cuAr. n. THE TRADE OE TIIE ISLAND. 35 notice than that representing the late Duke presenting a birth day present to one of the royal children. The chief topic of conversation, however, with the people generally had reference to the opening of the trade. They said there were large quantities of rice accumulated in the neighbourhood of the ports, that the country was full of fat cattle, and could supply any number required, while poultry of all kinds was equally abundant; but that cloth, and other articles of European manufacture were scarce. All trade with the English or French, other than those residing in the island, was prohibited; and among the natives themselves we were told that a good ox could be bought in the market for five Spanish dollars; that in the interior of the country eight or ten turkeys could be purchased for one dollar, valued at about 4s. 2d., and a score or a couple of dozen fowls for the same sum. Native productions had multiplied during the cessation of commerce, while the stoppage of the supply of money from Mauritius and Bourbon had made that article exceedingly scarce. The trade with America had somewhat increased since the rupture with the Europeans; and we met with Mr. Mack, an American connected with a mercantile house in New York, who told us that he had been some years in the country, chiefly on the western coast, and had a con tract with the government to take all the gum, and bees-wax, and Indian rubber, which might be collected for several years. Arms and ammunition, it was stated, were the chief, though not the only articles which the native government were to receive in return. It is not, however, probable that the trade with America will increase to any'great extent, as the horned cattle and rice, the two articles of export which Madagascar can supply in greatest abundance, are not those for which America is likely to furnish any demand; and the present policy of the native government seems rather directed to the subjugation of the disaffected and independent tribes within