PRODUCE 
123 
undulating country, and have laid out boundless rice- 
fields, the keeping up of which has been aided by the 
irrigation canals, in many places artificially constructed. 
In general it must be emphasized that Madagascar 
not only produces everything that is necessary for the 
support of its population, but also provides an abundant 
surplus. 
If we give closer attention to the agriculture of Mad¬ 
agascar we shall find that rice everywhere takes the 
first place among the objects of cultivation. A few tribes 
proceed in a somewhat primitive manner, as instead of 
hoe or plough they make use of oxen, which have to 
work the wet fields with their feet; the rice is then 
simply sown broadcast. The Hova, and still more the Betsi- 
leo, proceed with much more care, believing that rice never 
prospers well unless it is transplanted. They construct 
special terraces on the slopes of the valleys and sow 
the rice in the dry season. Artificial irrigation is then 
produced by collecting together the neighbouring streams. 
On many of the hills as many as a hundred green ter¬ 
races, planted with rice, may be met with. When the 
rice plants are from 6 to 8 inches high they are taken 
out of the earth and planted in the paddy fields by the 
women slaves. This is done very quickly, but the 
magnitude of this industry may be estimated if we con¬ 
sider that, according to Sibree’s account, westward from 
Antananarivo there extends a splendid rice plain 22 
miles long and 10 broad. “When the rice is fresh 
planted, or when it is nearly ripe in autumn, it presents 
a glorious sight; the villages and the low red hills of 
clay rise like islands out of green waves or out of a 
sea of gold.” 
Nearly a dozen different varieties are said to be grown 
in the island. The white and the red are most fre¬ 
quently met with, the former being especially valued in 
the Central Province. The harvest is garnered in sheds. 
