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boggy or marshy lands, and the natives frequently 
use artificial means to promote its cultivation. The 
Vontombre grows only in winter, is smaller, and of a 
bitterish taste. There is still another species, called 
Varehondre, something similar to the first-mentioned, 
but of no account, and only sown where the others 
fail of a crop. Modern botanists reckon eleven 
varieties of rice at Madagascar. 
There are several kinds of yams, (Ignames), the 
general name for which is Ouvi:—they are Ouvi-hare, 
Ouvi-soabei, Cambares, Ouvi-foutchi, Ofeque, Ma- 
vondre, and Maleve, 
The Ouvi-foutchi are the best and dearest; 
they grow to the size of a man’s body in a fat 
soil, and one hundred and fifty of their roots are 
worth an ox :—their colour is grey. The Soabeis 
are the next in quality, and about half the size of 
the preceding :—their colour is white. 
The Cambares and Ouvi-hares are of equal size, 
and of a violet colour: the first are nearly of equal 
value with the Ouvi-foutchi, and one plant produces 
three or four roots, whereas the latter seldom pro¬ 
duces but one or two. 
The Ouvihares are cheaper than any of the 
foregoing, but of an agreeable quality; they take root 
easier, and are the common food of the slaves: they 
cut them into from four to twelve pieces, and plant 
them by handfuls. In eight months’ time they are 
ripe. 
The Ofeque is a species of yam that yields a bitter 
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