Let us, following Malagasy politeness, call out before we enter, “_Haody, haody?_” equivalent to, “May we come in?” And while we wait a minute or two, during which the mistress of the house is reaching down a clean mat for us to sit down on, we notice that the threshold is raised a foot or more above the ground on either side, sometimes more, so that a stone is placed as a step inside and out. Entering the house in response to the hospitable welcome, “_Màndrosòa, Tòmpoko é_,” “Walk forward, sir” (or madam), we step over the raised threshold. In some parts of Imèrina a kind of closet, looking more like a large oven than anything else, is made of clay at the south-east corner, opposite the door, and here, as in an Irish cabin, the pig finds a place at night, and above it the fowls roost. Near the door the large wooden mortar or _laona_ for pounding rice generally stands, and near it are the _fanòto_ or pestle, a long round piece of wood, and the _sahàfa_ or large shallow wooden dish in which the rice is winnowed from husk removed by pounding. At about the middle of the eastern side of the house are placed two or three globular _sìny_ or water-pots, the mouths covered with a small basket to keep out the dust. Farther on, but near the west side, is the _fàtana_ or hearth, a small enclosure about three feet square. In this are fixed five stones, on which the rice-cooking pots are arranged over the fire. And over this is sometimes fixed a light framework upon which the cooking-pots are placed when not in use. There is no chimney, the smoke finding its way out through windows or door or slowly through the rush or grass thatch, and so the house is generally black and sooty above, long strings of cobweb and soot hanging down from the roof. Such appendages were considered as marks of long residence and honour, and so the phrase, _mainty molàly_, _lit._ “black from soot,” is a very honourable appellation, and is applied to things ancient, such as the first Christian hymns; and missionaries who have been a long time resident in the island are given this name as a mark of respect. The north-east corner of the house is the sacred portion of it, and is called _zòro firaràzana_—_i.e._ the corner where the _ràry_ or war-chant was sung and where any religious act connected with the former idolatry was performed, and in which the _sàmpy_ or household charm was kept in a basket suspended from the wall. In this corner also is the fixed bedstead, which, especially in royal houses, was often raised up some height above the ground and reached by a notched post serving as a ladder, and sometimes screened with mats or coarse cloth. West of this, close to the north roof-post, is the place of honour, _avàra-pàtana_, “north of the hearth,” where guests are invited to sit down, a clean mat being spread as a seat, just as a chair is handed in European houses. [Sidenote: FURNITURE]