OUTLINE GEAMMAE AND YOCABULAEY. 331 
borezana (bourgeois), lakosy (la cuisine), for- 
sety (fork), lasety (plate), commandy (com¬ 
mander). But perhaps it is in the direction 
of higher knowledge that the strengthening of 
the language is most clearly seen. Great care 
has been exercised by those who have had charge 
of the educational institutions at the capital to 
secure, as far as possible, a uniform method of 
spelling and pronunciation in all the publications 
issued for teaching purposes, so that now the 
language may be said really to be consolidating 
itself, and taking permanent form and sound. 
The natives are extremely painstaking and per¬ 
severing in acquiring the arts of reading and writ¬ 
ing. They attend the schools in great numbers, and 
it is no uncommon thing to see grey-headed men 
and women patiently mastering the difficulties of 
the alphabet, or struggling to secure the appro¬ 
bation of their teachers for their “ pot-hooks and 
hangers/’ One dear old Malagasy friend of mine 
used to recount the story with no common pride, 
of his having taught himself to read and write 
after he was sixty years of age. The children 
learn very quickly, and soon speak English or 
French fairly well. They are beautiful penmen, 
and as a rule write a clear and very graceful 
hand. But “ speech ” is after all the great 
strength of a Malagasy. He is a born orator. 
The most trivial circumstance is introduced to 
