” (1853-1854), MS., I, fol. 117A.Google Scholar

46. Ibid., I, fols. 97-120.

47. Similarities between Raombana's royal chronicle and that of Rabetrano, Ny Tantarany, copied by Rainandriamampandry in Livret, MS., pp. 35, fols. 36r-36v, suggest that the former derived from the latter, and Ayache claims that Raombana's version of Andrianampoinimerina's reign in the late eighteenth century was indeed drawn from Rabetrano. Ayache further argues that Raombana also used the Merina Manuscripts [Manuscrits des Ombiasy], MS., Musèe de l'Homme. However this cannot be the case since Raombana completed his work by 1854, ten years before the earliest portions of the Merina Manuscripts were written. See Ayache, , “Raombana,” pp. 282–84.Google Scholar

48. For expansion of missionary activities after the death of Ranavalona I, see London Missionary Society, Letters received, VI (1859-1863), VII (1864-1866), VIII (1867-1868); Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, Letters and Papers, D25/4 (1860-1867), D38 (1868-1874); and Friends Foreign Mission Association, Letters of Sewell and Street.

49. Delivré, , L'histoire, pp. 27–68.Google Scholar

50. TA, pp. 8-14.

51. The first mention in English appeared in Sibree's, “Ifanongoavana: The Ancient Seat of the Hova Kings,” Antananarivo Annual (1877), p. 289.Google Scholar Prior to the English version, the same article had appeared in Malagasy in Ny Gazety Malagasy (Feb. 1876). Sibree referred to the kinglist found in the TA edition of 1873, p. 5, though he did not reproduce it. He called Andrianahitrahitra a vazimba, and Andiranamponga a hova. In The Great African Island (London, 1880), p. 121Google Scholar, Sibree referred to a TA list (p. 5 in the 1873 edition and p. 9, par. 4, in the 1908 reference edition) and called all those rulers hova, implying that Andrianamponga who appears in that list was a hova. On (p. 136, however, he called Andriamanelo the first hova, and the previous six rulers (which would seem to include Andrianamponga) vazimba.

52. Delivré, , L'histoire, pp. 63–64Google Scholar, argues that English missionaries were ignorant of the TA until 1886. Sibree, however, specifically cited the 1873 edition in his article on Ifanongoavana which first appeared in Ny Gazety Malagasy in February 1876. In 1880, in The Great African Island, p. 121, Sibree referred to “a native history … published at the capital in 1873,” and loosely translated a sentence from the 1873 edition (p. 9n) which was omitted from the revised 1878 edition. The kinglists used by Sibree appeared on pp. 5-8 in the 1873 edition and, with several amendments, on pp. 9-10 in the reference edition of 1908. Sibree evinced considerable interest in the TA. An undated and unsigned sixteen-page TA may be found in the Archives of the London Missionary Society, Personals, II/5b.

53. In both works cited above, Sibree drew heavily on William Ellis.

54. Abinal, A., Vingt ans à Madagascar (Paris, 1885), pp. 54–59.Google Scholar

55. Ibid., pp. 61-75.

56. Ibid., pp. 54-55. For a discussion of Abinal's chronology and modern archeological dating, see Berg, , “Historical Traditions,” pp. 222–51.Google Scholar

57. Rev. Standing was the only author of his day to recognize that Merina kinglists do not indicate racial discontinuity in the early population of Imerina. He briefly noted in the Antananarivo Annual (1887), pp. 354–55Google Scholar, that “according to popular legend,” the kings of Imerina were descendants of vazimba. Unfortunately, he did not expand further. Mullen, Joseph, Twelve Months in Madagascar (London, 1875), pp. 165–79Google Scholar, also believed that there were no racial differences between early and later populations in Imerina, but for reasons other than Standing's.

58. Ayache, , “Introduction,” pp. 11–50Google Scholar; and Delivré, , L'histoire, pp. 38n30, 87–88.Google Scholar

59. Rainandriamampandry, Tantarany Madagascar, MS., first redaction (1875-1880), No. 2, Archives de la République Malgache, SS. 22, 139 fols. For the first mention in print, see Antananarivo Annual (1896), p. 510.Google Scholar

60. Delivré, , L'histoire, pp. 90–95Google Scholar; and Ayache, , “Introduction,” pp. 16–39.Google Scholar

61. Rainandriamampandry, Tantarany, fols. 2v-4v.

62. Ibid., fols. 38v-39r, and 10r-10v.

63. In Malagasy both terms, ruler and king, may be translated as either mpanjaka or andriana, and both terms are applied to leaders before and after the creation of monarchy. Andriana tends to have honorific connotations. The creation of monarchy marks the point when rulers, either mpanjaka or andriana, reigned over a united Imerina.

64. Rainandriamampandry, Tantarany, fols. 1r-4r. Fol. 1v contains the enigmatic statement about the system of rule before the creation of monarchy: “ary ny Andriana nanjaka nanarakaraka ireo efatra ireo, dia Vazimba ny sasany ary Hova ny sasany” –– “and these four kings ruled in turn, some being Vazimba and others being Hova.”

65. Ibid., fols. 15r-17v.

66. Grandidier, , Ethnographie, 1/1, pp. 82n2, and 1/2, p. 628, notule 93.Google Scholar His king lists and chronicles are to be found in 1/1, pp. 72-85.

67. Ibid., 1/1, p. 78.

68. Ibid., 1/1, p. 78n2, and p. 79.

69. Ibid., 1/1, pp. 79, 83-85.

70. For examples see Dandouau, A. and Chapus, G.S., Histoire des populations de Madagascar (Paris, 1952), pp. 10-11, 96–97Google Scholar; Deschamps, H., Histoire de Madagascar, (4th ed. Paris, 1972), pp. 26n1, 56-58, 114–16Google Scholar; Vérin, P., “L'origine indonésienne des Malgaches,” Bulletin de Madagascar, no. 259(1967), pp. 958–61Google Scholar; Ralaimihoatra, Edouard, Histoire de Madagascar (2nd ed. Tananarive, 1969), p. 6Google Scholar; Kent, Raymond K., Early Kingdoms in Madagascar (New York, 1971), pp. 227-34, 239Google Scholar; Heseltine, Nigel, Madagascar (New York, 1971), pp. 54–57Google Scholar; Delivré, , L'histoire, pp. 104ffGoogle Scholar; Mutibwa, , The Malagasy and the Europeans, pp. 5–7Google Scholar; Southall, A., “The Problem of Malagasy Origins,” in Chittick, H.N. and Rotberg, R.I., eds., East Africa and the Orient (New York, 1975), pp. 193–206Google Scholar; P. Vérin, “Austronesian Contributions to Madagascar,” in ibid., pp. 175-76. Dez, J. has recently attempted to minimize the theme of racial conflict, “Essai sur le concept de Vazimba,” Bulletin de l'Académie Malgache, 49/2(1971), pp. 11–20.Google Scholar