SUGAR. \ \ 89 



A kind of millet {ampcmhy) is grown to some extent ; and 

 of late years attempts have been made to cultivate wheat, but 

 these have not as yet been very successful. 



Several kinds of arum are cultivated for food, one of the 

 most common being called hoririica, the large green lily-like 

 leaves of which may be seen in the fosses surrounding all 

 the ancient villages in Im^rina. Another arum {A. esculentum), 

 called by the people scionjo, has a hairy root much resembling 

 the artichoke in taste. It is always eaten at a Malagasy 

 housewarming, as well as at other times. 



The coffee plant grows well in most parts of Madagascar, 

 and in recent years large coffee plantations have been formed 

 along the banks of the rivers on the eastern side of the island. 

 These are chiefly managed by Creole traders, who, through 

 their native wives, manage to get hold of land, and also em- 

 ploy slave labour, thus evading both their own country's laws 

 and those of the Malagasy. Coffee promises already to become 

 a very important article of export, and a source of wealth to 

 the country. 



The sugar-cane is another plant which also grows luxuri- 

 antly in Madagascar, especially in the Antsihanaka province, 

 where it attains a height of twelve or fourteen feet. It is 

 largely used as a sweetmeat, the cane being cut into short 

 pieces for chewing ; and in the central districts a considerable 

 quantity is also made into a coarse brown sugar. Some few 

 years ago European machinery was set up near Tamatave, 

 and a very good sugar was produced. But the principal use 

 to which the sugar-cane is applied in most places away from 

 Imerina is in the manufacture of tdaka, a coarse spirit. In 

 almost every village on the eastern coast a rude press for 

 extracting the juice may be seen (and smelt). These presses 

 consist of a long hollow trough, one end being solid for a foot 

 or two, so as to form a slightly convex surface, with a 

 channel cut on either side for the expressed juice to run into 

 the trough. Over this is placed at right angles a rounded 

 tree-trunk, seven or eight feet long, with two or three short 

 handles fixed into it ; this is turned backwards and forwards 

 over pieces of cane laid on the convex surface, the juice being 

 expressed by the mere weight of the round trunk. The 



