CUAP. XII. NATIVE SILK WEAVING. 341 



having their sides formed by stones fixed in the ground ; with 

 sometimes a succession of smaller platforms one upon another, 

 giving a sort of pyi-amidal form to the tomb ; or else there are 

 two or three large upright stones standing erect within the 

 first stone enclosure. These tombs generally occupy small 

 elevations at a short distance from the road. Some of them 

 seemed to be ancient, and may justly be reckoned amongst 

 the most remarkable and impressive antiquities of the 

 country. 



There were many travellers on the road, and one native 

 chief passed us on horseback, riding an excellent animal. 

 Between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, we reached 

 the small village of Amboipo, where a messenger from the 

 queen's secretary gave me a letter, requesting me to halt 

 at that village for the night, as the queen had appointed the 

 following day for my entering the capital, and that three 

 officers would be sent to conduct me to my residence. 



On entering the house in which I was to spend the night, 

 I found myself in a true Malagasy peasant's cottage. The 

 inside, not above twenty feet square, was divided liy a rush 

 partition into two compartments, or rooms. The first into 

 which the door opened, was appropriated to a pen for 

 calves, and a pen for lambs, in which one was bleating for 

 a long time, and also a pen for ducks and chickens. The 

 inner apartment was working-room, cooking-room, eating- 

 room, sitting-room, and sleeping-room. In this inner apart- 

 ment, when we entered, the husband was watching a large 

 pot of rice boiling on the fire, and the wife was seated on a 

 mat on the floor before a fragile rustic loom, weaving a fine 

 silk lamba, or scarf, such as are worn by the Hova chiefs on 

 holidays or public occasions. The loom was of most simple 

 materials and primitive construction. Four stakes, of unequal 

 length, fixed upright in the ground, with rods across, com- 

 posed the framework of the loom. 



