106 * 
and hard in the same manner; namely, by boiling and 
baking. 
The trade of Madagascar is transacted by barter; 
and having no circulating medium, they are but 
imperfectly qualified to carry it on to any great extent 
beyond the province they reside in. If a person is 
in want of any article—cotton for instance, he carries 
rice, or cattle, or iron, into the cotton country, and 
exchanges them for what he wants. The usual 
medium of exchange, where no specific article is 
wanted on the one side, is spades, hoes, shovels, and 
knives, as being the most handy and convenient 
articles they possess. Sometimes they exchange gold 
and silver when they have it, but not as coin , for they 
are but little acquainted with the nature of money. 
They make little use of the immense resources their 
island contains; even the manufacture of silk is but 
slightly attended to, though they wear silk garments 
chiefly brought from the Indies. 
In weighing, they make use of the same weights as 
high as a drachm, which is denominated sompi. 
They use these in weighing gold and silver, but other 
goods are bartered by weight. 
Their measures for rice are the troubahovache, or 
king’s measure; the zatvee, which implies one hun¬ 
dred, and it contains an hundred voules, or fifty 
pounds of uncleansed rice; the monca, a measure of 
six pounds of cleansed rice; the voule, a measure of 
half a pound. Cloths, stuffs, and cordage, are mea¬ 
sured by a re/e, or measure, six feet long. In esti- 
