These traditional writings (Sorabe, is not one book but all traditional writings) from Madagascar are written in Arabic and copied endless through the centuries. Sorabe means literally great writings from Arabic sura, (writing) and Malagasy: be, (great). The oldest and most important Sorabe are bound in leather, the color of the skin being the title of the book. Imavu; (=yellow). The Sorabe of which the extract given here is preserved in Oslo and has been edited by Ludwig Munthe in 1982.
 
The art of writing and paper making in Madagascar is confined to one ethnic group. The Antaimoro (people of the coast) on the southeast coast. (3.4% of the population).
The books deal with divination, prayers, genealogies, chronicles, and very old history. Flacourt visiting Madagascar in 1661 noted that the script existed already for 200 years

Mosa Ibin Soza compiled  this manuscript in 1911.
The Mss has 73+12 pages. Ludvig Munthe translated the 73 first ones. The other 12 are pure Arab text that contain no historical accounts. The 73 pages in turn exist of three parts. The first which starts with the arrival of the first Arabs in Madagascar and mentions dates up to 1910 ; it has 27 pages. The second starts on the last line of p27 up to page 68 might be older as the youngest mention is La Casa (colonial settlement on the island before it was colonized completely; 17th century). The third part starts on that same page 68  after the author has exclaimed : Ended.. .. (and a short prayer). It consists only of the story of Darafify and no indications are given on when the original copy was written.
There is a chance that its roots are very old as it talks about events  from the 11th century or older.
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The History of Darafify (10. We do not even know the origin of Darafify. But what he did was remarkable. He lived in the region of Sakaleo (3) (central part east coast) It is there at Abohitsara-Feonatara (1), that there is up to now a statue of a wild pig in stone (2). Darafify (10) went upstream on the river Sakaleo (3). Close to Abohibe (4) he stops and plants bananas in the water. After that he continues to go up the river till he sees a place where the water is deep enough to cover his hand. There he makes a stone mortar to make fanamo (fanamo de hamo ; poison from the branches of a bush, which is used mostly to make fish drunk, and so to catch them). When the stone mortar got finished, he makes the fanamo, and when the fanamo is finished, he throws it in the water. The fish in the river close to Ataravondrony (5) got drugged that way. The big moray eel got also drugged and crawls up to the land. There was a hollow 'haramy' tree (6). The moray eel gets into it. But when the moray eel is inside it, someone cuts the tree. The moray eel got cut in two under the weight. When the tree falls, the moray eel leaves. Then she passes through the water of the Sakaleo (3) and goes south. She passes a mountain and goes back down at Imananora. From then on its name changed : Tapakena (7). The big eel called tona and the fish called toho still exist there. If one touches the tail of this kind of eel, the water even nowadays still becomes red. The people of the village baked the tail and eat it. All those who did, died of it. Those who did not eat it, had to bury the dead. A 120 of them died. The graves in which they were buried are still there. The ones left over left to live in Abohibe (4). They lived in Abohibe (4) for two months. Then a big storm comes over them. During the night the lightning de-places everybody. They find themselves at Marosiky (8) and are called Zafindravaratry. This is the reason why the Zafindravaratry up to today do not eat the different species of eel. Darafify (10) was more then 100 arms long. The oldest of his family was called Ramahasiza (9). Then there was Darafify, then Parinatsy, then Kidivanga (11). The footprints of Kidivanga (11) are still visible till today on the rock. The stone mortar in which Darafify made the fanamo is still there. That is also the reason why the name of the river got changed into Sakaleo (3). Darafify got buried between Madoavolo and Sahapaky. The Madoavolo are the descendants of the people of Feonatara while the Sahapaky are the descendants of the Sahadrabo. It is there that they buried Darafify (10). To bury him, they folded him in two. The place where he is buried on the rice fields of Rasoabe his wife and on that of his second wife Soamasay is more then 50 refy (12) long. They build a stone wall around Darafify (10).

Sorabe manuscript text + oral tradition

This tale is a mix up of many tales. Except of talking about Darafify it also talks about the murene, the eel and the establishment of the taboo on eating the animal. Also the tale of the displacement of the people. Note also that in the official version given in the school books, and which talks only about the dead of Darafify, it is not the tree who is cut by the man searching firewood, but Darafify's knee. He then falls in the water and dies.

The Darafify as he comes to us through this manuscript is the reincarnation of the ancestor-king arriving on the island and following a river upstream and installing himself inland. Darafify then becomes a being living in the water representing the ghosts of the old kings who according to tradition also live in the water. Big moray eel and eel are also considered animals in which the ghosts of ancestor kings dwell.  

When combining this text with what the oral tradition gives us we find that in the region north of Mananjary (13) there is a written down, old oral tradition probably predating the eleventh century about giants called Darafify (red colored cheeks), Darofipy (cut stone) and Darafely Fatrapaitan (ana). They are at the same time mythical giants, cultural heroes and also a legendary people.
Darafify came from Arabia with a red bull bearing eight teats, which began Darafify's vast herds. He landed on the northern tip of the island and eventually worked his way down the east coast, performing various legendary feats along the way, including killing a giant snake (Hydra) that devoured men and cattle.
Moving down the coast from the northeast, they tried to escape their traditional profession of cattle herders. They became involved in trade that carried products from Madagascar to the world to the north. They also tried to acquire a monopoly on the east coast of the island where the most medical herbs are as well as perfumes and aromatics as well as where chlorite-schist is quarried and worked.
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The names of these giants are made from a mixture of Austronesian, Sanskrit, and Persian. They all relate to trade in spices, perfumes and medical herbs.
Fi/m/py/fify: this word is now used in the present language of the island for powdered products from Murex (15) species, bark and gum of Haematodendron and Mauloutchia sp. as well as wild pepper.
Fatra known as resin of the benjamin tree (Styrax benzoin). Of which we know that an amount was given as a gift to a purchaser of aromatics, as soon as a deal was made.
Another name used in the Sorabe; the (ha)ramy (Canarium madagascariense) is a tree known as Madagascar incense. The main product however (for export) must have been fimpy. The murex (15) product used for export to the north.
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There is  also the growing influence of foreign elements (African and Persian) in the still Austronesian culture of the time:
The two wives of Darafify: the sisters Rasoabe and Rasoamasay are given an aquatic funeral. The first wife is buried in a lake to the North, the second in a lake to the South. This indicates the firsts superiority. In other versions it is the two wifes who cry on the death of Darafify and the tears make the two lakes.
Later on however Darafify starts breaking with the old taboos. He beats (when moving down the coast) a confederation of princes symbolized by a giant Hydra (fanany) in which were living the souls of ancient princes. He desecrates the aquatic graves of former rulers.    

The Persian influence shows in his name: Darafify, Dara means date (red of color) in Persian. Nobody goes as far as to say he was Persian, maybe he was the equivalent of the Shirazi in East Africa. Who in that same epoque took over the rule of the Zanj coast. They built their strength on their relations with Persia.

Some authors go as far as to say that: the Darafify legend is a mythological history of the shirazi colonization of the island. Darafify personifies the shirazi who settled in Madagascar in the tenth century. His travels from north to south represent their migration along the same route, and the struggles with the giant snake and other opponents signify the shirazi's conflicts with local Malagasy along the way.
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Note on fimpy. It is traded till today and since many centuries an export product from Madagascar. It is the opercula of sea snails that has been ground down and used as a fragrance since ancient times. The operculum is the fingernail-shaped trap-door at the entrance to the shell of a sea snail..
Ibn Masawaih in his treatise on simple aromatic substances and "The book of simple drugs", of Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Al-Ghafiqi (Medieval books) describe the application of incense produced by burning horny opercula for curing several illnesses. Inhalation of such fumes was promoted for curing stomach pains, liver illnesses, epilepsy and regulation of the menstrual cycle. For this purpose the use of opercula of the following species was recommended: Strombus tricornis, Lambis truncata sebae, Chicoreus ramosus, Chicoreus virgineus & Pleuroploca trapezium i.e. the opercula of the largest gastropods living in the waters bordering the Arabian Peninsula. The best opercula were said to come from Jeddah.

(1) Abohitsara-Feonatara: Ambohitsara is an isolated village 60km north of Mananjary (13) and only accessible by boat. Feonatara: Fanantara is 25 miles upriver from Ambohitsara which is on the coast. The river is also called Fanantara.

(3) Sakaleo: Sakaleona river, central part East Madagascar. (20 miles north of Ambohitsara)

(4) Abohibe: Ambohipeno on the Fanantara river ??? or Ambohibe town close to the coast in north-east Madagascar.

(5) Ataravondrony: or Antaravondrony

(6) hollow 'haramy' tree: tree used as firewood in south east Madagascar, very flammable, the wood of the tree is called Gironana.

(7) Tapakena: literally: small piece of bacon. Meaning that he became non-important.

(8) Marosiky: literally there where lots of sugarcane can be sucked.

(9) Ramahasiza: in another oral story about this giant he is the man who concurs the north of Madagascar but is then beaten when he tries to concur the south.

(10) Darafify: Grandidier translates the term as “the man with cheeks of a clear red color, like the ripe fruit of the [dara] Madagascan palm-date”(1908). B. Domenichini-Ramiaramanana connects the name Darafify with the Persian dar, “tree,”and the Malagasy fimpy, the name of an aromatic tree (Haematodendron or Mauloutchia sp., according to Boiteau), or the product from the operculum of some shellfish of the Murex type, which may have been exported in the form of powder to be used in perfume.

(11) Kidivanga: meaning ‘Petty trade’; B. Domenichini-Ramiaramanana links the name of this giant to trade along the eastern coast.

(12) Refy: [Malagasy]. In Madagascar, a unit of length, about 1.6 meters.

(13) Mananjary: a town in eastern Madagascar. It lies at the mouth of the Mananjary River.

(14) Darafely: Dar; persian tree and wild pepper (ferifery or tsimperifery).

(15) On the trade of Murex dye see my webpage Henricus Martellus (1491).