132 
MADAGASCAR 
of the loom, which shews remarkable skill on the part 
of the natives, and has suffered least in the singularity 
of its character. Different vegetable fibres are made 
use of—cotton, hemp and raphia-yarn. The latter sup¬ 
plies the palm cloths found throughout the island and 
very durable, which at present often make their way 
even to Europe. They are made from the leaf fibres of 
the raphia palm, by drawing an iron comb through the 
expanse of leaf and thus slitting it up; the palm yarn 
can be made of any required length by knitting the ends 
together. Then follows the colouring of the thread, for 
which the Malagasy use mineral dyes as well as fast 
vegetable colours. The loom is as primitive as possible, 
and the shuttle is a long piece of wood forked at both 
ends. Weaving is the duty of the women exclusively. 
The palm cloths (Raban-cloth) have generally dull colours 
—green, yellowish brown, brown and black. They are 
woven in strips, the pieces being generally 10 ft. long 
and 20 inches broad, with loosely tied tufts at the ends. 
The Europeans resident in the island use them as table 
cloths, curtains and the like; the natives make rough 
jackets, shirts and bags of them. The silken cloths, lambas 
and scarves woven by the Hova women in Imerina are 
very valuable. 
Besides one silkworm, which has been introduced, Mada¬ 
gascar possesses indigenous silk-spinners which produce 
a very durable if somewhat coarse silk. Two species are 
known, Bo 77 tbyx radama and Borocera cajani. 
In the beginning of September I received numerous 
specimens of the webs spun by the Madagascar silk 
moths, large yellowish gray or light brown bags, reminding 
one somewhat of the nests spun by the procession moth 
of the birch or by that of the stone pine. This large 
cocoon contained from 80 to 130 hairy red-headed larvae, 
which turned to pupae in the interior of their wonderful 
cocoon, and in the winter produced tolerably large moths 
