The standard anthropological view is that the Mikea are simply transformed refugees in the forest of neighbouring populations such as the Vezo and Masikoro (Tucker 2001 & Mikea website) The evidence is that they have similar rituals, social organisation Indeed there is no doubt that the Mikea lifestyle incorporates such individuals, just as the gypsies of Europe incorporate travellers. Nonetheless, note the location of the Mikea, exactly where the migrants form the African mainland landed and the persistence of unetymologisable vocabulary Some of this is ‘avoidance’ vocabulary, i.e. manipulated speech, but there are words that seem to have mainland cognates