294 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
An account of the army will be given in a subsequent 
chapter, it would therefore be superfluous here to describe 
the occupations of the soldiers in war and on garrison 
duty. 
The individuals following the professions, or sustaining 
the offices already noticed, comprise but a very small por¬ 
tion of the entire community; the great body of the people 
depend on their own exertions, or the labours of their slaves, 
for the means of support. Their occupations may, to a 
certain extent, be said to divide them into three distinct 
classes, viz. the agriculturalists and herdsmen or shepherds; 
those that are engaged in handicrafts or manufactures; and 
the traders, and hucksters or pedlars. The former are the 
most numerous and important; indeed there are few, if any 
of the people who are not more or less engaged in the cul¬ 
tivation of the soil, or the feeding of cattle. The most 
important and general department of native agriculture is 
the growth of rice ; in which is probably occupied a larger 
portion of time than in all the other employments combined, 
especially about the commencement and the close of the 
rainy season; the former being the season for planting 
the grain, the latter for gathering in the harvest. From 
the extent to which the nation is dependent on the supply 
of this valuable grain, some account of the manner in which 
it is cultivated, more in detail than might otherwise be 
necessary, will not be considered as inappropriate. 
Many of the Malagasy in the neighbourhood of the 
capital, and more particularly in the Betsileo provinces, are 
very attentive to their rice-grounds, preserving them with 
great care, and keeping them remarkably clean. After 
the crop is removed, the ground is generally left untouched 
for three or four months, after which it is dug up with the 
native spade in large clods, twelve or eighteen inches square, 
