122 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAE. 
CHAP, y 
instruct me in Malagasy in return, an agreement into which 
I very readily entered. Like many other of the native youths, 
they were fond of writing; and considering that they were 
almost entirely self-taught, they wrote remarkably well. 
They were types of a class very numerous in the island at 
the present time, and very important—youths eager after 
instruction, thirsting for information, and glad to avail them¬ 
selves of every means within reach to increase their know¬ 
ledge. I could not but deeply regret that no means existed 
for opening to them access to the fountains of knowledge and 
the sources of improvement which schools and books would 
supply. 
Soon after my arrival, I paid one or two visits to the cattle- 
market, which is on the outside of the village. The stock 
was not numerous, and the kinds such as with us would be 
considered neither desirable nor profitable, being large-boned, 
large-headed, and not very well covered with flesh. In the 
market there were neither sheep nor goats, though both may 
be seen in the interior of the country. The cattle are all of 
the buffalo species, having the hump between the shoulders ; 
and so highly is this part of the animal esteemed, and so 
averse are the people to all innovation, that on one occasion, 
when some animals of a superior breed were introduced from 
the Cape, the inhabitants of Tamatave, where they were 
landed, would not allow them to be turned loose, lest their 
own cattle should be deteriorated by breeding with them. 
In the market the cattle stood generally in small groups 
of three or four together, occasionally a cow and her calf, or 
even a single cow. The traffic amongst the natives them¬ 
selves did not appear to be very brisk. The cattle supplied 
to the traders for exportation are sold at the same place, or 
at the other end of the village nearer the shipping. The price 
is fixed by the government at fifteen dollars a head, besides 
other charges. A captain of a vessel states how many he re- 
