342 VISITS TO JMADAGASCAK. chap xii. 



In front of this the woman sat on the ground. At the 

 distance of six or seven feet were two short sticks driven into 

 the ground, with a rod stretching across, and over this the 

 woof of silk to be woven was fastened. It is with apparatus 

 so simple and fragile that the beautiful lambas of the Hovas, 

 with their rich colours and elegantly figured patterns, are 

 woven. Silkworms are numerous in some of the provinces, 

 and silk might be produced in great abundance. 



Although on entering I requested that the woman would 

 not disturb herself, she soon untied the different parts of the 

 loom, rolled up the silk, placed it in a rush basket standing 

 by her side, pulled up the stakes, and, in less than five 

 minutes, no sign of the work in which she had been engaged 

 was to be seen. The bedstead, I found, was a fixture, the 

 posts being driven into the ground. The fire-place was near 

 the foot of the bed, and a small window at the end. 



In the course of the evening, upwards of twenty friends 

 came down from the capital to express their thankfulness 

 and joy at my arrival. Some of them were remarkable 

 looking men, whose presence would have commanded respect 

 in any intelligent assembly, and whose past history of peril 

 and deliverance was amongst the most remarkable and 

 deeply interesting of any I had ever listened to. They 

 quite filled my little room. Ejaculations of gi-ateful joy at 

 our meeting were all that, for some time, could be uttered, 

 and these were mingled with tears. Many earnest and af- 

 fectionate inquiries after friends, who had formerly resided in 

 the country, were made. Many deeply affecting accounts of 

 events and changes and deaths amongst themselves were ire- 

 lated ; and long, indeed, it was before we separated. How 

 much more interesting, and permanently affecting, has the 

 history of a number of these men since become ! 



