The harbor of Tamatavé is the best in the whole island; and in the fine season, from April to the end of October, many ships arrive here from the Mauritius and Bourbon, to take in cargoes of oxen, of which between ten and eleven thousand head are exported annually. About two thirds of the number go to the Mauritius, and only one third to Bourbon, although there is no great difference between these two islands, either in extent or in population. But there are many Englishmen in the Mauritius, who are more ardent admirers of roast-beef than the French.
It is a singular circumstance that Queen Ranavola does not allow the exportation of cows; she thinks, in her cunning wisdom, that if she allowed cows to be taken away, the recipients would soon breed cattle for themselves, and the demand for them from Madagascar would cease. Of course, she has no idea that the two islands derive far greater profits from their sugar plantations than the land would yield as mere pasture-ground for cattle. A fine ox, worth about £2 5s. in Madagascar, would cost four or five times that sum if reared in Bourbon or the Mauritius.
Besides the oxen, rice, rabanetas, and poultry are exported. Rabanetas are a kind of mats, on which the sugar is spread out to dry when it comes out of the last pan. They are also used as tapestry to cover the walls and floors of rooms, and the poorest classes even wear them as clothes.
During the fine-weather season there is much bustle in Mademoiselle Julie’s house. There are sometimes four or five ships in the harbor at once. The captains are all friends of my hostess, who gives them a general invitation to dinner, and may be said to keep free table. At the time of my visit, which, however, was quite at the commencement of the fine season, the concourse was certainly not so great. I never saw more than two ships in the harbor at once.
Tamatavé may one day become a very important place, when this fruitful island is thrown open to Europeans, and free trade allowed to all nations.
Now, the place looks like a poor but very large village. Its population, including that of the district immediately around, is reckoned at four or five thousand souls: among these are 800 soldiers, and about a dozen Europeans and Creoles from Bourbon. Except the few houses belonging to these latter, and to a few well-to-do Hovas and Malagaseys, one sees nothing but little huts, some scattered about without order or arrangement, others forming narrow streets. These huts rest on poles from six to ten feet in height, are built of wood or of bamboo, thatched with long grass or palm-leaves, and contain a single room, of which the fireplace occupies a large part, so that the family can scarcely find sleeping room. Windows there are none, but two doors, at opposite sides of the wall; the door on the windward or weather side is always kept closed.
The houses of the wealthier inhabitants are built of the same materials as the habitations of the poor, but they are larger and loftier. They contain only one room, which is, however, divided by low partitions into three or four portions; these houses of the wealthy have also windows, but they are not glazed.
The bazar is situate in the midst of the village, on an ugly, uneven plot of ground, and is remarkable alike for its poverty and its dirt. A supply of beef, some sugar-cane, rice, rabanetas, and a few fruits, are generally all that is to be found there; and the whole stock of one of the dealers, who squat about on the ground, is often not worth more than a quarter of a piastre. The oxen are slaughtered in the bazar itself, and the skins are not taken off, but sold in strips with the meat, being considered a great delicacy. Meat is not bought according to weight, but according to the size of each piece, measured by the eye. Whoever wants to buy or sell any thing in this country must provide himself with a small pair of money-scales, for there are no coins in Madagascar except the Spanish dollar; and it is only within the last two years, since Mr. Lambert came here for the first time and brought some five-franc pieces with him, that the last-mentioned coins have become current. In the absence of small change, the dollars and five-franc pieces are cut into greater and smaller portions, often into more than five hundred chips.
To my great surprise, I heard that, in spite of their ignorance and savagery, the natives knew so well how to counterfeit these dollars, that it requires some practice and a close inspection to detect the spurious coins.
The natives of Tamatavé are principally Malagaseys. They appeared to me more repulsive than the negroes and Malays, whose ugliest features are found united in their physiognomy. They have wide mouths, with thick lips, broad flat noses, protruding chins, and prominent cheek-bones. Their complexion varies through all shades of a muddy brown. As a sole redeeming point, some of them have regular teeth of a pearly whiteness; and sometimes a handsome pair of eyes may be seen. Their hair, on the other hand, is marked by peculiar hideousness; it is coal-black, but as woolly as the negro’s, and much coarser and longer, sometimes attaining a length of two feet. When this hair is worn in all its native luxuriance, it has a horribly disfiguring effect. The face seems quite lost in a virgin forest of thick frizzled hair, standing out in all directions. Fortunately, few wear it in this way. The men often have their hair cut off quite short at the back of the head, and leave only a length of six or eight inches in front, which looks comical enough, as the hair stands upright, and forms a woolly topknot; but it is not so bad as the virgin forest. The women, and some of the men too, who are exceedingly proud of their hirsute ornaments, and can not make up their minds to shorten them, plait them into a number of little tails. Some let these tails hang all about their heads, while others unite them into bands or bunches, so as to cover the whole head. This kind of head-dress takes a good deal of time in preparing, particularly in the cases of the richer Malagaseys, who have their hair plaited into an infinite number of these little tails. On the head of one of these native beauties I counted above sixty plaits. The good lady’s slaves must have had a good day’s work in bringing them to the right pitch of perfection. On the other hand, it may be urged that such a head-dress does not require renewing continually, but will remain in all its pristine loveliness for several days.