282 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR 
CHAP. XI. 
absence of this information in the present instance made 
no difference in the exercise of that hospitality which is 
always so welcome to a stranger. As soon as my palanquin 
was set down, a chief spread a mat in the shade, and re¬ 
quested me to be seated; another brought me a bunch of 
ripe bananas, two or three of which I found very refreshing. 
Two chiefs, who appeared to be travellers, made many in¬ 
quiries as to my object in going to the capital. One asked 
whether I had any military uniforms to sell. The other 
asked whether I was a missionary or a doctor. He said he 
had heard that I took many likenesses of the people when I 
was in the country before, and that he had seen some of them, 
and wished to know if I intended to take the likenesses of 
the chiefs at the capital. 
When the rest of our party arrived, I crossed over the 
Lake Rasoabe to a group of houses on the opposite shore, as 
the lapa, or queen’s house, was there, and would be more 
comfortable than any of those around us. While waiting 
on the beach until the canoe was ready, I observed some of 
the men collecting quantities of a dark-coloured, but shining 
micaceous sand, which they afterwards dried and carried to 
the capital, for the writers there to use instead of blotting- 
paper. On reaching the opposite side of the lake, I was 
conducted to the house appropriated to the use of travellers 
connected with the government; and the chief of the place 
soon afterwards brought me a couple of mullets and a small 
basket of eggs. 
The internal arrangements of the house differed, in some 
respects, from those of the country on the other side of the 
lake, and the difference, I was told, characterised the houses 
of the Betanimena. The hearth, or cooking-place, was si¬ 
tuated towards the north-east corner of the house j and at 
each corner of the raised kerb of stones surrounding the 
hearth, a strong post ten or twelve feet high was fixed in the 
ground. Four feet above the fireplace the space between 
