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| Introduction | Chapter I | Chapter II | Chapter III | Chapter IV | Chapter V | Chapter VI | Appendix |
Payment of Marmites — Current Coin — White Ants — Park Scenery — Ampanirano — Angraecums — Lake Erangy — Andranakooditra — Horned Owl — Fleas — Takalampona — Travelling along the Seashore — Ferry — Woods — Pantomazina — Lemur albifrons — Makis — A hasty Meal — Sago Palms — Ivavongy — King’s Lapa — Sakalava Drums — Botanist.
Thursday, July 24th.—I was up before daybreak, and bathed by moonlight in a small pond behind the village, after which I employed myself in sketching until breakfast was ready, while Anson superintended the payment of the promised advance of half-a-dollar to each of the men. The Marmites are very particular about their money; the current coin of the realm is the dollar, or rather the French five-franc piece, and this is cut up into halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths. They are never tired of weighing and testing their money, so as to ensure their not being cheated. This matter being settled at last, most of the baggage was sent on by 8.45, and our party followed, some in palanquins, some on foot.
After leaving Trano Maro, the track is narrower, the trees look more healthy, and there is an absence of those blanched, gaunt, dead trunks of trees which are so remarkable a feature of the country between Trano Maro and Hivondro River. The white ants seem to be responsible for this ; all along the coast multitudes of their nests are to he seen up in the trees, the sides of which are covered with their tracks; the trees themselves are very soon destroyed hy them. Plenty of paroquets, green pigeons, cardinals, egrets, hlack and white crows, flying about here, furnished occupation for our guns. The thickets became closer, but the path still continued as broad as an English highway, and covered with beautiful turf. The scenery altogether reminded me of a shrubbery or wilderness in some lovely park in England, and we could almost have expected to see at the next turn a beautiful mansion, with lawns and gardens ; instead of which, however, we only passed the squalid huts of a few charcoal-burners, and woodcutters, who stared with wondering eyes at our caravan, which extended over from two to three miles of country.
Turning out of the forest at Tanyfotsy, and crossing a small stream, we came once more upon the sea-shore, and travelling along the sand for a few miles reached Ampanirano, a small village on a lake. This lake was only about a mile long, and, like most of the lagoons about the coast, was covered with dwarf pandanus and large arums, with papyrus. Here we halted at mid-day and breakfasted.
I shot two very pretty birds, one a small hummingbird with two bright yellow spots on its shoulders, the other a grey bird, the size of a thrush, with red eyes. It was very hot, and we often had to rest under the thick bushes, and so had plenty of time to admire the magnificent orchids which were in full blossom around and above us on every side, more especially the Angrcecum ses-quipedale and super bum, on which the Rev. W. Ellis expatiates in his work on Madagascar. Our course after this brought us to one of the largest of the lakes — Lake Erangy - where we halted at a collection of wretched cottages, on a high bank of sand, between the lake and the sea, called Andranakooditra. After having arranged our things for the night we walked out along the coast, but only shot a few sandpipers; bathed in the sea, and whilst waiting for dinner shot a large horned owl. We also caught sight of a goatsucker, which, however, it was then too dark to shoot.
The fleas are always a great annoyance to us at night, and we have to anoint ourselves with camphor, which we find a partial remedy. Anson has another touch of fever.
Friday, 25th July.—Daylight saw us stirring. The usual custom was to pack off everything as early as possible, leaving just sufficient to enable us to breakfast comfortably. Got a dip in the sea—the chance of a shark there being less than that of a crocodile in the lake. Our journey to-day led us under the shade of some thick pandanus groves along the Erangy lake. It was pleasant walking under the shelter of these groves, and when they opened we got beautiful glimpses of the lake and the wooded banks and hills beyond.
We left Andranakooditra at eight o’clock, and strolled along, taking it very easily till we came opposite Taka-lampona, a small village on a point of land running out on the western side of the lake, exceedingly like some of the flatter parts of Windermere. We now emerged from the woods and again took to the sea-shore, travelling along which at midday was very trying. The sand glowed till it was painful to the eye; and the white sea foam, extending some three or four hundred yards beyond, rendered the prospect still more dazzling. The sea itself was obscured with a hazy, misty glare, which suggested suffocation, and the only relief the eye had was the groves on our right, consisting of fillahoes, palms, and vacoas, at which we wistfully gazed. The line of sand-bank between the sea and lake became gradually narrower and lower, and presently disappeared altogether, so that we were forced to take pirogues and cross at a ferry. Directly after crossing we had to ascend a steep bank, at the top of which was a village ; we then turned our steps to the left, and after passing a lovely grassy glade surrounded by an amphitheatre of lofty timber, plunged into the intricacies of a thick forest, through which the path was so narrow that it was with great difficulty that the General’s palanquin was got through at all. Creepers, parasites, orchids, and ferns of large size, were to be seen here in great abundance. After an hour’s march we emerged from this, along the banks of a small stream skirting the edge of the woods, which we forded, and then halted for the mid-day meal at the hamlet of Pantomazina (pounding of rice by night). In the woods we saw a kind of lemur, which did not appear very timid. They belong to the tribe of Lemur albifrons, and vary in colour from chestnut to grey, with white hair on the forehead. The natives call them “ Makis.”
We halted at Pantomazina for some time. The bearers quickly arranged themselves in little groups of three or four, one of whom made the fire between three stones, another put the rice and water in a thin earthenware pot, and another collected the leaves of ravenale, or plantain, which served them as plates, cups, and saucers. It took about half-an-hour to cook, eat, and finish everything, but we generally allowed them to rest for at least an hour. The sago-palms about this time began to form a new feature in the scenery.
Our afternoon’s march brought us to Andrasoabe Lake, where, at the village of Ivavongy, was our resting-place for the night. On the western side of the lake is the military post, and lapa, or king’s house (of which there is one in every village), with a flag-staff, rice-store, and out - buildings, all enclosed in a neat palisade of gaulettes. The village on the east is a small collection of huts which have sprung up as a market, and accommodation for travellers. After we halted, I crossed over alone to the western village to sketch the lapa. In one of the cottages I found two Sakalava drums, of one of which I made a sketch; they consist of a solid piece of hard wood hollowed out, leaving the thickness of about an inch. A piece of ox-hide with the skin and hair on, is fastened outside by withes, and kept tight by twisted rofia cord, stretched over clumsy bridges of wood.
Here we met with a young botanist named Magee, in the service of Messrs. Yeitch, the celebrated florists in England. He is engaged in collecting orchids and ferns for his employers.
| Introduction | Chapter I | Chapter II | Chapter III | Chapter IV | Chapter V | Chapter VI | Appendix |
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