206 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
dually swells, absorbs the water, and encrusts on the inside 
of the vessel—the rice in the middle becoming dry, though, 
towards the outside, the grains adhere. It is then pro¬ 
nounced masaka , “done, ripe.” 
Meat is either boiled, roasted, fried, or stewed; though 
in a manner somewhat different from that practised in 
Europe and other countries, where the animal is skinned 
before being cut up into joints or steaks, and cooked. The 
flesh of most animals is cooked with the skin and hair on; 
which (excepting at festivals) is invariably the case with 
their beef :* the skin is so peculiarly palatable, that square 
pieces of it, with a portion of fat adhering to them, are 
frequently boiled till they form one gelid or glutinous 
mass, when they constitute a dish in high repute with the 
Malagasy epicures. The thickest parts of the skin are the 
greatest delicacies. 
Their meat is boiled or stewed in an earthen or iron 
vessel, or fried in one of the same kind; and when roasted 
or baked, is suspended or fixed in the blaze of the fire, or 
placed among burning embers of the hearth. 
The jaky , meat, eaten at the great annual feast, is cut 
into long strips or slices, dried in the smoke of their houses, 
and torn to pieces, till in appearance it resembles burnt 
shreds of cloth or leather. Before being served up for 
food, it is fried or stewed with fat. 
* This is an exceedingly primitive mode, if we are to receive the testi¬ 
mony of a Chinese writer, who states, that “ in high antiquity human beings 
inhabited the dens and caves of the wilderness ; and, free from jealousy or 
opposition, cultivated the friendship of animals. But when men began to 
exercise wisdom, beasts became their enemies, whose claws, tusks, horns, 
and venomous properties, rendered them exceedingly formidable. Habita¬ 
tions were built of wood for protection, and the human species began to 
study the art of self-preservation. From ignorance of agriculture, and 
want of skill to procure fire, they subsisted on grass, wild fruits, and raw 
flesh, which they ate with the hair on.” 
