TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS. 195 



is almost the only thing requiring money expenditure. Of 

 course all this refers to the poorest class of native houses ; 

 the well-to-do people often expend considerable sums on 

 their houses ; and during the last ten years the capital has been 

 almost entirely rebuilt, good substantial houses of sun-dried 

 brick, with tiled roof, European arrangement of rooms, stair- 

 case, fire-places, &c., have replaced hundreds of the old native 

 houses with their single large room, and lofts in the high- 

 pitched roof. 



In Antananarivo and its neighbourhood there are, however, 

 many changes now passing over native society. Trades and 

 occupations are beginning to more sharply define the different 

 classes of people, and an increasing number are being chiefly 

 occupied in one distinct pursuit. The large number of build- 

 ings which have been erected within the last few years have 

 trained a great class of skilled artizans, masons, bricklayers, 

 plasterers, carpenters and joiners, tilers, glaziers and painters. 

 Then there are bootmakers and tailors, straw-hat manu- 

 facturers, leather workers, blacksmiths and coppersmiths, gold 

 and silver smiths, and potters. Then there are a large 

 number who gain a living by selling all kinds of things in 

 the markets ; and there are a good many who go down to the 

 coast and purchase European goods, cloths and hardware, &c., 

 and bring them up to the interior for sale. Besides this, 

 there is an increasing number of people who are engaged in 

 educational work, as well as in printing and bookbinding at 

 the mission presses. Since the reopening of the country to 

 Europeans in 1862, the establishment of large missions in 

 the capital, and the erection of the Memorial Churches and 

 other important buildings, has brought a large amount of 

 money into the country, a fact which is slowly altering many 

 of the old usages, and is raising prices generally. There are 

 no banks in Madagascar, so money is generally stored in a 

 hole within the house, and it is also lent at high rates, 

 seldom at less than at 50 per cent, per annum. 



Handicrafts. — As remarked just now, the Malagasy are 

 skilful in all handicrafts ; indeed, their long taper fingers seem 

 naturally fitted to perform all kinds of delicate and minute 

 work. And in speaking of wiamtfactures among them, the 



