342 VISITS TO MADAGASCAB. CHAP XII. In front of this the woman sat on the ground. At the distance of six or seven feet were two short sticks driven into the ground, with a rod stretching across, and over this the woof of silk to be woven was fastened. It is with apparatus so simple and fragile that the beautiful lambas of the Hovas, with their rich colours and elegantly figured patterns, are woven. Silkworms are numerous in some of the provinces, and silk might he produced in great abundance. Although on entering I requested that the woman would not disturb herself, she soon untied the different parts of the loom, rolled up the silk, placed it in a rush basket standing by her side, pulled up the stakes, and, in less than five minutes, no sign of the work in which she had been engaged was to be seen. The bedstead, I found, was a fixture, the posts being driven into the ground. The fire-place was near the foot of the bed, and a small window at the end. In the course of the evening, upwards of twenty friends came down from the capital to express their thankfulness and joy at my arrival. Some of them were remarkable looking men, whose presence would have commanded respect in any intelligent assembly, and whose past history of peril and deliverance was amongst the most remarkable and deeply interesting of any I had ever listened to. They quite filled my little room. Ejaculations of grateful joy at our meeting were all that, for some time, could be uttered, and these were mingled with tears. Many earnest and af fectionate inquiries after friends, who had formerly resided in the country, were made. Many deeply affecting accounts of events and changes and deaths amongst themselves were re lated ; and long, indeed, it was before we separated. How much more interesting, and permanently affecting, has the history of a number of these men since become !
