144 
MADAGASCAR 
As the Malagasy have adopted many European require¬ 
ments the import of foreign goods has gradually mounted 
up. Among articles of consumption we must give the 
pre-eminence to salt and rum. The former is brought from 
Hamburg and Marseilles to the east coast, while the 
rum comes chiefly from the island of Mauritius. The 
manufacture of this alcoholic drink has greatly increased 
in consequence of the sugar crises, and so has the demand 
Landing-stage at Point Ilastie in Tamatave. 
for it in Madagascar. In the most wretched village of 
the east coast, where it is perhaps impossible to hunt up 
a piece of meat or a couple of eggs, a sufficient supply 
of this drink is always to be found. The Hova kept 
it away from their district as much as possible, and it 
is to be wished that its importation may be made more 
difficult for the tribes of the east coast, for they have 
already suffered severely from the immoderate consumption 
of rum. 
