THE INTERIOR 97 



could be given by the walls. The gables were always thatched 

 with the same materials as the roof, either of long grass or the 

 herana sedge. At each gable the outer timbers cross the apex, 

 and project upwards for about a foot or two, the extremities 

 being notched, and often having a small wooden figure of a 

 bird. In the houses of people of rank, the tdndro-trdno or 

 " house-horns " were three or four feet long, while in some of 

 the royal houses they projected ten or twelve feet, the length 

 being apparently some indication of the rank of the owner. In 

 some tribes these gable ornaments, which have become only 

 conventional horns among the Hovas, are carved in exact 

 resemblance of those adorning the head of a bullock. 



The interior arrangements of a Hova house are very simple 

 and are (or perhaps it would be more correct to say were) 

 almost always the same. 



Let us, following Malagasy politeness, call out before we 

 enter, " Haody, haody? " equivalent to, " May we come in ? " 

 And while we wait a minute or two, during which the mistress 

 of the house is reaching down a clean mat for us to sit down on, 

 we notice that the threshold is raised a foot or more above the 

 ground on either side, sometimes more, so that a stone is placed 

 as a step inside and out. Entering the house in response to the 

 hospitable welcome, "Mdndrosoa, Tdmpoko <," "Walk forward, 

 sir " (or madam), we step over the raised threshold. In some 

 parts of Imerina a kind of closet, looking more like a large oven 

 than anything else, is made of clay at the south-east corner, 

 opposite the door, and here, as in an Irish cabin, the pig finds 

 a place at night, and above it the fowls roost. Near the door 

 the large wooden mortar or laona for pounding rice generally 

 stands, and near it are the fanoto or pestle, a long round piece of 

 wood, and the sahdfa or large shallow wooden dish in which the 

 rice is winnowed from husk removed by pounding. At about 

 the middle of the eastern side of the house are placed two or 

 three globular siny or water-pots, the mouths covered with a 

 small basket to keep out the dust. Farther on, but near the 

 west side, is the fdtana or hearth, a small enclosure about three 

 feet square. In this are fixed five stones, on which the rice- 

 cooking pots are arranged over the fire. And over this is some- 

 times fixed a light framework upon which the cooking-pots are 

 placed when not in use. There is no chimney, the smoke 



