Show datives kep the secret the Ant almoro one of the oldest tribes of madagascar possess the se cret of making from the pulp of a na alve shrub a very beautiful and en during kind of paper resembling parchment each family possesses a few sheets of this paper on which its chronicles and traditions are recorded and the same paper is used for tran scribing the law of mohammedanism the paper is said to have b n invent ed in the middle of the ninth century by a mohammedan shipwrecked on the coat who desired to transcribe his torn and water soaked copy of the koran in an enduring form say youth s companion the will only make the paper for sale when some pressing necessity arises |