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CHAP. V. DAILY MARKET AT TAMATAVE. 125 plaited straw, &c. Most of the articles were spread upon the ground, some on a little sort of raised platform of earth or sand, the sides of which were edged in a remarkable manner with the shoulder-bones of oxen stuck in the ground, the broad part upwards. The venders sometimes sat in the centre of the platform and sometimes by the side. The butchers were busy cutting up the meat, which was spread upon the ground on broad plantain or other leaves. It was sold in pieces, not by weight. Mixed up with these articles were all kinds of poultry, including guinea-fowls which are native, and turkeys which have been introduced. In one place there were different kinds of black or brown parrots; and in another a man was very anxious to persuade me to buy three young tenrecs, apparently the spiny tenrec, which he had in a cage. A large black and white lemur, the ruffed lemur, a splendid animal, quite tame, was very attractively exhibited. I observed various kinds of salt, also tobacco in leaf and manufactured, as well as snuff in abundance; snuff-boxes or tobacco-boxes made of small pieces of polished cane, and a sort of perfume resembling ointment. I went into several of the houses, where numbers of lambas, or native scarfs, of varied pattern and quality were for sale. The patterns of some of the native fabrics were both tasteful and attractive. The money changers were busy cutting up dollars, and half and quarter dollars, and smaller pieces, cut silver, valued by weight, being the universal currency. They cut the dollar up by laying it on a block, placing a large knife upon it, and striking the knife with a hammer. This process was carried on at the threshold of the doors in the market. The greatest drawback to the interest which the novel spectacle of a market in Madagascar presented, was the great number of huts in which a barrel of arrak, a fiery kind of rum made in the island, was placed for sale. There