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tented with stirring up the ground with a spade, and scattering 
a few seeds, they are sure of reaping a harvest which will 
supply all their wants during the year; and though the 
inhabitants of Emerina are compelled, by the nature of the 
soil, to take rather more pains, yet there we may see, with - 
regret, large tracts of land lying fallow, which might produce 
enormous crops, and where now the careless inhabitants only 
plant a few plots of rice. Here, as elsewhere, it seems re- 
served to European industry to transform these deserts into 
habitable tracts; for, with proper care, they would produce 
six times the food requisite for the present number of in- 
habitants. 
Rice, the great object of Madagascar culture, and the 
principal article of their food, is well known to prefer the 
marshy spots; consequently, the low lying grounds, where 
the water does not run off, or the sides of the river, where 
inundation is easy, are preferred for this purpose. After 
having divided the plot into little squares with the spade, 
called Fangadi, the rice is thrown in, which soon germinates, 
and, after transplantation, yields a hundred fold. The man- 
ner of planting Rice is different among the Béhtanihména. 
These people do not sow their seed, in order to transplant it 
afterwards, but put in the rice as we should do kidney-beans. 
They select the gloomiest spots, even the centre of a wood, 
and, having cleared a space of ground, they dibble holes with 
a sharp pointed stick, and drop in the grain. ‘This is done 
twice a year; and from this district the finest and whitest 
rice in Madagascar is obtained. The ground is frequently 
changed, and another spot cleared: but after two or three 
years the natives return to the original place, and cultivate 
it anew; and wherever they sow their seed, there they are 
sure of an abundant return, independent of the state of the 
weather. Sometimes they select a half dried marsh, and 
sending in their oxen they drive them backwards and for- 
wards till the ground is become like wet mud, when they 
put in their seed. Every fortnight, or at longest, monthly, 
the soil is carefully cleared of weeds, until the rice begins to 
flower, after which it remains undisturbed. The Béhtanih- 
