HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
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the same zone, are most valuable in kind, and highly con¬ 
ducive to vigour and health. The numerous herds of 
cattle, which constitute the chief wealth of the Malagasy, 
supply one of the most constant and serviceable kinds of 
food to all, excepting the very poorest classes in society. 
The animal food of the Malagasy comprises the flesh of fish, 
fowls, and beasts; the latter including those esteemed the 
best by all tribes of men. The productions of their soil 
comprise vegetables, roots, and fruits. 
Among the several kinds of animal food, the flesh of 
the ox is most valuable and abundant. Beef is termed, by 
way of eminence, hena, meat; all other kinds of meat being 
distinguished by affixing the animal’s name. The dis¬ 
tinction probably arose from the flesh of the ox being the 
the first, and for a time the only, as it is now the chief, kind 
of animal food used by the people. The ox is the only 
animal that is slaughtered for sale in the markets; sheep, 
goats, and all others, are sold alive. Besides beef and 
mutton, veal and lamb are sometimes used. 
No pigs are allowed to come to the capital; but pork 
is eaten in the Sakalava country, and other parts of the 
island inhabited by the dark-coloured tribes, who also eat 
the flesh of the wild boar. Goats are eaten by some, as 
are also monkeys and hedgehogs, of many kinds and degrees 
of delicacy. 
The poultry of the Malagasy comprises turkeys, geese, 
and ducks, with tame and wild fowl. Fowls are abundant. 
They have also a species of wild fowl resembling the 
pheasant; guinea-fowl, tame and wild; various kinds of 
birds, especially one in shape like a partridge, but smaller. 
Tortoises, turtles; eggs of hens, ducks, and all birds, as 
well as those of the crocodile. In their estimate of eggs 
used as food, those that contain chickens are said to be 
