HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
277 
Considering the distinct sources whence it is evident 
Madagascar has been peopled, and the comparatively 
modern amalgamation of any large portion of the different 
and independent tribes under one government, there is a 
great similarity in the dress of all its inhabitants. This 
uniformity appears the more remarkable, when we remem¬ 
ber the variety of articles suitable for different kinds of 
apparel, which the island produces. Cotton, hemp, and 
silk, of the most valuable kinds, abound in the country, and 
the arts of spinning and weaving have long been known to 
the people. To the garments prepared from these 
materials, may be added importations of cotton, silk, and 
woollen cloth by merchants and traders from the East 
Indies, as well as from Europe and America. In some of 
the provinces, stuffs manufactured from the stem of the 
banana are fine and light, equal in beauty to those of silk, 
and woven in the same manner. The cotton cloths made 
for the governor of Anosy are the most esteemed, being 
the finest and strongest that are to be found in the island. 
The ordinary dress of the Malagasy is not only uniform, 
but simple. It consists generally of two, and at most of 
three garments, which are chiefly of hemp or cotton, varied 
among the slaves and poorer classes, by a cloth inferior to 
either of these, and manufactured from the bark of the 
rofia, the banana, and some other trees; and among the 
rich, by the more soft and costly silk, or foreign cassimere 
and broad-cloths. Children of either sex, under five or six 
years of age, in Madagascar are not pressed by the weight, 
or fettered in the free use of their limbs by the confinement 
of clothes of any kind; nor do the articles of clothing worn 
by those of more advanced years subject them to much 
inconvenience by their number, or the tightness with whick 
they are fitted to the person. 
