HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
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three or four yards in length, and two or three in breadth. 
The royal lamba, which is held in highest estimation, is 
of tine scarlet English broad-cloth, bordered and richly 
ornamented with gold lace, imparting to the figure arrayed 
in its rich and ample folds, a splendid and imposing appear¬ 
ance. The scarlet lamba is worn by the king on sacred 
festivals, and other state occasions; scarlet is the royal 
colour in Madagascar, and though the nobles and others 
are allowed to wear robes in which scarlet is intermingled 
with other colours, the use of the lamba or other dress of 
entire scarlet is the prerogative of the sovereign alone, to 
whom belongs also the distinction of using a scarlet um¬ 
brella. 
The other kinds of lamba are the kasena , which is of native 
or foreign silk, woven by the inhabitants in their rustic 
looms. It is rich, durable, and beautiful in appearance, 
presenting a series of broad stripes throughout its entire 
length, amongst which bright scarlet, crimson, purple, 
orange, and white are the most frequent colours; it is also 
ornamented with a rich and variegated border, and deep and 
curious fringe. Next in value to the kasena is the totorano , 
which is of white cotton, with a deep border of dark blue 
at each end. The third kind of lamba is the roronga, 
which is made of the native hempen or white European 
cloth. A fourth kind is of native cotton or hempen cloth, 
dyed of a rich chesnut brown or black colour, with a fringe 
or border of the same colour. Among the Betsileo, this 
kind of lamba is frequently used with a sort of beads made 
of a composition of silver or lead. The remaining lamba 
is the jako, which is the coarse native cloth or matting 
manufactured from the dyed bark of the useful rofia, which 
supplies a large portion of the poorer classes in the country 
with their ordinary and almost only clothing. A dress of 
