342 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR 
CHAP. XII. 
In front of this the woman sat on the ground. At the 
distance of six or seven feet were two short sticks driven into 
the ground, with a rod stretching across, and over this the 
woof of silk to he woven was fastened. It is with apparatus 
so simple and fragile that the beautiful lambas of the Hovas, 
with their rich colours and elegantly figured patterns, are 
woven. Silkworms are numerous in some of the provinces, 
and silk might be produced in great abundance. 
Although on entering I requested that the woman would 
not disturb herself, she soon untied the different parts of the 
loom, rolled up the silk, placed it in a rush basket standing 
by her side, pulled up the stakes, and, in less than five 
minutes, no sign of the work in which she had been engaged 
was to be seen. The bedstead, I found, was a fixture, the 
posts being driven into the ground. The fire-place was near 
the foot of the bed, and a small window at the end. 
In the course of the evening, upwards of twenty friends 
came down from the capital to express their thankfulness 
and joy at my arrival. Some of them were remarkable 
looking men, whose presence would have commanded respect 
in any intelligent assembly, and whose past history of peril 
and deliverance was amongst the most remarkable and 
deeply interesting of any I had ever listened to. They 
quite filled my little room. Ejaculations of grateful joy at 
our meeting were all that, for some time, could be uttered, 
and these were mingled with tears. Many earnest and af¬ 
fectionate inquiries after friends, who had formerly resided in 
the country, were made. Many deeply affecting accounts of 
events and changes and deaths amongst themselves were re¬ 
lated ; and long, indeed, it was before we separated. How 
much more interesting, and permanently affecting, has the 
history of a number of these men since become ! 
