54 VOYAGE TO MAD-tGASCARi 



excel in this art of deception* The Om''* 

 biafles profefs, in the public fchools, gee- 

 Jiiancy and aftrology. The art of writing 

 has, doubt Icfs, been brought into this ifland 

 bj the Arabs, who made a conqueft of h 

 about three hundred years ago. Their paper 

 IS made in the valley of Amboule : it is ma- 

 nufadured from the Pa0rus mktka, which 

 the Madecafles nan^c Sanga-Sanga^ They 

 pull off with great dexterity the inner bark 

 of this tree ; divide it into very thin fila-* 

 ments, which they moiAen with water ; 

 and having laid them acrofa each other, in 

 various diredions, prefs them well down, 

 They are then boiled in a ftrong lye of 

 •flies, and afterwards pounded in a large 

 wooden mortar till they are reduced to a 

 pafte. This pafte is waflied and drenched 

 with water upon a frame made of bamboos^ 

 in the form of a grate. When this opera-* 

 tion is finifhed, the leaves are fpread out 



to 



