2S2 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. ch.vp. xi. 



officers, who generally informed the people of the villages 

 at which we stopped of my name, objects, &c. But the 

 absence of this information in the present instance made 

 no difiference in the exercise of that hospitality which is 

 always so welcome to a stranger. As soon as my palanquin 

 was set down, a chief spread a mat in the shade, and re- 

 quested me to be seated ; another brought me a bunch of 

 ripe bananas, two or three of which I found very refreshing. 

 Two chiefs, who appeared to be travellers, made many in- 

 quiries as to my object in going to the capital. One asked 

 whether I had any military uniforms to sell. The other 

 asked whether I was a missionary or a doctor. He said he 

 had heard that I took many likenesses of the people when I 

 was in the country before, and that he had seen some of them, 

 and wished to know if I intended to take the likenesses of 

 the chiefs at the capital. 



When the rest of our party arrived, I crossed over the 

 Lake Easoabe to a group of houses on the opposite shore, as 

 the lapa, or queen's house, was there, and would be more 

 comfortable than any of those around us. "While waiting 

 on the beach until the canoe was ready, I observed some of 

 the men collecting quantities of a dark-coloured, but shining 

 micaceous sand, which they afterwards dried and carried to 

 the capital, for the writers there to use instead of blotting- 

 paper. On reaching the opposite side of the lake, I was 

 conducted to the house appropriated to the use of travellers 

 connected with the government ; and the chief of the place 

 soon afterwards brought me a couple of mullets and a small 

 basket of eggs. 



The internal arrangements of the house differed, in some 

 respects, from those of the country on the other side of the 

 lake, and the difiference, I was told, characterised the houses 

 of the Betanimena. The hearth, or cooking-place, was si- 

 tuated towards the north-east corner of the house ; and at 



