THE PAST AND THE FUTURE. 
283 
The amount of United States capital employed 
in trade in the island is very large, and the cotton 
goods of our cousins across the Atlantic are here, 
as elsewhere, pushing our own goods firmly but 
quietly out of all the native markets. The secret 
of this is that the Americans make a good, use¬ 
ful, and undressed and unadulterated cloth, not 
so showy, perhaps, as the fabrics of Lancashire, 
but sound and serviceable. The decline in the 
English trade in this particular class of manu¬ 
factures throughout the east, and the constantly 
increasing demand for the American calico and 
sheeting in preference to English make, is simply 
due to the fact that the secret of the China clay 
process is out, and the sagacity and experience of 
the native population leads them of course to buy 
in the cheapest market the article that is most 
useful and of best value for the money. Will 
English friends take the hint before it is too late ? 
The alliance between the Government of the 
United States and the Hova power is being 
drawn closer each year, and the evident Ameri¬ 
canising of the people and island is an inter¬ 
esting feature of its present condition. The 
strength and moral power of such an intimacy 
will be invaluable to the Malagasy, as, for obvious 
reasons, a close alliance with any European power 
for offensive and defensive purposes is out of the 
question. 
