280 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
this material may be obtained for about one shilling English 
money, and multitudes in Madagascar possess, from the 
cradle to the grave, no superior attire. Many of the slaves 
wear scarcely *any other clothing than a girdle of rofia, or 
other coarse cloth, but all above the very poorest wear the 
salaka and the lamba, the latter of which is the almost 
universal robe of the living, and the shroud of the dead. In 
some parts of the country, the only clothing of the slaves 
and poorer classes is a loose piece of cloth, from twelve to 
eighteen inches wide, of a dark-brown colour, and made of 
the bark of the hibiscus, simply beaten out after the manner 
of making cloth practised by the South Sea islanders. 
The lamba is worn by all classes over the shoulders, 
whence its folds hang loosely, reaching nearly to the ankles, 
the ends being drawn together in front of the wearer. On 
the persons of the men, it is adjusted so as to hang princi¬ 
pally over the left shoulder; as worn by the women, over 
the right The Betsimisaraka use the lamba and salaka as 
well as the Hovas, and, from the circumstance of their dwell¬ 
ing near the coast, are able to procure with greater facility 
European and other foreign cloths. 
Among the inhabitants of the interior, many of the men, 
when employed in driving cattle, wear a frock with sleeves, 
made of the common rofia cloth, and in shape resembling 
the frocks used by husbandmen and carters in England. 
The women also wear a sort of spencer, or short dress, 
made of fine foreign silk, Pondicherry cloth, or printed 
cotton : under this they secure the lamba, wearing it round 
them as a skirt, instead of its being thrown over the 
shoulders as a mantle or shawl. 
The serandrana , or sash, is used by the nobles and 
others for binding the salaka, or other under garments, to 
the person of the wearer. This article is often of costly 
