142 
MADAGASCAR 
sions, and has even suffered serious disturbance by the 
wars of the last two decades. Among articles of export 
belonging to the animal kingdom, live stock plays the 
most important part. The great wealth of the island in 
cattle has been already emphasized. As the adjacent 
colonies of Reunion and Mauritius chiefly grow sugar 
and coffee and possess no meadow land, they are depend¬ 
ent on Madagascar for their meat supply, as are also 
certain strips of the East African Coast. Sheep, pigs and 
poultry are likewise exported, and the Hova formerly 
placed export duties on them. In Tamatave the Hova 
custom-house exacted 15 francs for an ox, 2 fr. 50 c. for 
a pig, the same amount for a dozen geese, and 80 cent¬ 
imes for a dozen fowls. The most important export of 
hides was at the two coast towns of Tamatave and 
Majunga. Among vegetable articles exported, caoutchouc 
is of special importance. It comes to market in black balls 
as big as a man’s head. From to 2\ francs per lb. 
is paid for it in Tamatave. The natives get it from the 
caoutchouc liana {Vahea madagascariensis) which is fre¬ 
quent in the forest region. They make an incision in the 
stalks where they are of the thickness of the thumb and 
collect into vessels the sap which exudes. The sap is 
made to run more quickly by the application of citric 
or sulphuric acid, and it has at first a pale pink colour. 
It is then made into balls and blackened with smoke by 
being preserved in the huts. As the liana is of tolerably 
rapid growth and the demand for the produce is conti¬ 
nually increasing, regular plantations of the caoutchouc 
liana in the forests by the coast might yield good profit 
and be of great importance in the future. So long as the 
condition of the law under the Hova government failed 
to give the necessary feeling of security, so that it 
was impossible to establish large forest farms, the 
enterprise of capitalists was unable to engage in extensive 
caoutchouc culture. Unfortunately, the want of care on 
