GAZETTE OF AGRICULTURE, TRADE, ARTS AND FINANCES. YEAR 1781, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7.

CHAPTER III. NOTICES, ANNOUNCEMENTS, NOTES, ...

Book announcement

"Voyage dans les Mers de l'Inde", made by order of the King, on the occasion of the passage of Venus over the disc of the Sun, on June 6, 1671, and the 3rd of the same month 1769. By M.le Gentil, of the Royal Academy of Sciences, printed by order of His Majesty.

This second volume is no less interesting than the first, which we reported on last year, especially as it deals with two of our most valuable Possessions in the Indian Seas, namely the Ile de France and the Ile de Bourbon. The author also speaks a great deal about the island of Madagascar, where he very much wanted France to make some solid settlements (...)

The manners and customs of the inhabitants of the island of Madagascar present peculiarities very likely to pique the curiosity of a European. The natives of Madagascar are very skilful; they melt metals, beat silver and spin it like we do. They make a kind of fabric from tree bark. This bark is called pagne. They use it for clothing. Some are of the finest quality. These pagnes are made on a small travelling loom, which is stretched every morning under a shed. In the evening, the loom is loosened, and each weaver takes his own to his hut. Here, in a few words, is the construction of this small loom, infinitely simpler and more portable than ours, and more or less the same as that of the Pondichery Indians.