CHAP. XII. 
NOVEL MODE OF FATTENING POULTRY. 
327 
between both her own, she continued, <s 0 Ramonja, Ra- 
monja! how happy you will be!” At length, when she had 
persuaded me to be seated, she squatted down on the mat, 
and, gathering her lamba closely round her shoulders, sat for 
some time, gazing stedfastly at me in silence. I was informed 
that she had been Prince Ramonja’s nurse, was allowed to 
call him her child, and knowing the pleasure my arrival 
would afford him, had thus given vent to her feelings. 
I had not been long in the house before an aide-de-camp 
from the capital arrived with a letter from the Prince Ra¬ 
monja himself, expressing, in terms of much affection, the 
pleasure which the news of my approach had afforded him, 
and informing me that he had sent instructions that a bullock 
and other provisions should be presented on our arrival at 
Angavo. I had much pleasant conversation with the officer 
who brought the letter, and who was, in personal appearance, 
one of the finest men I had seen. 
Between one and two o’clock my breakfast was brought. 
Amongst the presents I had received on the previous day 
were some fowls which had been fed in a manner peculiar to 
Madagascar. The bird is confined in a hole, or a close sort of 
basket, and fed with a paste made of rice flour (much in the 
same way that turkeys are sometimes crammed), until it be¬ 
comes enormously fat. One of these birds had been cooked 
for my breakfast, and was almost one mass of fat. The layer 
of fat on the legs and some other parts was a full inch in 
thickness. Fowls thus fed are said to fetch a high price in 
the market, and to be esteemed by Malagasy epicures as 
excellent eating. 
In the course of the afternoon, the prince’s head man here, 
and most of his people, came and requested'to see me. On 
going out, I found my friends, and the chiefs who had 
travelled with me, arranged along the front of the house, 
and the head man of the village and his friends on the oppo- 
