criAi'. II. THE TRADE OF THE ISLAND. 35 



notice than that representing the late Duke presenting a birth- 

 day present to one of the royal children. 



The chief topic of conversation, however, with the people 

 generally had reference to the opening of the trade. They 

 said there were large quantities of rice accumulated in the 

 neighbourhood of the ports, that the country was full of fat 

 cattle, and could supply any number required, while poultry 

 of all kinds was equally abundant ; but that cloth, and other 

 articles of European manufacture were scarce. All trade 

 with the English or French, other than those residinfj in the 

 island, was prohibited ; and among the natives themselves we 

 were told that a good ox could be bought in the market for 

 five Spanish dollars ; that in the interior of the country eight 

 or ten turkeys could be purchased for one dollar, valued at 

 about 4:8. 2(7., and a score or a couple of dozen fowls for the 

 same sum. Native productions had multiplied during the 

 cessation of commerce, while the stoppage of the supj^ly of 

 money from Mauritius and Bourbon had made that article 

 exceedingly scarce. The trade with America had somewhat 

 increased since the rupture with the Europeans ; and we met 

 Avith Mr. Mack, an American connected with a mercantile 

 house in New York, who told us that he had been some years 

 in the country, chiefly on the western coast, and had a con- 

 tract with the government to take all the gum, and bees-wax, 

 and Indian rubber, which might be collected for several years. 

 Arms and ammimition, it was stated, were the chief, though 

 not the only articles which the native government were to 

 receive in return. It is not, however, probable that the trade 

 with America will increase to any great extent, as the horned 

 cattle and rice, the two articles of export which jNIadagascar 

 can supply in greatest abundance, are not those for which 

 America is likely to furnish any demand ; and the present 

 policy of the native government seems rather directed to the 

 subjugation of the disaffected and independent tribes within 



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