tni9 r THE GREAT AFRICAN ISLAND. "BaHaixtgne ^ttss BAI.LANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. EDINBURGH AND LONDON ROFIA PALM (.SV/jrus ni^ffio) and TRAVELLER'S TREE (Urania fiudosa). THE GREAT AFRICAN ISLAND. CHAPTERS ON MADAGASCAR. A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF RECENT RESEARCHES IN THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, AND EXPLORATION OF THE COUNTRY. AND ITS NATURAL HISTORY AND BOTANY ; AND IN THE ORIGIN AND DIVISIONS, CUSTOMS AND LANGUAGE, SUPERSTITIONS, FOLK-LORE, AND RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OF THE DIFFERENT TRIBES. TOGETHER WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE AND EARLY CHURCH HISTORY PROM NATIVE HABITS AND MISSIONARY KXPERIENCE. Rev. JAMES SIBREE, Jun., F.RG.S. OF TUE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY ; AUTHOR OF "MADAGASCAR AND ITS PKOPLE." ETC. WITH PHYSICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL SKETCH-MAPS AND FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: TEUBNEE & CO., LUDGATE HILL. 1880. [All rights reserved. '\ PREFACE. Although many books have been written about Madagascar during the last twenty years, the majority of these have had reference chiefly to the religious history of the country, and to the political and social changes which have followed upon the acceptance of Christianity by the Government and people of the central provinces. And while much has been written about the Hovas, in the interior of Madagascar, little is still known about the numerous tribes inhabiting other portions of the island. In writing the following pages my object has been to supply information of a more general character than is given in most previous works ; and especially to arrange in a systematic form numerous interesting facts which have only recently come to light. During the last nine or ten years many journeys have been made in previously little known, or entirely unknown, parts of Madagascar, so that our knowledge of the various tribes inhabiting the island is greatly increased ; and every year continual accessions are being made to our information as to the physical geography and geology of the country, its luxuriant flora, its remarkable and exceptional fauna, and as to the origin and divisions, language and customs, superstitions and folk-lore, and reli- gious beliefs and practices of the Malagasy. For several years past I have been noting down facts of 739929 vi PREFACE. interest ou these various subjects ; and it will be seen that I have also made extensive use of the volumes of a yearly periodical, printed and published in Madagascar, called The Antananarivo Annual. This was commenced four years ago at my suggestion, and was designed to be a repository of information on all the points just mentioned with regard to the country and people ; and as I edited the first three numbers, and their circulation has been almost entirely con- fined to Madagascar itself, and to those in England who are immediately connected with the island, I have not hesitated to quote largely from it, as well as from other pampUets and notes of journeys, also published at AntaniYnarivo, and con- sequently almost unknown here in England. It was intended, in the original prospectus of this book, to have added another chapter, giving specimens of the folk- tales and legendary lore of the Malagasy, and of native songs and proverbs, fairy and nursery tales, and traditional history; but this part of the work has had to be relinquished partly owing to the exigencies of space, — for more than one chapter would be required to treat of all these points satisfactorily, — and partly also from the pressure of other work arising from my immediate departure from England ; indeed the last sheets of the book have been corrected within a few hours of sailing. I have to acknowledge, with many thanks, the courtesy of Messrs. Macmillan & Co. and of Mr. Alfred Eussel Wallace, in allowing a woodcut from Mr. Wallace's valuable work on The Geographical Distribution of Animals to be used as an illustration for this book. It will be seen that I have derived much help from that work in treating of the animal life of Madagascar. PREFACE. vii I have also to express my thanks to H. W, Bates, Esq., Assistant Secretary of the Eoyal Geographical Society, and to the Council of that Society, for their readily-accorded permission to vise the physical sketch-map of Madagascar from their Proceedings. I must also add that this map has been slightly altered from the original sketch I supplied, and in one or two points is not perfectly correct, particularly in the cross-section. Three or four of the chapters of the hook have already appeared as separate papers in the Proceedings and Transac- tions of various societies, the Eoyal Geographical Society, The Anthropological Institute, The Folk-lore Society, as well as in Nature. Eemembering with gratitude the kindly reception given to my former work, Madagascar and its People (E. T. S., 1870), I trust that much of the information given in this second book will not be without interest to many in this and in other countries. J. S. Jr. Forest Hill, November 1879, LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. EOFIA PALi\i AND TRAVELLER'S TREE, . . Frontispiece. PHYSICAL SKETCH-MAP, . , . . To facc page 32 AYE-AYE, „ 42 THREE SPECIES OF CENTETID^, .... ,,64 CHARACTERISTIC FORMS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE IN MADAGASCAR, .... ,,84 ETHNOGRAPHICAL SKETCH-MAP, .... ,,144 CONTENTS. CHAPTEE I. NAilES, DISCOVERY, EARLY ACCOUNTS, AND MAPS OP MADAGASCAR. PAQB The names by which the country was known to the Ancients and to Mediaeval writers — Its discovery by Europeans — Accounts given of it by early voyagers, and iirst references to it in English litera- ture, together with notices of the maps of the island, ancient and modern, and our knowledge of its geography at the present time, 1-2 1 CHAPTER IL THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OP MADAGASCAR. Elevated granitic region— Scenery — Rivers and lakes — Lower region and maritime plains — Mountains — Belt of forest — Volcanic dis- turbances — Geology of the chief divisions — Secondary fossils — Recently extinct fauna— Lignite formation — Coral reefs — Metals and minerals — Fertility of soil, ..... 22-37 CHAPTER III. THE ANIMAL LIFE OP MADAGASCAR. Peculiar and specialised character of the fauna — One of the most re- markable geological regions — Lemurs — Aye-aye — Lisectivora — Carnivora — Ungulata — Fossil hippopotamus — Rodentia — Remote affinities of the Avi-fauna — Raptores — Water-birds — Perching birds — Cardinal-birds — Sun-birds — iEpyornis and its enormous egg — Reptiles — Scarcity of venomous serpents — Lizards — Gigantic tortoises — Crocodiles — Fishes — Insects — Butterflies — Beetles — Wasps— Fireflies — Mantis — Ants — Locusts — Mosquitoes — Spiders — Scorpions and centipedes — An armour-jilated creature — Minute and aquatic fauna — Origin and meaning of the specialised fauna of Madagascar — Opinions of eminent naturalists, . . . 38-68 CHAPTER IV. NOTES ON THE VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OP MADAGASCAR. Forest scenery— Valuable woods— Coast vegetation— Pandanus—Tan- gdna poison-tree— Palms— Bark cloth— Bamboos : their applica- X CONTENTS. PAOB tions — Baobab — Mosses, creepers, and lianas — Ferns — Beautiful- leaved plants — Pitcher plants — Vegetation of the interior — Spiny and prickly plants — Grasses — Reeds and rushes — Vegetable foods — Rice and its culture — Roots — Arums — Coffee — Sugar — Spices — Fruits — Bananas — Traveller's tree — Medicinal Plants — Gourds— Tobacco — Hemp and cotton — Dyes — Lichens — Flowering plants and trees — Orchids — Gums — India-rubber — Lace-leaf plant, 69-101 CHAPTER V. ORIGIN AND DIVISIONS OF THE MALAGASY PEOPLE. Walayo-Polynesian affinities — Alleged connection with African Races — European and Arab elements — African influence on West Coast — Principal divisions of the people — Colour, physique, and lan- guage — Difficult problems raised by variations in these respects — Attempted solutions of these — Light afforded by Tradition and Philology, ........ 102-122 CHAPTER VI. CHARACTERISTICS OP THE DIFFERENT TRIBES INHABITING MADAGASCAR IN ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES. Hovas — B(5tsileo — Bkra— Tanala — Tankay — Sihknaka — Betsimisaraka and East Coast tribes — Aboriginal peoples before Malay incur- sion : Vazimba — Kimos or Quimos — Kalio or Behosy — Population — Various estimates — Chief towns — Table of principal tribes and their subdivisions, . . . . . .123-144 CHAPTER VII. CURIOSITIES OF THE MALAGASY LANGUAGE : WITH NOTES UPON TUB "HISTORY," "POETRY," AND " MORALITY " EMBODIED IN NATIVE WORDS. Malayan, not African affinities — Oneness over the Island — Musically sounding — Parallelism and rhythmical structure — Curious de- ficiencies and fulness — Preference for passive — Dialects — Diffe- rences between Coast and Hova forms — Tabooed or "Fady" words — Obsolete words — Additions from French and English sources — Arabic influence — Examples of the " History," "Poetry," and "Morality" in Malagasy words — Words intro- duced in religious matters — Onomatopoetic words . . 145-164 CHAPTER VIIL CURIOSITIES OF MALAGASY NAMES : PERSONAL, TRIBAL, AND GEOGRAPHICAL. Length — No family names — Personal prefix — Designation from chil- dren — Unpleasant names — Tabooed words in Chiefs' names — Royal names — Sakalava customs — Christian names — Tribal ap- pellations — Place-names — Foreign Nomenclature in Coast Geography ....... 165-173 , CONTENTS. xi CHAPTEE IX. CURIOUS AND NOTEWORTHY CUSTOMS AMONG THE DIFFERENT TRIBES. PAOB Roads and travelling — Canoes and boats— Slavery — Ranks of soriety — Hovas or Commoners — Andrians or Nobles — Royalty — Oaths of allegiance — Royal property — A ilalagasy Kabary — Native oratory — Occupations and modes of living — Handicrafts . 174-196 CHAPTER X. CURIOUS AND NOTEWORTHY CUSTOMS AMONG THE DIFFERENT TRIBES — (continued). Houses, their structure and arrangement — The house as a compass and sundial — Towns and villages — Fire by friction — Pottery and substitutes for it — Kissing or nose-rubbing — Tattooing and other adornments — j\Iodes of dressing the hair — Clothing — Use of vegetable fibres for di-ess — Female adornment — Weapons . 197-216 CHAPTEE XL CURIOUS AND NOTEWORTHY CUSTOMS AMONG THE MALAGASY TRIBES — (concluded). Circumcision observances — Brotherhood by blood covenant — Royal ancestor-worship among the Sakalava — Tombs and funeral rites . . . . ■ . . . . 217-242 CHAPTER XIL RELATIONSHIPS, AND THE NAMES USED FOR THEM, AMONG THE PEOPLES OF MADAGASCAR, CHIEFLY THE HOVAS. 243-257 CHAPTER XIIL NOTES UPON MALAGASY ART IN DECORATION AND MANUFACTURK Hova art : house decoration — Church adornment — Textile fabrics — Straw plaiting — Metal work — Pottery — Betsileo art : Carving on burial memorials — Houses and utensils .... 25S-266 y J xil CONTENTS. • • CHAPTEE XrV. MALAGASY FOLK-LORE AND POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. PAOB Auimals — Birds — Fabulous animals — Trees and plants — Lucky and unlucky days and times — Ordeals — Folk-lore of home and family life — Lucky and unlucky numbers, actions, etc. — Sickness and death — Witchcraft and charms ..... 267-296 CHAPTER XV. MALAGASY IDOLATRY AND RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND OBSERVANCES. Idols and their worship — Sacrifices — Atonement and expiation — Altars and sacred stones and places — Divination — Ambr6n- drombe, the Malagasy Hades — New Year's festival . . 297-317 CHAPTER XVL NEW LIGHT ON OLD TEXTS : ILLUSTRATIONS OP SCRIPTURE FROM MALAGASY CUSTOMS. Royalty and Government — Family life — Marriap;e — Benedictions, curses, and salutations— Dress and food — Weapons — Houses and towns — Tombs and burial — Roads and paths — Symbolic acts and figui'ative language — Agriculture — Slavery — Time . . 318-336 CHAPTER XVIL MALAGASY CHURCH LIFE, AS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE HISTORY OF THE APOSTOLIC AND EARLY CHURCHES. As regards morals — Rise of superstitious practices and sacramenta- lism — Church divisions — Customs connected with worship — Church offices and Government — Relations between the Church and the State ....... 337-349 CHAPTER XVin. THE MADAGASCAR OF TO-DAY : ITS PROGRESS AND PRESENT POSITION, SOCIALLY AND RELIGIOUSLY . . 350-367 INDEX .368 THE GREAT AFRICAN ISLAND. CHAPTER I. NAMES, DISCOVEEY, EAELY ACCOUNTS, AND MAPS OF MADAGASCAR. THK NAMES BY WHICH THE COUNTRY WAS KNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS AND TO MEDIEVAL WRITERS — ITS DISCOA^ERY BY EUROPEANS — ACCOUNTS GIVEN OF IT BY EARLY VOYAGERS, AND FIRST REFERENCES TO IT IN ENGLISH LITERATURE, TOGETHER WITH NOTICES OF THE MAPS OF THE ISLAND, ANCIENT AND MODERN, AND OUR KNOWLEDGE OF ITS GEOGRAPHY AT THE PRESENT TIME. Although only seen by Europeans within the last 380 years, the great African island of Madagascar has been known to the Arabs for many centuries, probably for at least a thousand years past ; and also, but perhaps not for so long a time, to the Indian traders of Cutcli and Bombay.* The former, indeed, have left ineffaceable traces of their influence in the words they introduced into the Malagasy language, prin- cipally in the names of the days and months, and in those connected with divination and astrology, and also in the various superstitions they engrafted upon the original religious belief and charm-worship of the inhabitants.! But even before the Arabian intercourse, it seems probable that the Phoenician traders, in some of those long voyages made by the "ships of Tarshish " (i Kings x. 22), touched at Madagascar, or at least obtained information about the island. For it is mentioned by some of the classical winters under various names : thus, Ptolemy in his Tahulxs appears * See Sir Bartlc Frere's despatches in Blue-book on the East African Slave Trade. + Sec Rev. L. Dahle in the Antananarivo Annual, No. ii. pp. 75-91. A 2 EARLY NAMES. to refer to it under the name of Menuthias ; "'' and Pliny writes about an island which, in the opinion of many authors, could hardly he any other than Madagascar, under the name of Gerne.'\ And it has been supposed to be obscurely indicated in the book De Mando ascribed to Aiistotle, under the name of Phanhalon. Some other names are also given in early "WTiters; thus, in a quaint old book published in 1609 by Hieronymus Megiserus, entitled Beschreibung der Mecldvjen und Weitbcrkibnbten Insul Madagascar (Altenbourg in ]\Ieis- sen), it is stated that Arrian calls it Menutheseas, Stephanus Byzantinus Menuthis, and Diodorus Siculus lamholi. Tharetus is also quoted as saying that it was called Pacras on account of the many tortoises found there ; afterwards Alhargra, then Manutia-Alphil, and then Magadascar, a corruption of the name of Magadoxo, on the mainland of Africa, whose king is said to have invaded the island. Finally, this word was changed to Madagascar. So runs the account, some of the particulars of which are probably not very reliable, although they may possess a basis of fact.j Madagascar is mentioned by several of the Arabian writers, being known to them also by various names, as Serandah and Chebona ; and by the geographers Edrisi and Abulfeda (twelfth and thirteenth centuries), under the strangely different titles of Phdon (or Phenbalon), Quaiiibalon (or Chambalon),^aZe(^2r (also variously spelt), and Gezirat al-Komr or " Island of the Moon." * "Huic de processo promontorio hodie Mozambique adjacet ab sestivo ortu insula nomine Menuthias ; cujus positio 85 Austral 12.0" (lib. 4, cap. 9). + " Contra Sinum Persicum Cerne, nominetur insula ad versa yEthiopije, cujus neque magnitude, neque intervallum a continente constat, jEthiopias tantum populos habere traditur " (lib. vL cap. 31). The bishop appointed to Mada- gascar four years ago has adopted this name Cerne as that of his see on his official seal. X Since -writing the above, I have referred to the original texts of some of the classical authors mentioned by the old German •wi-iter, as well as to his own book ; and also to a learned French author, Gossellin, who, in his work entitled Itecherches sur la Geographic 8ystematique et Positive des Anciens (4 vols. Paris, 1813), disputes the opinion of earlier writers that Madagascar was mentioned by classical authors under the names of Cern^ and Menuthias (see tom. i. pp. 80, 191-193). With regard to the former of these names, I think his opinion is coiTcct, but I am not so sure about the second. Gossellin maintains that Menu- thias was the name of a very small island in the estuary of one of the great rivers on the East African coast. MARCO POLO. 3 The country was first made known to (modern) European nations by the celebrated Venetian traveller Marco Polo, in the thirteenth century. He, however, did not himself visit the island, but heard various accounts of it during his travels in Asia, under the name oi Mag aster or Madeigascar. A chapter of his book of travels (33, B. iii. Yule's ed. pp. 345-354) is devoted to a description of it ; but much of what he relates is evidently confused with accounts of Zanzibar and countries on the mainland of Africa, as he says that ivory is one of the chief productions, and that elephants, giraffes, and other animals (which never existed in the island), were numerous. His well-known account of the rukh or gigantic bird, long thought to be entirely fabulous, has during the last few years been discovered to have a basis of fact in the existence of the now-extinct Mpyornis, a struthious bird allied to the N"ew Zealand Moa, and which produced the largest of all known eggs. It was not until the commencement of the sixteenth century that Europeans set foot upon the great island. Towards the end of the previous century the adventurous Portuguese navi- gators Bartholomew Diaz and Vasco de Gama reached the southernmost portions of Africa and rounded the Cape of Good Hope, thus discovering the sea route to India and the farther East. On the Mozambique coast they found numbers of Arabs trading with India and well acquainted with Mada- gascar. But in 1505 King Manoel of Portugal sent out a great expedition of twenty-two ships to the Indies, under the command of Don Erancisco de Almeida, the first viceroy, with orders to build fortresses at Sofala and Quiloa for the pro- tection of the Portuguese commerce in Africa. Juan de Nova, whose name is preserved in that of a small island in the Mozambique Channel, sailed in this expedition. Almeida sent back in the beginning of the following year eight sliips loaded with spices to Portugal, under the command of Eernando Soares. On their way they discovered, on the ist of Eebruary 1506, the east coast of Madagascar.'''' From this * See The Life of Prince Henry of Portugal, surnamed " The Navigator ," Major's ed., London, 1S68, p. 415. '4 ITS DISCOVERY. it appears clear that Scares, and not Almeida, as commonly said in histories, was the real discoverer of the island. " In that same year Joao Gomez d'Abreu discovered the west coast of Madagascar on the loth of August, St. Law- rence's Day, from which circumstance [following the usual custom of the early Spanish and Portuguese navigators] the island received the name of San Lorenco [which it retained for more than a hundred years]. He gave the name of Bahia Formosa, apparently the bay between Point Barrow and Point Croker " [S.W. coast]. The famous navigator Tristan da Cvmha, who was sent out to India in the same year, also heard of the island through one of his captains, Eodrigo Pereira Coutinho. This officer had been obliged to take refuge in one of the southern ports of Madagascar from a storm which scattered Da Cunha's squadron off the Cape of Good Hope. Hearing glowing accounts of the newly-found country from his subordinate. Da Cunha visited various parts of the same coast, making with his own hand a chart of what he discovered, and was accordingly, though of course mis- takenly, celebrated in song by his countryman Camoens in the Lusiacl (c. x. s. 39) as the discoverer of Madagascar : — " Green Madagascar's flowery dale shall swell His echoed fame, till ocean's southmost bound O'er isles and shores unknown his fame resound." * He reached the northern end of the island on Christmas Day, and accordingly gave it the name of Cape Natal — a name which, however, it has not retained, but has been for long known as Cape Amber or Ambro. The ship of Gomez d'Abreu doubled the northern cape, and running along the east coast, reached the mouth of the river Matitanana in the south-east, where he landed. In a letter dated Mozambique, 8th February 1507, to King Manoel from the celebrated Alfonso d' Albuquerque, who was with * Mickle's translation of the Lusiad. See Lyons M'Lcod's Madagascar and its People, p. 6. The original Portuguese runs thus — " Pelo CUNHA tambem, que nunca extinto Serd, sou noine em todo o mar que lava As Ilhas do Austro, e praias, que se chamam De SAO LOUiiEXjo, e em todo Sul se affam." NATIVE NAMES. 5 Da Cunha's expedition, he speaks of the discovery of the island ; so that within a short time several of the most in- trepid Portuguese navigators discovered various portions of the Madagascar coast while on their voyages to or from the far East; in fact, they seem to have almost, if not quite, circumnavigated the island. During the early times of the French intercourse with Madagascar (reign of Henri IV.), they called it by the name of He Dauphini, but this appellation was never accepted by other nations. A few words may here be said about the name by which the island has been known for the last two hundred years. There is much reason to believe that Madagascar is not a native name, but one given to the country by foreigners, and has only in modern times been accepted by the inhabitants. The spelling of the word in its present form is opposed to the laws of the native orthography, which do not allow the joining of two such consonants as s and c (c, moreover, is not used), and all native words end in a vowel. Ndsin-ddmho, or " Isle of Wild Hogs," was a name occasionally given to it ; but when the Malagasy speak of the whole of the island, they usually call it Izao reMtra izao, " This all," or Izao tontblo izao, " This whole," thinking, like many insular people, that their own country was the most important part of the world, and that the Arabs and other foreigners who visited their north- west coast came from some insignificant islands across the sea. Another term, somewhat poetical in form, and occa- sionally used by the people, is Ny anivorC ny rlaka, i.e., " The (land) in the midst of the moving waters," a term which might be used of any island, but is only applied to Madagascar itself, ndsy being the word employed to denote the small islands off the mainland. This term was engraved on the huge silver coffin of the first Eadiima, who was there called Tompori ny anivorC ny riaka, " Lord of the island," as above described. The form of the word,'"'' like the name * By Copland and other writers the island is called Madecassa, which, by- substituting I: for c, would be a correct enough native word. In many books the peox^le are called Madccasse, but the origin of these forms of the name is obscure. 6 EARL V A ceo UNTS. of the inhabitants of the country, Malagasy (also probably not a native name), seems to indicate an African origin, so that pos- sibly there may be some foundation of truth in the accounts given by the German writer already quoted from. Ma, it is well known, is a frequent prefix to words indicating tribal names on the African continent, as Makololo, Matabele, &c. The early accounts given of Madagascar by voyagers and other writers are full of glowing and extravagant praises of its fertility and natural wealth. But in all this, of course, it formed no exception to other newly-found countries, for the imagination of the people of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries invested with a halo of beauty and mystery all the strange new lands which were being yearly discovered by the bold seamen of Portugal and Spain, and of England and Holland. The luxuriance of the tropical vegetation of the ISTew World and the far Eastern Archipelago, and the undoubted wealth in precious metals of some of those regions, made every fresh addition to their geography a possible El Dorado, with gold and gems waiting to be collected in every stream, and precious spices to be gathered from every tree. Even the title-pages of some of the early books upon Madagascar are eloquent panegyrics upon the resources and wealth of the island; while their quaint descriptions, as well as the strong religious feelings so many of them evince, make them by no means uninteresting reading. Although the Portuguese discovered the island, they made no lengthened occupation of any part of it. Probably they found that their extensive possessions in South America and Africa and the Malay Archipelago demanded all their strength to occupy ; and accordingly their colony was soon abandoned. For a few years towards the close of the sixteenth century (1595-98), the Dutch had some little intercourse with Madagascar, but were not much impressed in its favour; for they lost through sickness so many of their number that an island where they landed was called " The Dutchmen's Grave- yard." A book written by Johan Hugen von Lindschot (1628) describes these voyages, and it is evident that they paid some considerable attention to the country, for two of the very earliest books upon Madagascar were published at HIERONYMUS MEGISERUS. 7 Amsterdam in 1603, both of them giving vocabularies of Malagasy words (see chapter on the language). As the Portuguese discovered Madagascar, probably the earliest descriptions of the country are to be found in Portu- guese books, notably in the Commentarios do grande Afonso D' Alboquerqiie (Lisbon, 1576, foL), but this book contains little of interest beyond the mere fact of the discovery of the island. Next in date come the two Dutch linguistic works already mentioned, and then the little German work of Hieronymus Megiserus, from which quotations have been made as to the early names of the island. The title-page of this book pro- mises to give us — A Genuine, Thorough, and Ample, as well as Historical and Chronographical Description of the Exceedingly Rich, Powerful, and Famous ISLAND OF MADAGASCAR, called also St. LAWRENCE ; Together with an Account of all its Qualities, Peculiarities, Inhabitants, Animals, Fruits and Vegetables. Also A Histoiy of what has happened there before and since its Discovery. The title-page, like those of other books we shall have occasion to mention, leads one therefore to expect much valuable information ; but except some curious particulars about the names given to the island at that period, there is little of value about either country or people, while some of the same mistakes are made as to the productions as are found in Marco Polo's account. At the end is added " A Dictionary and Dialogues of the Madagascar Language, collected with special industry from the Portuguese, Italian, and Latin Histories and Geographies ; " and this portion, more than half of the whole book, has considerable interest, the greater part of the words being easily recognisable. It has 8 WALTER HAMOND. a small map, and seven or eight engravings of the people, and of the animal and vegetable productions. The earliest English book upon Madagascar of which I have any knowledge is by one Walter Hamond, surgeon, and published in 1 640, entitled " A Paradox : Proving the Inhabitants of the Island called Madagascar, or St. Law- rence (in Things temporal), to be the happiest People in the World." ''" This work may be almost regarded as a satire upon the extravagance and luxury of the times, for its gene- ral purport is to show that the inhabitants of Madagascar, in their poverty and ignorance, are much better off than civilised peoples, being not much troubled with clothing or ornaments, or with the fatigues of commerce, navigation, and civilisation, the varieties of food and drinlc, and the evils arising from the use of gunpowder and the arms of European nations. All this is argued out in a comically serious style. Possibly a diligent search in the larger libraries would dis- cover earlier books, or at least pamphlets or tracts on Mada- gascar ; and doubtless there are many notices of the country to be found in the narratives of the early English voyagers. The same author published three years later (1643) another book, whose title-page may be given in full, as it is curious from its quaintness, and as showing the great expecta- tions formed of the island. It is as follows : — MADAGASCAR, The Richest and most FrvitefvU Island In the World. Wherein the Temperature of the Clymate, the Nature of the Inhabitants, the Commodities of the Countrie, and the facility and benefit of a Planta- tion by our People there, are compendiously and truely described. * Reprinted in the Harleian Miscellany, a Collection of Scarce, Curious, and Unfertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print. London, 1808. DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. 9 3ietiicatc5 To THE Honourable IOHN BOND, Governour of the Island, whose proceeding is Authorized for this Expedition, both by the King and Parliament. By WALTER HAMOND. London : Prmtedfor Nicholas Bourne, and are to bee sold at his Shop, at the South Entrance of the Roy all Exchange, 1643. [4to.] The promise of the title-page (as in the case of the Ger- man hook already described) is hardly borne out by the book itself, which does not contain much of value, except some information about the author's experiences with the people, chiefly those about St. Augustine's Bay on the south-west coast. He seems to have been greatly impressed by the honesty and good faith of the inhabitants ; again and again is this mentioned in such words as " in all our trayding with them we never sustained so much as the losse of one bead." He even says, " they retaine the first incorrupt innocence of man," and are " a people approaching in some degree neere Adam, naked without guilt, and innocent, not by a forc't vertue, but by ignorance of evill, and the creatures as inno- cent and serviceable to man as they were before his trans- gression." (How wofully, according to all accounts, must they have depreciated since then !) We find, however, in the book, that among these innocent people wars were going on be- tween them and the neighbouring tribes, as there still are, and probably always have been. There is a notice of some of the valuable trees of the country, ebony, tamarind, and others, and of a remarkable tree he calls the " flesh-tree," probably a dragon-tree, yielding a sanguine-coloured sap. The book contains an urgent appeal to the writer's countrymen to " go in and possess the land," which " doth here by me friendly and lovingly invite our nation to take some compassion of her nakednesse, her poverty, and her simplicity, both corporall and spirituall, and doth earnestly and affectionately even beg of us to redeeme her out of her miserable thraldome under the tyranny of Satan [curiously inconsistent this with the pre- lo RICHARD BOOTHBY. ceding eulogy of tlie people], to be united with us into the fellowship of the sons of God by our union in Christ Jesus." Who this Hon. John Bond, " Governour and Captaine-GeneraU of Madagascar," was, I have been unable to discover, or to find what claim he had to such large powers in the great island. In the same decade of the seventeenth century other books on Madagascar were also published, the next in date being one with an extremely long title, which is also perhaps worth quoting nearly in full, not only for its quaint language but as affording additional evidence of the sanguine expecta- tions formed respecting the island. It runs thus : — A Breife Discovery or Description Of the most Famous Island of MADAGASCAR or ST. LAWRENCE in Asia neere unto East India. Witli relation of the Healthfulness, Pleasure, Fertility, and "Wealth of that Country, comparable if not transcending all the Easteme parts of the World, a very Earthly Paradise ; a most fitting and desirable place to settle an English Colony and Plantation there, rather than in any other parte of the knowne World. Also the condition of the Natives, there inhabiting, their Affability, Habit, Weapons, and Manner of living, the plenty and cheapnesse of Food, Flesh, Fish, and Fowle, Oringes and Lemonds, Amber-Greece, Gold, Tortle-Shels, and Drugs, and many other Commodities fit for trade and commerce, to be had and gotten there at cheaper Eates than in India or elsewhere. Also trading from Port to Port all India and Asia over, and the great profit gained thereby ; The chiefest place in the World to inrich men by Trade, to and from India, Persia, Moco, Achine, China, and other rich Easteme Kingdoms. It being the fittest place for a Magazine or Store-house of Trade between Europe and Asia, farre exceeding all other Plantations in America or elsewhere. Also the excellent meanes and accommodation to fit the planters there, with all things needfull and superfluous for back and belly (out of India neere adjacent, at one fourth part of the price, and cheaper then it will cost in England ; yea, Fat Bullocks, Sheep, Goats, Swine, Poultry, Eice, (and Wheat and Barley reasonable, &c.) exceeding cheape, for the value of 12 pence or one shilling English will purchase or buy of the Natives PROJECTED ENGLISH COLONY. ll as mucli as 5, 6, 7 pounds or more in England, in this famous Island at llieir first arrivall, which, no other country hath afforded. By RICHARD BOOTHBY, Merchant. London : Printed by E. G. for John Hardesty at the Signe of the Black- Spread Eagle in Dtick Lane, 1646. It seems from the preface to Boothby's work, which is a small octavo of seventy-two pages, that two years previous to the publication of this book there had been a project to found an English plantation in Madagascar, Prince Eupert having been named at the Privy Council board as Viceroy for King- Charles I., from whom he was to have had twelve men-of-war and thirty merchantmen to form the colony. The Governor and Committee of the East India Company were also ordered to give all possible assistance to the enterprise. Eupert, how- ever, going away to the Continent, the Earl of Arundel, Earl Marshal of England, was appointed ; and it appears that that nobleman had also written a book on the subject, urging the desirability of forming a magazine or victualling station on the island. However, the calling of the parliament im- mediately preceding the Long Parliament, and the political troubles which soon ensued, put a stop to this projected English colony in Madagascar. It is stated in Boothby's book that the island had been previously visited by other dis- tinguished Englishmen, viz., the ambassadors from Charles I. to the King of Persia, who landed there on their way to the East. The appointment of Prince Eupert called forth another book upon the island, but this time in the shape of a poem, by Sir William Davenant, entitled " Madagascar, with other Poems, by W. Davenant, Knight " (London, 1 648). This pro- duction occupies only twenty-one pages of print, and gives no information whatever about Madagascar itself, being simply a complimentary effusion, "written to the most illustrious Prince Eupert." Following the strange conceits common to the literary productions of the time, such as are seen in Beaumont and Eletcher, Donne, Herbert, and other writers, the poem is in the form of a dream, in which the country 12 DAVENANTS POEM. where the Prince was going is described in an inj3ated style, with extravagant laudation of Eupert, so that even the sun is described as being absorbed in contemplating what the Prince is supposed to have conquered : — . . . " The good old planet's business is Of late only to visit what is his ; " while as to the government of the Prince, " Chronolo<:;ers pronounce his style The first true monarch of the golden isle ; An isle so seated for predominance, Where naval strength its power can so advance." The supposed riches of the country are next described, the colonists employing themselves " In virgin mines, where shining gold they spy, Some root up coral trees, where mermaids lie Sighing beneath those precious boughs, and die." Some from " old oysters " rifle pearls, Some " Whose ponderous size sinks weaker divers ; Their weight would yoke a tender lady's neck." " Search the rocks till each have found A saphyr, ruby, and a diamond." The poem is a poor enough production in itself, but has a certain interest as showing the extravagant notions then entertained about the wealth of distant countries. But it nevertheless met with great commendation from the poet's contemporaries, Endymion Porter saying that it was a . . . " Poem in so sweet a style As never yet was lauded in this isle." Another of the poet's friends, Sir John Suckling, Comptroller of the Household to King Charles I., wrote a sonnet entitled, " To my friend Will Davenant, on his Poem of Madagascar," which is perhaps amusing enough to be quoted in full, espe- cially as he concludes by a sly hit at his friend for having nothing but words to show in proof of the enormous wealth he describes : — SIR JOHN SUCKLING. 13 " What mighty princes poets are ! Those things The great ones stick at, and our very kings Lay down, they venture on ; and with great ease Discover, conquer, what and where they please. Some phlegmatic sea-captain would have staid For money now, or victuals ; not have weigh'd Anchor without 'em : Thou (Will) dost not stay So much as for a wind, but go'st away, Land'st, view'st the country ; fight'st, put'st all to rout Before another could be setting out ; And now the news in town is, ' Davenant's come From Madagascar, fraught with laurel, home ; ' And welcome (Will) for the first time, but prithee, In thy next voyage, bring the gold with thee." The fifth decade of the seventeenth century was thus, it appears, most prolific in works upon the great African island. Towards the end of the century an account was written (but not published until some years later) of the adventures and extreme hardships suffered by an English sailor upon a small island off the western coast of Madagascar. This was entitled — "AKelation of Three Years' Sufferings of Robert Everard upon the Island of Assada, near Madagascar, in a Voyage to India, in the year 1686, and of his Wonderful Preservation and Deliverance and arrival at London, Anno 1693."* This account, which occupies twenty-three pages of small folio print, contains several interesting particulars of the customs of the people, amongst which is the statement that on one occasion twenty children were circumcised by the women. The writer had evidently a hard time during his three years' residence ; for, although he made shot for the king, because he could not also find gun-flints he was turned out of doors and left to shift for himself. He obtained food in the shape of fruit and roots, shell-fish and turtles, but he had to lodge under a tree only, for two years and nine months, although on one occasion, he says, it rained continuously for three months. As he was quite naked, he kept a fire burning * Pages 259-282 in vol. vi. of A Collection of Voyages and Travels, some now first printed from the Original Manuscripts, d:c. London, Churchill, 1732. 14 DRUR Y'S NARRA TIVE. for •warmth, not being allowed to enter the houses. Even- tually he became (no wonder) very ill, and at his request was bought by an Arab, and at last taken to India, where he obtained his liberty. This island of " Assada " is probably one of those numerous ones off the north-west coast of Mada- gascar. The last of these early books which can be here noticed is that by Eobert Drury, an English lad, who, at the commence- ment of the last century, went as a passenger to the East on board an Indiaman named the Dcgrave. On their homeward voyage the vessel was wrecked on the south-west coast of Madagascar, and owing to imprudent conduct and collisions with the natives, the whole of the ship's company and pas- sengers were eventually killed, with the exception of Drury and another lad, whose lives were spared. He thus became a slave, and remained as such in the island for fifteen years (1702-17), meeting with varied experience and many hard- ships, and occasionally being harshly treated, and narrowly escaping being killed. At last, however, he obtained his liberty, and returned to England, afterwards writing the book describing his adventures, or possibly had it written from his dictation. Drury being comparatively uneducated, the narra- tive is in a most artless style, with an evident impress of truth, and, from its undoubted genuineness, is a very valuable record of the customs of some of the Malagasy tribes at that period, and throws important light upon many questions con- nected with their customs, superstitions, and beliefs. He describes their ancient and patriarchal system of worship in connection with the ody, or household gods ; and we see the political state of that part of the island, really unaltered to the present time, in which the different tribes are constantly engaged in warfare, making raids on each others' cattle, and capturing slaves. There is added to the book a pretty full vocabulary, which is one of the most valuable portions of it, the great majority of the words being easily recognisable as identical with those in the Hova dialect, and thus giving another proof of the substantial unity of the language over portions of the island far distant from one another. Curi- ously enougli, he gives a decidedly " Cockney " pronunciation MADAGASCAR AND THE FRENCH. 15 and spelling to his list of Malagasy words ; hdna (meat) he calls " henar ; " vdla, money, " voler ; " and dnclro, day, " hawndro ; " &c. From the year 1 6 5 i , when a work describing a voyage to Madagascar by one Frangois Cauche, of Eouen, was issued, a considerable number of books upon Madagascar have been published in the French language. A list of between thirty and forty of these is given by M. Barbie du Bocage in a book entitled, Iladagascar : Possession fran^aise dejniis 1642, the title of which work explains the interest taken in the island by the French. But it is quite an unfoimded assumption to call Madagascar a French possession, and is warranted neither by conquest or treaty, or by any other claim or right ; and although it is quite true that the French have for two cen- turies past been attempting to gain power in the country, their colonies, or rather, military posts, have never been per- manent, nor have they been able to maintain their hold upon any portion of the mainland. They have, however, seized the small island of St. Marie's, off the eastern coast, and they have also possession of the island of Nosibe, on the north- west coast. This latter was ceded to them in 1 840 by the Sakalava inhabitants of that portion of Madagascar. Turning now to the Maps of Madagascar, and our present knowledge of the geography of the island, it may be affirmed that a considerable portion of the country is still a terra incognita to us ; and notwithstanding all that has been done of late years to increase our knowledge of it, there are oiten- sive regions still unknown and unexplored. Among them may be mentioned the greater part of the triangle formed by the northern portion of the island, from Antsihanaka to Cape Amber at the apex of the triangle; almost all the Sakalava country on the western seaboard; large portions of the eastern side, from the central plateaux to the sea ; and, lastly, an extensive district to the south of the Betsileo province, from the Btira country to the southern Cape of St. Mary. The earliest map of Madagascar which I have discovered is one in the British Museum, and is an extremely curious specimen of chartography. The outline of the island there given is so different from the reality, that it would hardly be l6 EARLY MAPS. recognised but for the name, " S. Lorenzo," which is marked upon it. The towns shown on the map, six in number, are true medieval strongholds, with walls and gates, and crowded with spires and towers, one of them boasting of a grand cathedral ! — while they are all on such a scale that they would be disproportionately large even if the island were only two or three miles wide. Similarly gigantic ships, with banks of oars, are depicted along tlie coast, and strange sea- monsters are here and there seen emerging from the waves around the island. From its very incorrect outline I am strongly inclined to think that it is of considerably earlier date than that given in the catalogue, viz., 1570* (Venice), the more so as another map, also Venetian, and dated three years earlier (i 567), is far more correct in outline, and the principal capes, bays, and rivers can be recognised, and are tolerably accurate, as far as regards the coast-line. Another very curious old map, to a small scale, is given in the quaint German work of Megiser's already referred to. But I find that it is taken from an earlier book, a neat little atlas of maps, with descriptions of the different countries, entitled Tliresor de Chartes, and dated 1602. A glance at several of the numerous maps of Madagascar that have been published since these dates would lead one to suppose that what is stated above as to the incompleteness of our knowledge of the country was all a mistake. On many of these we find the so-called provinces defined with a minute- ness resembling that of the divisions of the counties on an Ordnance map of England ; the rivers, with their tributaries, are all unhesita,tingly laid down, and mountain chains of sin- gular regularity and wall-like straightness cross the country in all directions. Far from imitating the ingenuous confessions of ignorance shown on some maps, where — " Geographers on pathless clowns Put elephants instead of towns," many of these early maps of Madagascar are, strange to say, * I am confirmed in tliis opinion by a further reference to the catalogue, in which a note of interrogation is affixed both to the date and the place of pub- lishing. ROCHON'S MAP. 17 the most minute and exact in then: fulness of detail ; and knowing how little certainly was then ascertained as to the interior of the island, we look at them with a feeling of wonder as to whence their information could have been derived. One of the most curious of these early maps is that prefixed to an English edition of the Abbe Eochon's book entitled, A Voyage to Madagascar and the East Indies (Lon- don, 1793). According to this map, no part of the island would appear to have been unknown to the map-maker; the rivers with their tributaries have a picturesque symme- try resembling that of stately trees, and the mountains a re- gular cone-like outline only possessed by mountains seen on a map. But on examining this map more minutely to find out well-known places in the interior, we are puzzled to find that neither the central and most important province of Im^rina, nor the capital city, Antananarivo, are shown ; and it is the same with the important province of Betsileo and its chief towns ; while some other places are strangely transposed. Clearly this map owes more of its filling-in to a lively imagination than to any exploration of the country, notwithstanding the somewhat ambiguous assurance in its title that it is " from the original design, drawn on the spot ; " but what and where " the spot " was, is not specified.* Again, take a very pretentious-looking map published by Arrowsmith, and purporting to be " Madagascar, from Original Drawings, Sketches, and Oral Information, by J. A. Lloyd, F.E.S., &c., &c.. Surveyor- General of the Mauritius." The last edition I have seen is dated 1850. In a journey to the south-east part of Madagascar in 1876 .1 consulted this on many occasions, but found that not the slightest reliance was to be placed upon it. But subsequently meeting with a pamphlet read by Colonel Lloyd before the Eoyal Geogra- phical Society upon Madagascar (loth December 1849), I discovered a clue to the reason for all this; for at page 22, in a few remarks upon the map accompanying his paper (a * Since writing the above, I find that Roclion's map is little more than a copy of that given in Flacoiirt's Histoire de la Grande Isle de Madagascar, published in 1 66 1, a hundi-ed and thii'ty yeai's before Eochon's book. B t8 FRENCH MAPS. reduced copy of the above-mentioned map), Colonel Lloyd makes this ingenuous admission : " For the detail of the interior I cannot claim the slightest pretensions to correctness. It is only an attempt to form approximately some foundation for future inquiries and more correct and extensive research." And yet this map, confessedly so problematical, appears to have been the source of most subsequent maps of the island as given in English books or published separately. The coast-line of Madagascar, with a narrow strip of country bordering the sea, was accurately surveyed by Cap- tain W. F. W. Owen, E.N., of H.M.S. Leven and Barracouta, about forty-seven years ago. This survey was published by the Admiralty, and Captain Owen described his experiences in a book entitled Narrative of Voyages to Explore the Shores of Africa, Arabia, and Madagascar, <^^c. (London, 1833). With regard to the later French maps of Madagascar, they also appear to have been chiefly constructed from verbal information, with an occasional itinerary of a priest, or naturalist, or trader; for the interior detail of most of them prior to 1870 seems little more reliable than that given in the English maps. (The island has been crossed in various directions by a good many travellers, as shown in a valuable list of routes compiled by M. Grandidier, and given in a paper published in the Bidlctin de la Socidte de Gdograpliie [Avril 1872, pp. 408-411]; but very few of these travellers have left any accurate observations or scien- tific surveys of the line of country they traversed.) How some of these French maps have been constructed is amusingly described by M. Grandidier in a paper upon the island before the Paris GeogTaphical Society. Speaking of a book by a ]M. Leguevel de Lacombe, entitled Voyage d Madagascar, he says : " Tliis writer relates that he has at different periods traversed the island from north to south, from east to west ; he gives the most precise details of his journeys. M. de Lacombe has told me, and I am myself well assured of it, with his book in my hand, that he has never left the east coast! It is from his imagination that he has drawn the accounts, to which geographers have attached so much impor- GRANDIDIER'S MAP. 19 tance that the maps of Madagascar have to the present day- been constnicted upon the topographical data taken from his work." * To a French traveller, however, we owe the most accurate general map of the island yet produced. M. Alfred Gran- didier, who explored the country from 1865 to 1870, pub- lished in 1 8 7 1 a sketch-map {Esquisse d'tcn Carte de Vile de Madagascar). It is somewhat roughly lithographed, and was merely intended to illustrate the brief summary of his travels and explorations read before the Paris Geographical Society ; but from the prospectus of his magnificent work on the island and its natural history, botany, ethnology, &c., now in process of publication in twenty-eight quarto volumes, a much more complete map may be expected. Meanwhile, this preliminary map has already done much to clear away some traditional mistakes, and to establish two or three facts of great interest in the physical geography of the country, namely, the existence in the island of two strongly contrasted regions : the elevated granitic district, and the low mari- time plains region to the west and south, of Secondary and Tertiary formation ; f and also the existence of a belt of forest surrounding the whole island. On this map most of the Hova military stations and the more important places in the interior are laid down ; and having had opportunities of testing its accuracy in more than one direction, I feel confident that it is by far the most trustworthy map of the island yet published. Indeed, no previous traveller has been so thoroughly prepared by scientific knowledge and with full appliances to make an accurate survey of the country; and as many hundreds of principal points were fixed astronomi- cally, a reliable basis has been formed for future work. It must, however, be remembered that M. Grandidier has not traversed the island in every direction, and, as already remarked, extensive portions of it have still to be explored, * Bulletin de la Fociete de GeograpJtie, Aout 1S71, p. 82. t M. Grandidier says : " Je vais maintenant taclier de tracer en quelques mots la physionomie generals que presente Madagascar. Cette ilc coniprend deux parties bien distinctes : la partie nord et est qui est toute montagneuses, et la partie sud et ouest qui est relativement plate." — Bull, dc la JSoc. de Gtog., Aout 187 1, p 100. io DR. MULLENS 'S MAP. so that tliere is still much to he added to this map of the French traveller and savaut. Far surpassing everything else previously attempted as a delineation of the interior must be mentioned the map of The Central Provinces of Madagascar, by the Eev. Dr. Mullens,'" published, together with his book entitled Twelve Months in Madagascar, in 1875. Stretching over five degrees of lati- tude, from the Antsihanaka province in the north to Imaha- zony in Southern Betsileo, it depicts on a scale of twelve miles to the inch the physical features of the central portion of the island and the sites of the chief towns and most impor- tant villages. The late Mr. James Cameron had previously fixed astronomically some of the chief points in Imerina, and measured a base-line from which the triangulation was con- structed, so that a reliable foundation for the map was pro- vided, and the series of angles was extended right down into the Betsileo province. This map is a great gain to our know- ledge of the interior, and is full of detail ; it is, however, im- perfect in many directions, and plenty of room is still left for additions and improvements. Since Dr. MuUens's ^'isit several important contributions have been made towards a fuller geographical knowledge of various portions of the island not previously mapped. Among these are sketch-maps illustrating journeys, made chiefly by members of the London Missionary Society and the Friends' Mission Association, into the Sakalava country, the Bara province in the south, to the Southern Tanala or forest tribes, and the south-east coast, the north-east coast, and northern central portions of the island, and to the north-west and extreme north.t The results of these journeys are embodied in a map prepared by Mr. W. Johnson of the Friends' Mission, and lithographed at their press in Antananarivo, the work being done by native lads. The same gentleman has * Since the above was written, I deeply regret to add that Dr. iluUens's name .must now be prefixed by the word "late." He died at Mpwapwa on July 10, 1879, having nobly volunteered to head a pai-ty to relieve the Central African Mission of the London Missionary Society. Had his life been si)ared, he would doubtless have done something in Africa, as in Madagascar, to add to our geographical knowledge of the country he traversed. t See Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc, January 17, 1877. RECENT RESULTS. ai also piiblislied a very minute and complete map of the south- western portions of the central province. In the year 1877 a journey was made by Eev. J. Eichard- son from the Betsileo province to St. Augustine's Bay on the south-west coast, across new ground, and thus much light has been thrown upon the northern portion of that extensive tract of Southern Madagascar, which is still largely an un- known region. The results of all these recent additions to our knowledge of the geography of Madagascar have been embodied in a very fine general map prepared by Dr. Mullens and published in May last. This is the largest map of the island yet con- structed, being on the same scale as those of the central provinces and Southern Madagascar. These are included in it without much alteration, but three or four other routes are also laid down, Grandidier's sketch-map forming the authority for other parts of the country. There is still, however, much to be done in all directions before we can be said to have a tolerably complete general map of the island, while of course there is ample room for hundreds of more detailed maps of special portions of the country. An island nearly a thousand miles long and three hundred and fifty at its greatest breadth gives " ample space and verge " for map-making. Still, so far, every journey lately made appears to confirm the general truth of M. Gran- didier's sketch-map as to the broad outlines of the elevated mountainous and granitic recjion in the northern and eastern central portion of the island ; but we still need much infor- mation as to the contour of this in various directions, and the steps by which it rises from the plains on all sides. From the usually brilliantly clear a;id pure atmosphere, and the large number of prominent and lofty hills all over the central regions of the island, ]\iadagascar offers especial facilities for map-making, as some well-known points can almost always be seen, from which to get good bearings. What is most wanted is that a few more of these be exactly fixed by astronomical observations. ( 22 ) CHAPTER II. THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY" AND GEOLOGY OF MADAGASCAR. ELEVATEB GRANITIC REGION — SCENERY — RIVERS AND LAKES — LOWER REGION AND MARITIME PLAINS — MOUNTAINS — BELT OF FOREST — VOLCANIC DIS- TURBANCES — GEOLOGY OF THE CHIEF DIVISIONS — SECONDARY FOSSILS — RECENTLY EXTINCT FAUNA — LIGNITE FORMATION — CORAL REEFS — METALS AND MINERALS — FERTILITY OF SOIL. Although Madagascar is known to be the third largest island in the world, its actual size and extent is not very generally understood. And it is easy to see how misconception on this point arises, for in maps the island is usually seen only in connection with Africa, and that continent is of such immense extent that it dwarfs by comparison with itself everything in its near neighbourhood ; so that the really large island shel- tering under its south-eastern side appears but an incon- siderable appendage to its vast neighbour. If, however, we take a good-sized map of Madagascar, and put by its side the outline, to the same scale, of another country with whose dimensions we are familiar — such, for instance, as England — we begin to realise how important an island it is as regards ^ size, being nearly looo miles long* by about 2 50 in average breadth, and reaching to 350 miles at its widest part. It has, therefore, an area of about 230,000 square miles, so that it is nearly four times as large as England and Wales. During the last ten years much light has been thrown upon the physical geography of Madagascar, principally through the researches of M. Alfred Grandidier, and the numerous exploratory journeys made in various parts of the country by missionaries aild others. Until a very recent period there was no reliable map of the island, and the physical geography was completely misunderstood. But it is * More exactly, 975 miles. MOUNTAINOUS REGION. 23 now quite clear that, instead of a " central mountain chain," as described in most histories and gazetteers, there is an elevated mountainous region, which, however, does not occupy the centre of the island, but is more to the east and north, leaving a considerable extent of country to the west, and all beyond the twenty-third parallel of south latitude, at a much lower level above the sea. Broadly speaking, therefore, Mada- gascar consists of two great divisions, viz. — (i) An elevated interior region raised some 3000 to 5000 feet above the sea-level, and (2) a comparatively level country surrounding it, and not much exceeding 400 or 500 feet of elevation, but most extensive on the west and south. The elevated region is largely composed of Primary and crystalline rocks. Lines of hills traverse it in all directions, but they do not rise to a very great height ; the highest points in the island, the peaks of the Ankaratra group of hills, being a little under 9000 feet above the sea-level. A very large extent of this portion of Madagascar is covered with bright red clay, through which the granite and basaltic rocks pro- trude. But there are also extensive rice plains, especially in the neighbourhood of the capital cities of the two chief pro- vinces, where there is a rich black alluvial soil ; and it can hardly be doubted that some at least of these plains, from their perfect level, out of which the red clay hills rise like islands, have formerly been the beds of extensive lakes, sub- sequently drained, possibly by slight changes in the level through subterranean action, A good deal of this portion of Madagascar is bare and somewhat dreary-looking country. The long rolling moor- like hills are only covered with a coarse grass, which becomes very brown and dry towards the end of the seven months' rainless season ; but the hollows and river valleys are often filled with a luxuriant tropical vegetation, and, wherever there is population, with the bright green of the rice-fields. There is, nevertheless, an element of grandeur in the landscape, from the great extent of country visible from many points in the clear pure atmosphere, which renders very distant objects wonderfully sharp and distinct. And many portions of the central region possess still greater claims to admiration from 24 THE WATERSHED. the picturesque mountain scenery. In tlie Southern B^tsildo country the grand and varied forms of the mountains filled me with an exultant kind of delight. To the south was a crowd of mountain-tops, peak beyond peak, with the greatest variety of outline : one had the appearance of a colossal trun- cated spire ; another had a jagged saw-like ridge ; another was a pyramid with successive steps ; and another an enor- mous dome. Their summits were never long free from clouds, and many of the peaks must be at least 3000 feet above the plain. Sections taken by the aneroid across this elevated region from east to west, at the latitude of the capital, show that it has a depression in the centre, the edges on either side being considerably higher than the country between them. At some points this height of 4000 or 5000 feet is gained by a series of steps from the maritime plains, each range of hills rising higher and higher ; while at other points it descends almost at one steep slope for nearly 3000 feet. The watershed is not near the centre of the island, but is much more towards the eastern side. Through the eastern wall many of the rivers cut their way by magnificent gorges, amidst dense forest, finding their way to the sea by a suc- cession of rapids and cataracts, and occasionally by stupen- dous falls, as in the case of the Matitanana, which descends at one plunge 500 or 600 feet. Some of the western rivers also are said to form grand waterfalls, particularly that of the Mania, whose sound is reported to be heard at a distance of two days' journey, i.e., from forty to fifty miles. The largest river in Madagascar is probably the Bctsiboka, which, with its affluent the Ikiopa, is the great drain of the central province of Imerina, and falls into the Bay of Bem- batoka. It is about 300 miles long. Many other rivers of considerable size flow to the west, the Mania and Matsiatra being almost as large as the Betsiboka, but few are navigable for vessels of large size. The Betsiboka could be ascended by steamers of light draught for about ninety miles from its mouth, and perhaps also several others of those which fall into the Mozambique Channel. The eastern rivers are almost all blocked at their outlets by a sandy bar LAGOONS. 25 thrown up by the ever-restless surf driven by the strong south-east trade winds. This contest between the fresh and the salt water has given rise to one of the most curious geographical features of the east coast, namely, the long chain of lagoons which stretch for several hundred miles along the shore. Many of these look like a river following the coast-line, but often they spread out into extensive sheets of water and form large lakes. So short is the distance between the detached links, that by cutting about thirty miles of canal to connect them, a continuous w^aterway could be formed for 260 miles along the eastern coast, a circumstance which will no doubt at some future day be taken advantage of for commercial purposes, as it would be a most valuable means of communi- cation between distant portions of this side of the island. Except these lagoons, there are few lakes in Madagascar, although, as already noticed, there were probably some very extensive ones in a recent geological period. Of one of the largest of these, the lake Alaotra in the Sihanaka province is the relic ; this sheet of water is about twenty-five miles long, and from four to five miles wide, spreading out at the northern end into a hammer-head shape. The next in size is Itasy in Imerina, which is about eight miles long ; and there is another of some extent in the south-western part of the island. The lower region of Madagascar consists of extensive plains only a few hundred feet above the sea-level, but there are at least three prominent chains of hills traversing it from north to south, one of which appears nearly continuous in a very straight line for above 600 miles. The eastern side of the island is, for the greater part of its extent, without any bay or indentation; indeed, for 500 miles, from Foule Pointe to Fort Dauphin, the coast forms almost a straight line. North of the first-named of these two places there is a deep inlet forming the Bay of Antongil, and protected by the mountainous peninsula of Maroa. Close to the northern point of the island is one of the finest harbours in the world, that of Diego Suarez or British Sound ; and the north- western side is deeply indented with large bays, into which 26 ROCK FORTRESS. some of tlie cliief rivers fall. All this part of the coast is hold and mountainous ; and some of the finest scenery in Madagascar is to he found here, as the northern extremity of the volcanic region forms several very grand mountains, particularly the one called Amher or Amhohitra. This is said to he about 6000 feet high, and, from its isolated position in the low country surrounding it, is a remarkably majestic hill as seen from every direction, as well as from far out to sea/'" It has three summits, and its sides are clothed with impene- trable woods. South-west of this mountain is a remarkable rock fortress of the tribe inhabiting this part of the country, who are called Antank^rana, that is, " the people of the rocks." It is an enormous lofty and precipitous rock, having an eleva- tion of nearly 1000 feet, and covering an area of about eight square miles. Its sides are so precipitous that they cannot be climbed unless artificial means are used, and it is thickly wooded wdierever trees can possibly grow. The only entrance into the interior of the rock, which is full of caves, is by means of a subterranean passage, a portion of which is extremely narrow, allowing only a single person to pass along it at a time, and has on each side of it deep water. The other principal group of mountains in Madagascar is the great mass of elevated peaks called Ankaratra, in the central province. This has hardly the grand appearance of Mount Amber (although it considerably exceeds the latter in absolute height), since it rises from the elevated region of Im^rina, which is at the capital about 4000 feet above the sea-level. Ankaratra is, nevertheless, a noble group of hills, and is the most conspicuous feature of the landscape over a considerable portion of the central regions of the island. There are five or six principal peaks, and these are in two ranges, lying in the form of a cross. They vary irom 8000 to 9000 feet in height, the most lofty one, a peak called Tsiafajavona (" that which the mists cannot climb "), being 8950 feet above the sea-level, and so is the liighest point in the whole country. * According to a Frencli engineer's estimate, it considerably exceeds the above-given altitude, being — so he says — 2700 metres high. VIRGIN FOREST. 27 Another interesting physical feature of Madagascar, which has only been made clear very recently, is the existence of an almost continuous belt of virgin forest all round the island, and generally following the coast-line. This forest divides into two belts on the eastern side of the country, leaving a long narrow valley about 250 miles long between the two lines. The uppermost of these clothes the slopes which form the edge of the upper plateau of the island. North of this valley the two lines unite, and here is the widest portion of the forest, it being about forty miles across. The average breadth is from fifteen to twenty miles. On the north-west side the two lines overlap each other nearly 100 miles, leaving an opening about seventy miles wide. The total length of this forest must be about 2300 miles, and much of this is yet un- explored, so that there is doubtless still much of interest in botanical science awaiting research. Besides the forest belt, a good deal of the country to the west and south is well wooded. A third fact of interest in the physical geography of Mada- gascar is the extensive evidence of recent volcanic action throughout a great part of the country. It has been known for several years that there were signs of this on the north- west coast, and that in the island of Nosibe and the adja- cent mainland there are numerous extinct craters and much igneous rock. A few years ago the Eev. T. Campbell, of the Church Missionary Society, pointed out evident traces of volcanic agency in the district near the Ankaratra hills. He says : " It seemed as if the whole place were once a great smeltery, from the enormous number of clinkers lying about. There were altogether five mountains, all near to each other, which have been active volcanoes at some remote period; each has one of its side^ melted down, and the inside hollowed out. The flow of lava looks as if it had been some immense reservoir bursting its banks, and the water dashing and foam- ing through, bearing every tnmg away with it, or covering the plain beneath." In a journey I took to the lake It^sy in 1866, I was struck with the number of truncated cones in the hills sur- rounding the lake. But extensive journeys made more recently in various directions have revealed the existence of 28 EXTINCT VOLCANOES. a very widespread and powerful subterranean action through- out a great part of the island, probably extending almost unbroken from the south-east to the north-west and extreme north. Tliere seems reason to believe that this volcanic belt is part of a line which has its eastern extremity in the island of Eeunion, where there is a volcano still showing occasional signs of activity ; while the other (north-western) extremity passes through the Comoro group (the islands of which consist of grand masses of lofty volcanic mountains), and terminates in the island of Great Comoro, where also, as in Reunion, is a still active volcano. It would seem as if the subterranean forces had expended their energy in the intermediate space, for there is no active volcano in Madagascar, while at each end of tlie line their presence is still occasionally felt. There are, however, signs of not altogether extinct forces in the slight earthquake-shocks which are felt almost every year, and in the hot springs of various kinds which occur in many parts of the country. A large number of extinct volcanoes are found west of Lake Itasy. These are thus described by Dr. IMuUens : " When we ascended the lofty hill overhanging the western end of the lake, crater after crater met our astonished gaze. Some were of enormous size, some were small ; some were cones, others were hollow, or were horseshoe in shape, and had long ridges of lava running out from the open side. There were forty craters in all, of which we were sure ; we think there were others beyond to the north." " Fifty miles farther south we came on the volcanoes again. We climbed a lofty rounded hill called Ivoko, and then found that we were on the crater wall. The inner hollow was a quarter of a mile wide, the height of the wall above the level country outside was looo feet. Two lava streams went out towards the south and west ; three small craters were at the foot, and others, large and conspicuous, were around us on every side. Close by, another huge crater, latsifitra, had its opening to- wards the north, and the lava that had issued from it was fresh, black, and sharp, as if broken yesterday. But stranger still, at its eastern side was a plain a mile square, covered with heaps of lava like stone cottages, fortresses, ruined VOLCANIC ACTION. 29 palaces. I counted thirty greater piles and noted numberless smaller ones ; it was clear that at one time the entire plain had been on fire, that a hundred jets of fire and flame and molten lava had spouted from its surface. The heaps were now old and moss-grown, but we were informed of a vague tradition among the people that their ancestors had seen these flames bursting forth. Altogether, in that important journey, we saw and counted a hundred extinct craters, ex- tending over an arc of ninety miles, not reckoning the central mass of Ank^ratra, round one side of which that arc bends."* In a journey to the south-east of Madagascar I discovered traces of volcanic action in many places, in some parts shown in the deposits of rolled pebbles of lava, and in others in the streams of lava rock running into the sea and forming reefs which are being gradually broken up by the surf. And in the very opposite part of the island, on the extreme north- west coast, opposite the Minnow group of islets, Bishop Kestell- Cornish observes : " This coast is the most distinctly volcanic that I have seen in Madagascar ; at one point the lava must have run down to be quenched in the sea, and it looked as if this had taken place only last year." t In the Antsihanaka province also the same plutonic agency is distinctly visible. A great part of this region consists of an immense marshy plain, about thirty-five miles long by fifteen wide, with the lake Alaotra at its north-east corner and sur- rounded by hills ; and it has evidently been the seat of some powerful subterranean force by which this depression was caused. This is clear from the fact that the lines of hills which are seen on both sides of the Antsihanaka plain do not run in the same direction as the main valley or depression of the country, but cut it at an angle of about 45°; so that while the general direction of the valley is IST.KE. and S.S.W., the lines of hills on either side have a bearing of N.N.'W. and S.S.E. Many of the ridges seem to be broken off more or less abruptly by the level ground for several miles, and then are continued on the other side of the jolain. It was impos- sible to avoid the conclusion that by some great convulsion * Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc, January 25, 1875. t Antananarivo Annual, No. iii. p. 22. 30 A PLUTONIC VALLEY. a vast rent and depression had been made across tlie lines of hills in a diagonal direction ; while the water- worn and wasted remains of some few of these towards the south, forming a line of low detached hills, suggested that probably the action of water, either as an arm of the sea or a great river, had completed what was commenced by more violent agencies. The evidence of former volcanic action in the presence of extinct craters and lava streams to the west, north, and north-east of the plain, gives considerable support to this supposition. About a hundred miles north of the Antsih<\naka pro- vince there seem to be further traces of volcanic action. The Eev. J. A. Houlder thus describes a remarkable valley called Mtindritsara, which, until he saw it in 1876, was unknown to Europeans even by name, and not marked upon any map: " It is a great basin, or rather a mighty elongated pit, sunk deep down among the surrounding heights. It is about thirty miles long, and nearly 2000 feet below the level of the country east and west of it. Dante would have ima»gined it, not a ' circle ' certainly, but a remnant of some region of the horrible pit itself, which for a wise and gracious purpose had been gently touched by the cooling breath of heaven. There had evidently been a great commotion gomg on there in the ages gone by, for all the long valley was dotted with rounded hills, giving it the look of boiling water or bubbling pitch, which by some strange process had suddenly become congealed." It will therefore be seen that igneous agency has been a powerful factor in shaping the physical geography of many portions of Madagascar, and that in few places could that agency have been present on a grander scale than in the great volcanic region of which Madagascar is the centre, and the Comoro and Mascarene groups the extreme points in either direction. An attempt has been made in the accompanying sketch- map to show the prominent features in the physical geography of the island already noted. Probably closer examination would show that the detached groups of extinct craters are all connected by intermediate links, so as to form a continuous GEOLOGICAL FORMATION. 31 line of igneous disturbance from the extreme northern point of Madagascar to at least as far south as the twenty-third parallel ; and from the appearance of a line of hills seen at a distance south of this latitude, I am strongly inclined to believe that there has been subterranean agency at work even beyond the upper granitic plateaux, but no examination has yet been made of this southernmost region. With regard to the geology of Madagascar, but little is at present known with any exactness, for no competent geolo- gist has yet made a systematic examination of the country. There are, however, a few facts of a general character which have been noted by various observers, and these may be here collected together as a slight contribution to a knowledge of this subject, pending a more complete and scientific treatment of it. As already mentioned, the elevated region which forms so large a part of the central, northern, and eastern portions of the island is largely composed of Primary and igneous rocks. Granite, gneiss, and basalt are present almost all through this high region, and generally form the loftiest points in the country. In a single hill there is often a considerable variety of rock both in colour and texture — granite of various shades of grey, red, and rose-colour, with the constituent parts both fine and coarse. Veins of quartz, running both through these and the clays by which they are overlaid, are often met with, and very fine specimens of rock-crystal are frequently found. A hard, whitish, and durable stone, which has some resem- blance to the Yorkshire stone called Bramley Fall, is used in Antananarivo for public buildings, as well as for the native tombs. The lower hills, as well as the high moors, are usually com- posed of a bright red clay, but below the surface this often seems to pass into a light pink or white earth, resembling kaolin or china clay. This frequent change of colour would lead one to infer that atmospheric influences had something to do with the difference between the surface clay and that exposed in the numerous precipitous clefts which the rains excavate on the hillsides. In many places the material found amongst the rock seems exactly like granite in its con- 32 LIME AND SLATE. stituent parts, but without the cementing element, so that it can be cut quite easily by a spade. The red clay is some- times varied by a light brown clay on the hills, while the plains and valleys are filled with rich alluvial clays, blue and black in colour. In all these clays there is an apparently total absence of all organic remains, either animal or vege- table, so that it is not an easy task to determine their geolo- gical age; and there is little sign of stratification, although I have detected some appearance of this in the rocks, "with tilting of the strata. In this elevated region there seem to be few, if any, sedimentary rocks of a more recent age than the Primary ones which are so prominent a feature of it. A soft dark- red stone is found in some places, but this appears to be only a hardened clay. Columnar basalt has been noticed at some points, as well as extensive beds of volcanic ash, decomposed lava, scoria, and lava rock of all varieties of hardness, in some of wliich crystals of olivine are found in abundance. At one point, however, in the upper region of the island, a limestone deposit occurs. This is at Sirabe, to the south-west of the Ankaratra mountains ; and from the pits dug here most of the lime used for building in the central province is procured. It has not yet been examined by any one with competent scientific knowledge, but it appears to be a sulphate of lime, and is probably only a local deposit and not a stratified rock, and most likely is connected with the subterranean action so visible all around the district. Jets of carbonic acid gas are found in the plain among the lime, and from one of the springs which rise up to the surface a rock has been deposited with stalactite caves in its sides. Clay-slate is met with in the southern part of this elevated region, and in the Betsileo country a valuable slate, suitable both for building and for writing upon, is found, although it has not yet been worked to any extent. The royal chapel at Antananarivo is roofed with this native slate. According to some accounts, greywacke or whinstone, silex, and chert, with chalcedony, are also met with in the southern highlands. From certain of the facts above given, as well as from other considerations, it appears highly probable that this WllX?^ \/\/ »-HJA\-t.VA t. yxx>^, XU WJ^J^.^U,XU iXiQili^J' J. iiic^iii y ijivywciuivi tiitvu vi-Lj.^ FOSSILS. 33 extensive elevated region of Madagascar is very ancient land, and has probably remained for many ages above the waters of the Indian Ocean ; otherwise some trace of marine deposits would surely be found in portions of this great extent of country. I may, however, here note the fact that there are in some places such rounded boulder-like masses of blue basalt rock, sometimes on the surface, and sometimes partially embedded in the soil, that did these occur in the temperate region one would certainly ascribe them to glacial action ; but the point requires fuller investigation, and possibly some other solution may be given to the rather puzzling inquiry suggested. But in travelling to the north-west coast, as we got near the sea-level on the banks of the Betsiboka, we met with rounded boulders composed of rock which certainly does not exist in situ anywhere near the spot where these boulders occur, but has come from far away in the interior. With regard to the lower region of Madagascar — the extensive plains to the west and south of the island, as well as the narrower extent of country on the east coast — we have a little more definite information as to the geology of some portions of it. This division of the country is at a much less elevation above the sea, being only as many hundreds of feet above it as the granitic region is thozisands of feet. Here we find not only deposits of the later Tertiary epochs, con- taining fossils of animals but recently extinct, but also fossils of the Secondary age. This fact was first pointed out by M. Grandidier, who, in speaking of the south and west portions of the country, says : " Nerinca and other charac- teristic fossils of the Jurassic formation which I have there collected prove the existence of Secondary strata which cover a vast extent of this island " {Bull, de la Soc. dc Geog., Aout 1 87 1, p. 88). In a later number of the same publication (Avril 1872) he also speaks of an extensive "terrain num- mulitique parfaitement characteris(5 par des Neritina schmi- deliana, et petri de foraminiferes appartenant aux genres Alveolina, Orbitoldes, Triloculina" &c. This is confirmed by the fossils discovered in the south-west of Madagascar, in the upper part of the valley of the St. Augustine Eiver, by the Eev. J. Eichardson in 1877. These occur in vast numbers, G 34 SANDSTONE. and from a drawing he gives of tliem appear to belong to the Neocomian formation, and are species of the genera Ammonites, Terebratula, Nerinea or Turritella, Einoceramus, and Eliyn- conella, together with an Echinodcrm. It is evident, also, that there are deposits of a much later date than the above, for in the south-west of Madagascar M. Grandidier discovered the fossil remains of a hippopotamus (a pachyderm not now found living in the island), of gigantic tortoises (which are now only found in the little island of Aldebra to the north of Madagascar), and of the probably very recently-extinct struthious bird, the yEpyornis maximus, whose egg (12^ in. X9|^ in.) so far exceeds that of any other known bird. It seems highly probable, therefore, that a systematic examination of these less elevated portions of Madagascar would reveal the existence of much that is in- teresting and valuable both in paleeontology and geology, and so light would be thrown upon many problems connected with the anomalous animal life of the country and of neigh- bouring islands in the Indian Ocean. It is evident that these maritime plains were under water during portions at least of the Secondary period, at which epoch the high grani- tic region alone formed the island of Madagascar, then a country probably only a third of its present extent.* Dr. Auguste Vinson speaks of seeing yellow sandstone on the eastern coast, and he also describes the plain between the two eastern lines of forest as being composed of beds of sedimentary formations, " rich in fossil remains." Unfor- tunately he gives no particulars as to these alleged extinct organisms, so we are still in the dark as to the geological age of these formations. In sailing down the river B^tsiboka to the north-west coast, I noticed at one point that for a con- siderable distance the river bank was formed by layers of yellowish sandstone closely resembling a wall of masonry. Some of the courses appeared much weathered, while others had a smooth face, as if of much harder material. * This is confirmed by what is said in a "Notice sur une Exploration Gdolo- inr[ue de Madagascar, par M. Ed. Guillemin," in Annales des Mines, 6ine s^rie, t. X., 1806, pp. 277-319, who speaks of fragments of basalt being found far from the sea, at the foot of the mountains and many metres above the sea-level, with sea-shells, apparently of a recent date, attached. LIGNITE. 35 From the account given by an intelligent native of some rocks in the western part of Madagascar, and a little to the south of the centre, a conglomerate seems to be found there, for he describes hard rocks of great size as being filled as thickly as possible with rolled pebbles of all dimensions and shapes. He also mentions that near the sea he found a hard black stone which rang like iron when struck. This occurred in large, flat masses, scattered over the plain, and was full of shells in good preservation. But here, again, no specimens were brought for examination. A little more information as to the geology of Madagascar is found in papers contributed to scientific periodicals in England and France several years ago. The earliest of these is by the late Dr. Buckland, who, in a " Notice on the Geolo- gical Structure of a Part of the Island of Madagascar " * (Port Louquez, near the northern extremity), describes a sandstone without fossils, which he compares to the New Eed Saadstone, and in which are intercalated trap rocks similar to those of Antrim in Ireland. As to the north-west side of Madagascar, in the Annates des Mines (1854, 5me serie, t. vi. pp. S70-576) there is an account of the discovery of beds of lignite, both in the island of Nosibe and at two points on the neighbouring coast. In the opinion of the officers who made the exploration, the beds of this combustible are more ancient than the Tertiary forma- tion. It is contained in layers of sandstone and clay schists, is fibrous and shining, and burns readily with a long and white flame, leaving little ash. If beds of this lignite should be discovered in greater thickness, it would therefore be valu- able both as steam coal and for use in the industrial arts. In the same French publication of a little later date (5 me serie, t. viii., 1856) there is an " Essai sur la Geologie de Nosibe," in which the soil of that island is described as con- sisting of three different groups of strata : ( i ) Granitic rock, gneiss, mica schist, slaty schist, and plastic clay; (2) red and yellow sandstones, traversed by veins of gneiss and quartz ; while (3) is essentially volcanic, consisting of basaltic and trap lavas, overlaid in some places by beds of sandy material, * Trans. Gcol. Soc, London, vol. v. p. 47S. 36 CORAL AND MINERALS. tuffs, and volcanic rappilis. This essay is accompanied by a complete geological map of Nosib^. Since the date of this last paper some further attention has been paid to this part of the country, in connection with the French company promoted by M. Lambert (see Annales des Mines, 6me scrie, t. x. pp. 277-319), but hardly anything more has been done towards a scientific examination of other portions of Madagascar, except a notice of the peninsula en- closing Antongil Bay on the north-east coast {Bull, de la Soc. de G4og., Sept. et Oct. 1867), although probably M. Grandidier will have some fuller information in his great work now in progress. It may be here observed that a (barrier ?) reef of coral extends from 200 to 300 miles along the south-east coast of Madagascar, varying in its distance from the land from a ii[narter of a mile to three or four miles ; while fringing reefs surround the northern end of the island, extending for 250 miles along its western side, and for 400 miles down its eastern side, and are also found on the south-west coast. Mr. Darwin gives in his work on " The Structure and Distribu- tion of Coral Eeefs" (pp. 104, 105) some facts showing the wonderfully rapid growth of various species of coral on the east coast of Madagascar. The northern extremity of the country is said by Captain Owen to be formed of madre- poritic rock. With regard to minerals, Madagascar is tolerably rich in some of the most useful metals. Iron is found in great abundance in Im^rina, sometimes almost in a pure state. In some of the hills it is so plentiful that it is difficult to get a bearing with a compass from the deflection caused by the iron in the ground. Copper and silver have also been discovered, and from the geological structure of the country it is highly probable that gold would also be found in some of the ravines of the granitic highlands ; but as it is at j)resent a serious offence against the native laws to search for the precious metals, hardly anything has been done in this direction. Eock-salt is found near the coast, and nitre is also met with. Iron pyrites, from Avhich sulphur is extracted, is also found in abundance; and in the northern part of the island RAINFALL. 37 antimony seems to be plentiful ; and oxide of manganese has been found about fifty miles south of the capital. A substance resembling plumbago exists in great abundance, and is used by the Malagasy to colour and glaze some of the articles of pottery. A considerable variety of ochres and coloured earths are met with, and are used not only for colouring the native houses, but also in dyeing some of the woven cloths made by the people. In conclusion, it may be remarked that there is a vast extent of country on the coast plains where the soil is most iertile, but which is only thinly peopled, or has no popula- tion at all. Many parts of the island which separate the territory of one tribe from another are well Avatered and wooded, and seem to invite occupation. Madagascar could well sustain a population from ten to twenty times its present amount, for hardly any portion of it is rainless or desert, except a small section of the extreme south-western coast. Surrounded by the ocean, it enjoys an abundant rainfall, so that the droughts which constantly afllict large portions of Southern Africa never occur in Madagascar, while its insular position gives it a more equable climate, freer from extremes of temperature, than is enjoyed in most tropical countries. ( 38 ) CHAPTER III. THE ANDIAL LIFE OF MADAGASCAE. PECULIAR AND SPECIALISED CHARACTER OF THE FAUNA — ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE GEOLOGICAL REGIONS — LEMURS — AYE-AYE — INSECTIVORA — CARNIVORA— UNGULATA — FOSSIL HIPPOPOTAMUS — RODENTIA — REMOTE AFFINITIES OF THE AVI-FAUNA — RAPTO RES — "WATER-BIRDS — PERCHING BIRDS — CARDINAL-BIRD— SUN-BIRDS — iEPYORNIS AND ITS ENORMOUS EGG REPTILES — SCARCITY OF VENOMOUS SERPENTS — LIZARDS — GIGANTIC TOR- TOISES — CROCODILES — FISHES — INSECTS — BUTTERFLIES — BEETLES — WASPS — FIREFLIES — MANTIS — ANTS — LOCUSTS — MOSQUITOES — SPIDERS — SCOR- PIONS AND CENTIPEDES — AN ARMOUR-PLATED CREATURE — MINUTE AND AQUATIC FAUNA — ORIGIN AND MEANING OF THE SPECIALISED FAUNA OF MADAGASCAR — OPINIONS OF EMINENT NATURALISTS. As already pointed out in the preceding chapter, a large extent of country in Madagascar is covered with forest, a broad belt of which surrounds the island in an almost un- broken line ; while there is in addition to this a considerable tract of country, less densely wooded, occupying much of the western and southern plains. Here, then, there appears to be a congenial habitat for a vast number of living creatures — birds, reptiles, and arboreal mammals — in the thousands of square miles of woods, which cover not only a great portion of the warmer coast region, but also the sloj)es of the elevated interior plateaux. From these physical conditions of the country, it might therefore be supposed that Madagascar, situated as it is almost entirely witliiu the tropics, would be profusely filled with animal life. But it is not so, at least not nearly to such an extent as one would expect ; and a stranger crossing the forest for the first time is always struck with the general stillness of the woods and the apparent scarcity of birds seen on the route. The fauna of the country does, it is true, contain some most interesting and exceptional forms of life, FA UNA. 39 but it is almost as remarkable for what is omitted in it as for what it contains. Not only so, but from the position of the island with regard to Africa — being separated from it by a sea only 230 miles wide at its narrowest part, a distance further reduced by a bank of soundings to only 1 60 miles — one would also suppose that the fauna of the island would largely resemble that of the continent. But it is remarkably different : whole families of the larger mammalia are entirely absent ; there are no representatives of the larger felines, no lions, leopards, or hyaenas ; and none of the ungulate order, except a single species of river-hog, sole relative of the hippopotamus, rhinoceros, and buffalo '; and there is no zebra, quagga, or giraffe, or any of the numerous families of ante- lojje which scour the African plains. There is no elephant browsing in the wooded regions of Madagascar, and, stranger still, there are no apes or monkeys living in its trees. The few horses and asses found in the island are of recent intro- duction by Europeans ; even the humped cattle, which exist in immense herds, are probably not indigenous, but have been brought at a somewhat remote period from Africa ; and the hairy fat-tailed sheep and the few goats found in Madagas- car are also of foreign introduction. But for all that, the sub-region — speaking zoologically — of which Madagascar is the largest and most important por- tion — is pronounced by every zoologist who has studied it to be one of the most remarkable districts on the globe, bearing, says Mr. Alfred Wallace, " a similar relation to Africa as the Antilles to tropical America, or New Zealand to Australia, but possessing a much richer fauna than either of these, and in some respects a more remarkable one even than New Zealand." The Madagascar fauna is very deficient in the number of the orders and families of mammalia, but some of these, especially the Lemuridse among the Primates, the Viverridte among the Carnivora, and the Centetidaj among the Insectivora, are well represented in genera and species. I will notice the mammalia in the order now generally followed by zoologists in classifying this great division of the vertebrate animals ; premising, however, that in the following pages no pretension is made to exact or minute 40 THE LEMURIDJL. scientific knowledge or research. I have, however, taken a great interest in what has been done by others in investi- gating the faima of Madagascar. I have kept my eyes open during long journeys made in different parts of the country ; and I have been at some pains to study the papers con- tributed by naturalists to our scientific journals upon the fauna of the country. While, therefore, of little value to the scientific student, the following resume of what is known as to the animal life of Madagascar may not be without inte- rest to the general reader. Lemuridce. — The Primates are represented in Madagascar only by a portion of the eight families into which this order of mammals is divided ; the anthropoid and other apes, the baboons and the numerous families of monkeys, being altogether absent. But their place is taken by a much more attractive and beautiful division of quadrumana, the Lemuridae, which are found in great variety of form and colour all through the encircling ring of forest. In travel- ling from the coast to the elevated plateaux of the interior, one is sure to frequently hear their loud wailing cries, which sometimes make the woods resound for some minutes together, and have a most startling effect when heard for the first time. For a moment one supposes that there is a company of people not far distant in deep distress ; but after dis- covering the source of the sounds, I always found a curious pleasure in listening to the long-drawn-out melancholy cries, which are doubtless rather signs of the little creatures' enjoy- ment of their forest life than any expression of pain or fear. The lemurs have all the agility of monkeys, but with none of their comic half-human expression, the head being more like that of a dog or a fox, with sharp muzzle and large expressive eyes ; the fur is thick and soft, and the tail often long and bushy. There is a good deal of variety in size and colour among the lemurs and the allied genera, the largest species (Indris) being equal to a good-sized monkey, from three to four feet long, while the smallest {Lepilcnmr) is no larger than a rat or a small squirrel. One species, found abun- dantly in a spur of forest crossing the centre of the island, is entirely of a glossy black; others are of various shades of RING-TAILED LEMUR. 41 brown and of warm dark red ; others are a silvery white ; one species has a curious development of hair round the face, giving it the apppearance of having a pair of very bushy white whiskers ; while another has a thick bushy tail banded with black and white, which, when the creature is in repose, is usually coiled, like a comforter, round its neck. Lemurs are gentle and affectionate animals and easily tamed, and are frequently kept as pets in Madagascar, being secured by a long cord to a post of the verandah. Their agility is mar- vellous, for they leap to considerable distances from branch to branch ; so that a wood frequented by a company of them is all alive with their rapid movements, and resounds with their cries as they dart from tree to tree. The true lemurs are mostly fruit-eaters, but they are said occasionally to feed also on the smaller animals found in the woods : lizards, small birds, and insects. Most of them are diurnal in their habits, but there are some species which are chiefly nocturnal. One species, at least, of lemur, the Eing-tailed variety {L. ccitta), does not live in the forests, but among the rocks, where it is impossible to follow them. Mr. G. A. Shaw de- scribes their hands as having long, smooth, level, and leather- like palms, so that the animal can find a firm footing on wet slippery rocks ; while the thumbs on the hinder hands are very much smaller in proportion than those of the forest lemurs, who depend upon their grasping power for their means of progression. These lemurs are, therefore, an exception to the general habits of the Lemurida3 in that they are not arboreal. Their chief winter food consists of the fruit of the prickly-pear ; and they are said not to drink water. They defend themselves with great spirit if attacked. Another species, the Broad-nosed lemur {Hapalcmur simus), is said to subsist on the young shoots of the bamboo and upon grass. One of the smallest species, the Brown-mouse lemur {Chirogaleiis milii), hibernates, making for itself a nest of leaves or dry grass in hollow trees for its winter sleep. It is an exceedingly pretty animal, brown in colour, but white below, with large and brilliant eyes, and legs nearly equal in length, so that it does not leap, like the majority of the lemurs. The 42 SUB-FAMILIES OF LEMURS. most diminutive of all these active little animals is the Dwarf lemur {Microcebus Smithii); this lives on the tops of the highest trees, making a nest very much like that of a bird. Its food consists of fruit and insects, and probably also honey. It is exceedingly pugnacious. Tor these particulars I am indebted to Mr. Shaw's " Notes on Four Species of Lemurs, specimens of which were brought alive to England in 1878." {Froc. Zool. Soc, February 4, 1879.) Madagascar may be called the head-quarters of the Lemu- ridse; and of the four sub-families into which the family is divided (embracing the true lemurs, the typical animals of Professor St. George Mivart's sub-order Lemuroidfea), two — by far the largest — belong exclusively to the island, and contain six genera and thirty-four species ; but there are two other sub-families of allied forms which are found in other countries. One of these (Nycticebidse) comprises some small short-tailed animals, called slow lemurs, found in India and China, Borneo and Java ; another similar animal, the loris, in- habits South-East India and Ceylon; another, the potto, is found in West Africa, at Sierra Leone ; and another, the angwantibo, is also found in West Africa, at Old Calabar. The meaning of the extraordinary fact that animals so nearly allied to the lemur are found in such remote regions both east and west of Madagascar, we shall discuss further on in connection with the other strange anomalies in geographical distribution, which are shown both by the relations of other mammals found in the island, and also by many of the birds, reptiles, and in- sects. There is a fourth sub-family of Lemuridoe, the galagos, not however so nearly allied to the true lemurs as those just mentioned, which is found all over the central portions of the African continent, from Senegal and Fernando Po to Zanzibar and Natal. M. Grandidier has pointed out with regard to several genera of the lemurs, that they have embryological features which render them very distinct from the other quadrumana, the placenta being altogether different from the discoid form common to other members of the order. This fact, together with a number of other anatomical differences, induces him to think that they recj^uire to be placed in a THE A YE- A YE. 43 distinct order from the rest of the quadrumanous animals. M. Grandidier also thinks that the number of species of lemur is much less than has been supposed, many specimens formerly reckoned as distinct species being only local varieties {Bull. Soc. Geog., Avril 1872, p. 373). But there is another quadrumanous animal allied to the Lemurs, and classed as one of the three families in Professor Mivart's sub-order Lemuroidsea, which is one of the most remarkable forms of mammalia to be found in any part of the world. This is the Aye-aye, or Cheiromys Maclagas- cariensis. This animal is the sole representative of the family with which it is classed, and is peculiar to Mada- gascar, From the few specimens available for examination, it is only lately that it has been thoroughly known to naturalists. It was at first supposed to belong to the Eodentia, with which it was classed both by Cuvier and Buffon, but it is now determined to be " an exceedingly specialised form of the lemuroid type." Its organisation presents perhaps one of the most interesting examples of typical forms modified to serve special ends that animal structure can furnish us with. Its food consists of a wood- boring larva, which tunnels beneath the bark of certain hard-wooded trees. To obtain these, the animal is furnished with most powerful chisel-shaped teeth, with which it cuts away the outer bark. As, however, the caterpillar retreats to the end of its hole, one of the fingers of the Aye-aye's fore- hands is slightly lengthened, but considerably diminished in thickness, and is furnished with a hook-like claw. Thus jDrovided, the finger is used as a probe, inserted in the tunnel, and the dainty morsel drawn from its liiding-place. There are also other modifications, all tending to the more perfect accomplishment of the purposes it fulfils in nature ; the eyes being very large to see by night ; the ears expanded widely, and of most delicate membrane, to catch the faint sound of the caterpillar at work ; and the thumbs of the hinder feet, or rather hands, being largely developed to enable the animal to take a firm hold of the tree when at work. It has also been observed that this claw-lilve middle finger is used as a scoop when the creature drinks; being bent so as to separate it 44 THE INSECTIVORA. from the other fingers, it is carried so rapidly from the water to the mouth, passing sideways through the lips, that the liquid seems to pass in a continual stream. The natives of Madagascar have a superstitious dread of the animal, believ- ing that the person who kills an Aye-aye will certainly die within a year. This fear, added to the nocturnal habits of the creature, has made it difficult to obtain specimens. The Bats may be dismissed in a word or two. The six known species all belong to families which are widely ex- tended over the world ; and they have no special peculiarity of appearance or habit which marks them from the familiar forms found in every tropical country. Inscctivora. — Coming, however, to the next order of mam- malia, the Insectivora, we find them represented in Mada- gascar by two families, one of which, the shrews, is well known and widely spread, and contains but a single species ; but the other family, that of the Centetidoe, is, with the exception of one genus, peculiar to the island. It contains five genera in ]\Iadagascar, and nine species. These are all small animals, allied to our European hedgehogs, some of them having a covering of strong spines, while in others it consists rather of firm prickly hairs, which however do not cover the whole of the body. They are used as food, having very much the taste of pork, and are called trdndraha or tenrec. They are found in the woods, and especially in the low scattered brushwood and fern- overgrown land in the vicinity of the forests, from which the trees have been removed. During our usual yearly holiday at our sanatorium on the outskirts of the inner line of forest, we frequently met with three or four varieties of these harmless creatures while ramblin^T in the outskirts of the woods. Our dos^ often chased them, but she generally came back with her mouth and nostrils stuck q,s full of prickles as a pincushion is of pins. Some of the species are prettily banded transversely with alternate shades of dark and light brown, or brown and yellow. One day a female tenrec was brought to us for sale, with eight or nine tiny young ones only a few days old. These were yellow and brown in colour, their hair being still soft ; they were about the size of a large egg, and a most amusing THE CARNIVORA. 45 family of creatures they looked. The various genera of these Centetidse do not roll themselves into a ball like the hedgehogs, but place the head between the fore-paws, and their spines and prickly hairs probably serve them equally well as a protection from their enemies. Small as the insectivorous animals of Madagascar are, they are remarkable from the fact that " in no equally con- fined area are they represented by so many peculiar types as in Madagascar." But it is still more remarkable that the only other known genus of Centetidse is found in the West India Islands. The animal representing this genus, tlie Solenodon, is more slender in form than the Madagascar Centetidae, and more active in its habits. It has a long rat- like tail, and a tapering snout, like that of a shrew. One species is found in Cuba, and the other in Hayti, and they are among the very few mammals which are known to be indigenous to the West India Islands. "Although," says Mr. Wallace, " presenting many points of difference in detail, the essential characters of this curious animal are, according to Professors Peters and Mivart, identical with the rest of the Centetidoe. We have thus a most remarkable and well- established case of discontinuous distribution, two portions of the same family being now separated from each other by an extensive continent, as well as by a deep ocean." '"' Carnivora. — The carnivorous animals of Madagascar are small compared with those of Africa. They belong chiefly to the Viverridfe or Civets, a family now chiefly found in Africa and South-east Asia, but which, during the Miocene period, also flourished in Europe. The typical animal of this family, called by the natives fdsa (which is also its generic name), is a long-bodied animal, with short legs and long bushy tail, and with longitudinal stripes of dark-brown spots on a ground of light-greyish brown. It is between two and three feet long, and very destructive to birds and small quadrupeds. There are only two species of it yet known. The true viverra has not yet been found in Madagascar, but it inhabits the Comoro Islands, which are doubtless part of the ancient land of which Madagascar is the most considerable * Wallace, The Geographical Distribution of Animals, vol. ii. p. i8S. 46 THE CRYPTOPROCTA. remaining portion. As will be seen from drawings, it is a handsome creature, beautifully banded with lines of spots on a light-brown ground, which shades into black on the back and the neck. Another carnivorous animal is an ichneumon {Eupleres goudotii), which is a bulkier animal than the fosa, but with small head and fine muzzle ; it is about two feet long, and has long claws. The smaller species of carnivora (of two genera, gcdidia and galidictis) are called vontsira, and some- what resemble the weasels and ferrets of Europe, but they are . not so long and slender in body. They are also much less ferocious, and are not exclusively flesh-feeders. They are all striped longitudinally with shades of grey and brown. The only other family in this order consists of a single genus and species named Cryptoproda {ferox). It is a planti- grade animal, and is the largest of the Madagascar carnivora being about three feet long, with tail of equal, or slightly greater, length. It is like a small leopard in shape, but with thick warm-brown fur of a uniform colour. It is " peculiar to Madagascar, and was formerly classed among the Viverridte^ but is now considered by Professor Flower to constitute a dis- tinct family between the cats and the civets." * A very fine specimen of this animal may be seen in the British Museum, as weU as examples of most of the other carnivora. It appears to be chiefly found in the western portion of the island, where it is known under the names of pintsdla or kintsdla. It is greatly dreaded by the people for its ferocity and destructive- ness ; and, from its mode of attack, appears to be like an immense weasel, but preying upon the largest animals, wild hogs, and even buffaloes. A wild cat is very plentiful in many parts of the island. This is a handsomely striped animal, and very destructive to domestic fowls ; but, in the oj)inion of most naturalists, it is not to be included in the indigenous fauna of Madagascar. I am, however, inclined to think that this is a mistake. Ungulata. — As already remarked, the very large and im- portant order of hoofed animals is all but entirely absent from Madagascar. There is, however, a single species of * Wallace, op. cit., vol. ii. p. 194. THE UNGULATA. 47 jyofamochcerus or river-hog, closely allied to an African species. It is described by a Trench writer as an ugly animal, with high withers, low back, and little hair. It has an enormous tubercle, supported by a bony prominence in the jaw, which renders the face of the animal extremely disagreeable. The specimen in the British Museum hardly bears out this not very flattering portrait; but I fancy it is a young one, in which the adult ugliness above described has not been de- veloped. I have never seen this hog in Madagascar, but have frequently met with its tracks in the forest, where it digs up the ground in search of roots, and often does much damage to plantations situated near the woods. The presence in Madagascar of this single peculiar species of river-hog, with so near a relative in Africa, may, in the opinion of ]\Ir. Wallace, " be perhaps explained by the unusual swimming- powers of swine, and the semi-aquatic habits of this genus leading to an immigration at a later period than in the case of the other mammalia." * But although the larger pachydermata are now absent from Madagascar, it is an interesting fact that they have not all of them been so in former times ; for M. Grandidier has dis- covered the bones of a small species of hippopotamus (If. lemerlii) in the south-west provinces in a sub-fossil state, indicating that this quadruped was an inhabitant of the island at a not very remote period. A large proportion of the mari- time plains of Madagascar has extensive reaches of river and lagoon, which would seem to be just the sort of country best suited to the habits of the hippopotamus ; so that it is diffi- cult to account for the fact of its having become extinct. But this is only one of those numerous yet unsolved problems with which the subject of the geographical distribution of animals abounds. Rodentia.—Tl\Q only remaining order of mammalia found in Madagascar is that of the Eodentia, represented by three genera, each with a single species of Muridce, about which there is nothing of special interest to remark. Although poor in genera and species, however, this family is very rich indeed in individuals ; for the whole inhabited parts of the * Wallace, op. cit., vol. i. p. 273. 48 BIRDS. country swarm with rats and mice ; and every traveller has stories to relate of his adventures with these creatures. " A night with the rats " is one of the never-failing Madagascar " traveller's tales." Birds. — We now turn to the birds, in which the island is much richer than in mammals, although here, again, there are none of the largest forms, and many of the most brilliantly coloured and striking tropical genera are absent. There is no living representative of the Struthidse, either ostrich, casso- wary, or emu ; neither are there any of the trogons, golden- pheasants, or birds-of-paradise of the Eastern hemisphere, or the toucans or humming-birds of the Western. But there is a large variety of the order Passeres, or perching birds, and many of these, although of moderate size, are beautifully coloured ; and many of them, in common with birds of other orders — the Eaptores, the Waders, and the Gallince — are of remarkable forms. No fewer than 8 8 genera and 1 1 1 species of land-birds are already known, and the number is being added to every year. But " the number of peculiar genera in Madagascar constitutes one of the main features of its ornithology, and many of these are so isolated that it is very difficult to classify them, and they remain to this day a puzzle to ornithologists." * Of the ill known species, 5 o belong to 33 genera which are peculiar to the island, and 56 to peculiar species, the genera of which are found also in Africa and South-eastern Asia ; and thus, says Mr. Wallace, " there is an amount of specialty hardly to be found in the birds of any other part of the globe. Out of 1 1 1 land-birds in Madagascar, only 1 2 are identical with species inhabiting the adjacent continents, and most of these belong to powerful- winged or wdde-ranging forms." What is most astonishing is that many of the birds are much more nearly alHed to South Asian or Malayan forms than to those of Africa, while many are of such doubtful affinities that it is yet quite unde- cided what family they belong to, several requiring a distinct family to be formed for their reception ; and the nearest affinities of others are found in South America, and even in the Pacific Islands. So many perfectly isolated forms are * Wallace, op. cit., vol. i. p. 274. BIRDS OF PREY. 49 certainly nowhere else to be found. The explanation of this may be deferred for a little to consider it on the widest avail- able data. Eaptorcs. — The rapacious birds are well represented in Madagascar by a number of species of hawks, kites, and falcons, but there is only one known eagle {Halietcs vocife- roidcs), while the owls are also numerous. These latter are considered by the Malagasy as birds of evil omen, and are consequently persecuted by the natives. On the other hand, one of the hawks (the vdromaMry, i.e., " strong bird ") has been adopted as a sort of crest or national emblem by the Hova Government. It gives a name to the tribe inhabit- ing the capital and its neighbourhood, and an immense figure of the bird crowns the lofty high-pitched roof of the two chief royal palaces in Antananarivo. In the neighbourhood of the ancient capital of Imerina I have occasionally seen flocks of several hundred hawks hovering in the air at an immense height, and have wondered how such numbers could obtain food. In the same place the crows are equally numerous and almost as bold. The Madagascar crow is not quite so much like an undertaker in appearance as is his English relative. He is as large as a raven, and has a more clerical air about him, having a white tie or collar round his neck, and a white breast that may easily be imagined to be a very large pair of bands. He is probably nearly related to Corvus capclla, the " chaj)lain crow." Water-Birds. — Many parts of Madagascar are exceedingly attractive to sportsmen from the variety of species and great numbers of the water-birds — wild ducks, divers, teal, muscovy ducks, waterliens, sandpipers, herons, storks, and ibis — found in the marshes, lakes, and rivers. One of the finest countries that a sportsman could desire is the province of Antsihanaka, which is situated at the northern termination of the long narrow valley between the two eastern lines of forest. It consists of an almost perfectly flat plain, about thirty-five miles long by fifteen broad, the greater part of which is marsh, and at the north-east corner deepens into an extensive lake. As the villages are few, and are mostly situated at the foot of D 50 WATERFOWL. the rising grounds surrounding these marshes, it may be easily supposed that the whole district is a favourite resort of waterfowl. During a tour of a fortnight round this marshy country, in 1874, I w\as greatly struck with the abundance and variety of bird-life found there. One day especially, on a wet and drizzly morning, long lines of wild ducks and other waterfowl flew over our heads and seemed to fill the air, while the mnrshes and shallow expanses of water swarmed with divers, teal, and black geese. Very similar in its abundance of bird-life is the lake of Itasy, some forty miles to the west of the capital, upon which I once spent a long day in a canoe shooting waterfowl, herons, and divers. And from what I have seen in ether parts of the island, especially on the banks of the principal rivers on the eastern coast of Madagascar, as well as from accounts given by other travellers in the northern part, the whole island seems to abound in this class of birds. A pretty little diving duck (Hetfopus auritus), a large brown duck with exquisite blend- ing of brown, fawn, and slate-coloured plumage, and a duck-like widgeon with a rose-coloured beak, afford good sport. The purple or Sultana waterhen is a very beautiful bird, with its bluish-purple body, red patch on the head, and coral feet adorned with a tuft of white feathers. A species of Jacana, a bird of the waterhen family, is found in ]\Iadagascar. Mounted on long legs, it has also very long feet, with which it walks upon the broad flat leaves of water-lilies and other plants in search of its food. One of the strangest-looking birds is a grebe {Pocliceps polzelni), in which the massive legs and immense broad-webbed feet seem curiously dispropor- tioned to the size of the body. Species of snipe are plentiful, l^ut they have a different flight from the European bird : one is known as the painted snipe {Bhynchcea capensis) from its beautiful markings. Guinea-fowl are tolerably abundant, and also three species of quail, one {Margaroperdix striata) a little smaller than the English partridge, and the smallest no bigger than a sparrovv, with a flight like tliat of a landrail. There are several species of heron. " The sacred ibis of Egypt is found in large flocks, as well as the green variety of Europe. The crested ibis is peculiar to the country ; it is PARROTS. 51 a bright red, witli yellow beak and claws ; a green head, from which the long plume of white and green feathers lies back." The white egret, called by the people vbromrpotsy, a small bird of pure white, with long legs, neck, and beak, is very common on the coast and in the marshes of the interior. On the coast large flocks may be seen following the herds of cattle for the sake of the ticks and flies, being often perched on the backs or necks of the oxen. Wlien living at Ambolii- manga, we used to be interested every evening during the cold seasons in watching the arrival of a large flock of these birds, about four hundred in number. During the day they were feeding in the marshes a few miles south, but at sunset they came altogether and settled for a few minutes in a wide open space of ground about a quarter of a mile distant in front of our house. Having apparently rested from their flight, the leader rose, then the whole flock, and flew steadily round to the north-west side of the lofty hill on which Ambohimanga is built, where they roosted in the trees on the lee side, sheltered from the cold south-east trade-wind. In summer they seemed to remain day and night in their feed- ing-grounds. Perching Birds. — In the forests a slaty-black parrot and also a dark-green species {Coracopsis obscura and nigra) are often seen. The former is very intelligent and easily taught to talk. In the more open country, in the warmer parts of the island, flocks of small bright-green parroquets are frequently met with. They are about the size, and not much unlike, the love-birds so common in cages in England. The family of the cuckoos is well represented in Madagascar ; the most conspicuous is a large bird of dark blue, with a long tail {Coua cccruUa T) ; it has a slow, heavy flight, and is frequently seen in the w^oods. Another bird {Dicrurus Wal- deni) is of a blackish glossy green, with extremely long tail, bifurcated at the extremity. Some of the smaller birds found plentifully in the open moory hills of the interior are interesting examples of the "survival of the fittest" by protective resemblance to the surrounding vegetation. As there is no rain for six or seven months during the dry season, the grass, as may be readily 52 CARDINAL-BIRDS. supposed, becomes dull-greenisli grey or brown in colour for the last three or four months. Now the smaller birds so exactly resemble the dry grass in colour that I have frequently been startled to see a bird start up from a spot only a few yards in front of me, upon which I had had my eyes fixed for some seconds and had not detected the slightest sign of a living creature. There is, however, a small bird about the size of a lark which is extremely conspicuous during the warm season from its livery of brilliant scarlet. In a grove of mango-trees close to our house at Antantinarivo, these little cardinal-birds were very plentiful during the breeding season, darting from tree to tree like living flames, often engaged in fierce conflict with each other for the favour of the females. These latter are quite a contrast to the males, being clad in as sober a suit of brown as an English sparrow. I have occasionally seen the male birds in flocks of from thirty to forty together in the rice-fields. The male bird is in the habit of choosing the very tip of the highest branch of the trees, where he sits for a few seconds, but speedily darts off. There are several species found in Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands, some having scarlet only on the breast. The typical bird of the genus (called fody by the natives) is entirely scarlet except the wings ; but the colour becomes much less brilliant after the breeding season is over. The bird belongs to the family of the Ploceidse or weaver- finches. There are few streams or sheets of water in Madagascar where one will not see species of a bird not quite so conspicuous as the scarlet fbcly, but as large and quite as beautiful — the kingfisher. The most consj^icuous species in the interior is a bird with most lovely purplish-blue body and wings, with yellow breast and scarlet throat {Alccdo vintsoides). Its food appears to be chiefly aquatic insects, and not fish. In some accounts of the natural history of Madagascar it is said that humming-birds have been discovered there. But this is no doubt a mistake, as the Trochilidse are believed to be confined to the New World. There are, however, several species of Nectarinidse, or sun-birds, as they are AVI-FAUNA. 53 commonly called, but more correctly, sugar-birds ; and these, although not very nearly allied to the humming-bmls, are sufficiently like them in general appearance to deceive any but a practised naturalist. They have the same brilliant metallic hues, one of them being very beautiful, " with its bright-green body shaded with violet, the large feathers of the wings brown edged with green, a violet band on the breast, succeeded by one of brown and yellow beneath." But I must not dwell longer on the avi-fauna of the island. There are numbers of beautifully-coloured birds which are shown in exquisitely tinted lithography in the work of Messrs. Pollen and Van Dam, Dutch naturalists, and in M. Grandidier's magnificent work, of which only four volumes of the promised twenty-eight are yet published. It must suffice here to say, in brief, that, in addition to the birds already noticed, the thrushes, warblers, bulbuls, orioles, cuckoo and other shrikes, fly-catchers, hoopoes, pigeons, goat-suckers, flower-peckers, weaver-finches, wagtails, rollers, bee-eaters, pittas, swallows, and swifts are all represented among the Passeres and Picarise, inhabiting chiefly the woods ; and that grouse, partridges, quails, peafowl, snipes and curlew, herons and bitterns, flamingoes, storks, and spoonbills are all among the bnds inhabiting the open country, and living in the water and by the seashore. But, as already remarked, the ornithology of Madagascar is more remarkable for the specialty of many of its forms, and for the remote affinities of several of the birds, than for the beauty or strangeness of appearance of many individual members of the avi-fauna ; and it is also most curious that several families which are peculiar to Africa and well re- presented there are entirely absent from Madagascar. Tlu JEpyomis maximus. — Before, however, referring to the inferences which have been drawn from the anomalous fauna of Madagascar, there is one other bird which must be mentioned, not indeed one of its present inhabitants, but so recently extinct that it cannot be overlooked in considering the animal life of the country and its neighbouring islands. Of course I refer to that gigantic struthious bird the uEpyornis, which, if not the largest of all hirds, certainly laid 54 THE JEPYORNIS MAXIM US. tlie largest of known egrjs. It is only within the last thirty years that a few of tlie eggs have been discovered in the southern portions of the island. These have the capacity or contents of six or seven ostrich eggs, or of one hundred and forty-eight eggs of the common fowl. At first nothing but some fragments of bone were discovered together with the eggs, and many were the speculations of naturalists as to the size and nature of the bird laying such an egg. One learned professor supposed it to be that of a gigantic penguin ; another, that of an enormous bird of prey, surpassing the condor in size, and representing the roc of Arabian romance, and the rulzh of Marco Polo's description. Professor Owen, however, with M. St. Hilaire, refers the egg to a three-toed species of terrestrial or struthious bird, allied to the Dinornis of New Zealand, and probably somewhat less in height and size. About ten years ago, M. Grandidier discovered leg- bones and some vertebrae of the bird, from which it seems clear that the JEpyornis was about the height of an ostrich, but more robust and massive in the legs and feet. Since then, remains of two other and smaller species have been discovered : one the height of a cassowary, and the other that of a bustard ; so that it appears probable that Mada- gascar was formerly tenanted by as numerous and varied a family of rukhs as New Zealand was of moas. A diagram will show more clearly than any description the size of the egg as compared with those of other well-known birds. The larger axis of the egg is 1 2;^^ inches, the shorter 9f inches. Mr. Wallace says, but I do not know on what authority, that "there is reason to believe that the ^pyornis may have lived less than two hundred years ago ; " unless indeed he considers that Marco Polo's account may be granted as founded on fact, when he writes : " The people of Madagascar report that at certain seasons of the year an extraordinary kind of bird, which they call a 'rukh,' makes its appearance from the southern region." It seems quite possible that the bird was living at that time ; while in the earlier ages the immense egg may easily have given rise to the Arabian stories of a bird of such gigantic size that it could carry an elephant in its talons, and had wings stretching over thirty REPTILES. 55 paces, together witli other equally marvellous details. Apart from its scientific interest, therefore, this enormous Eastern egg has another interest, as showing that some of the medi- seval stories, long thought to be wholly mythical, had an actual basis of fact. Colonel Yule, in his beautiful edition of Marco Polo's travels, has suggested that the enormous quill feathers of the ruhh, said to have been brought from Madagascar, were really leaf-stalks of the traveller's-tree (see vol. ii. p. 354); but it is much more likely that they were the immensely long mid-ribs of the leaves of the rojia palm. These are from twenty to thirty feet long, and are not at all unlike an enormous quill stripped of the feathery portion. It will be unnecessary to say much upon the remaining classes of vertebrata, or upon the other divisions of animal life found in IMadagascar, not only because, with two or three notable exceptions, they are less remarkable than the mammals and birds, but also because several groups are yet imperfectly known and their affinities still undetermined. Beidilia. — With regard to the Eeptiles, " these present some very curious features, comparatively few of the African groups being represented, while there are a considerable number of Eastern, and even of American, forms." '"" In the desert- snakes, tree - snakes, and whip - snakes there are peculiar genera, and the pythons or boas are also represented by a genus peculiar to the island. But the most remarkable fact in connection with this order of reptiles, so deadly in all the great continents, is that, with two or three exceptions, the serpents of IMadagascar are harmless. Xo venomous snake is known in the interior of the island or in the upper forests, and it is not quite certain that the larger species found in the warmer southern and western plains and on the coast generally are deadly, although some are undoubtedly venomous. In the open country and forests of the upper plateau the snakes are all small and mnocuous. A pretty kind of water- snake may be often seen in the forest streams and pools, swimming over the surface with its head gracefully held up out of the water. One of my missionary brethren, the Eev. * "Wallace, vp. cit. 56 LIZARDS. J. A. HoulJer, met with some examples of the larger species on a journey to the nortli-east coast in 1876. One of these which he shot is called ahoma, and although ahout nine feet long, and as thick round the middle as the calf of a man's leg, he calls a medium-sized specimen. " On each side of its body was a long, yellow, black, and reddish chain on a brownish ground, and near the extremity of the tail were two abortive claws like the anal hooks of the boa." Some of these serpents are brilliantly green in colour, this being- doubtless a protective resemblance to the surrounding vegetation. This akoma "is nocturnal in its habits, and appears to be more often on the ground and in the water than in the trees." Another serpent, which seems un- douljtedly a species of boa, is described as living in the Sakalava country. " Hanging from the branches of trees, it pounces suddenly on its victim, and, enveloping it in its folds, speedily squeezes it to death. It is even said to kill oxen and occasionally man. Some of the natives say that it strikes with a spur in its tail, then sucks the blood which flows from the wound thus made." The Lizards are no less remarkable than the snakes from their Oriental and American, and, in some cases, Australian relationships. But, as in the case of the Ophidia, the species of Lacertidte found in the interior of Madagascar are all small ; they are delicately striped and spotted, and are most rapid in their movements. Several species of beautifully- marked chameleons are found in the open country of the interior, and others, larger, and of bright-green and golden tints, in the upper forest of the eastern side of the island. In passing through the woods a day or two after a destructive cyclone in February 1876, which had prostrated thousands of great trees, we found a number of new forms of lizards, chameleons, and tree-frogs among the upper branches of those which had fallen across the paths. Had a naturalist been then in the interior, he would have found a harvest of arbo- real reptiles usually inaccessible from living at a height above the ground ; while a botanist would have had an unusually good opportunity of examining flowers and fruits which are generally elevated one hundred feet or more overhead, in the TORTOISES. 57 struggle for light and air amongst tlie dense vegetation of the forest. The tree-frogs are very numerous in the southern interior provinces, and with their webbed feet cling by scores to the verandahs of houses, as well as to the trees, looking like a small patch of bright-green jelly. The other groups are of less interest. There are several species of tortoises allied to African genera ; one {Pyxis), the geometric or box-tortoise, having the carapace divided into large hexagons beautifully marked. These may be seen Imsking in the sun on small spits of sand rising just above the surface of the rivers. In a very recent geological era ]\Iadagascar was also the home of at least two very large species of tortoise {Testudo abrupta and Einys gigantea), the remains of which have been found by M. Grandidier in the south of the island. These are probably extinct on the mainland of Madagascar, but they seem to have inhabited the ]\Iascarene group of Mauritius, Bourbon, and Eodriguez up to the arrival of man in these islands. But having been reck- lessly destroyed, they now survive only in the small and uninhabited Aldebra islands, near the Seychelles group. There is a fine specimen of this gigantic tortoise in the British Museum, and two living examples in the Eegent's Park Gardens. The male tortoise, which is much the larger of the two, is 5 feet 5 inches in length, and 5 feet 9 inches in breadth — broader, in fact, than it is long. It weighs about eight hundred pounds, and is believed to be able to carry a ton weight on its back. It is now seventy years old, but is still young, and likely to grow to a much greater size. From its geometric-shaped plates it seems to be allied to the small living geometric tortoise of Madagascar, and probably still more closely to the elephantine tortoise of the Seychelles and Comoro Islands. The smaller amphibia are not very well known ; bur the crocodiles are familiar to every traveller in the island. These unpleasant-looking reptiles swarm in every river and lake, and even in many small pools. During a journey down the Betsiboka river we saw as many as a hundred in a day, a dozen together being often seen basking in the sun on a sandbank ; while other travellers have seen as many as a 53 CROCODILES. tliousand in as short a space of time. They are mostly yellowish-green in colour, but some are slaty, and others spotted with black. The back is serrated like a coarse pit- saw, and the head seems small in proportion to the body. They are often attended by a small bird which feeds upon the crocodile's parasites, and in return is said to warn it of any danger. They are regarded with a superstitious dread by many of the Malagasy tribes, and are so dangerous in some parts of the island that at every village on the banks of the rivers a space is carefully fenced off with strong stakes, so that the women and girls can draw water without the risk of being seized by the jaws or swept off by the tail of these disgusting-lookmg creatures. This I saw all along the banks of the Matitanaua, one of the largest rivers of the south-east coast. Amongst the tribes dwelling on either side of this same river, there used to be, and perhaps still is, practised a kind of ordeal for those who are suspected of certain crimes, in which the crocodile has an important j^art to play. (See chapter on Folk-lore and Popular Superstitions.) Cattle are frequently carried off by crocodiles when a herd of them ford or swim across a river, and one of my friends told me that in the ]\langoro he saw an ox suddenly disappear, and in less than half an hour he noticed an empty skin floating on the water a little lower down the stream, having been completely divested of what it covered. I was somewhat inclined to think he was drawing on liu imagination or my credulity ; but he assured me it was a simple statement of fact. The eii"s of the crocodile are collected and sold for food in the markets, but I never brought myself to test the merits of these delicacies. They are about the size of a turkey's Q,'gg, with a very thick and rough white shell. Fishes. — The fresh-water fish of Madagascar are not yet well known ; and in the interior provinces of elevated land they are few in species, and, except of small fish, there are not many edible varieties. Large quantities of brilliantly- coloured fish, much resembling the gold and silver fish of our ornamental pomls, are, however, found in the rice-fields, and sold in the markets for food, but are only eaten by the poorer people. The eels are of large size and great thickness ; INSECTS. 59 they are plentiful, and are excellent in quality. Altliougli fish is somewhat scarce in the waters of the interior, the beautiful drawings in Pollen and Van Dam's work on the Madagascar fauna show that in the north-western rivers of the island there is a considerable variety of bright-coloured and grotesquely-shaped fish. These are striped with wavy bands of bright blue from the head to the tail, these bands looking as if they were painted over the ground-colour of the fish, which is golden-red or brown. As soon as the fresh- water fish have been carefully collected all over the island, they will doubtless furnish some important facts, throwing light upon the derivation of the fauna. Insects. — The insects of Madagascar present much that is remarkable as regards their relationship, and a great deal that is interesting and beautiful in the shape and colouring of the various orders. Many parts of the island are rich in butterflies, some of the finest being found in the bare interior plateaux, amongst them the magnificent diurnal moth, Urania riphwus. This was frequently brought to me, and is certainly one of the most beautiful of lepidopterous insects ; its gorgeous wings of green and gold, ending in several tails like a papilio, are edged with a delicate fringe of purest white feathery scales. It is also one of the most interesting of the Madagascar lepidoj)tera, from the fact that all the other species of the genus inhabit tropical America and the West India Islands. In a journey to the south-east of Madagascar, in 1 876, I was greatly struck with the numbers of individuals and variety of species of butterfly seen on the banks of the M^tit^nana ; and in coming up the eastern forest on the Tamatave route, I have seen some of the streams covered with a cloud of green and black and blue and black butterflies. Some of the nocturnal moths are very large, the Avings spreading over six or seven inches, and Avith lovely shading and spots of brown and fawn colour. There seems, however, to be only one genus peculiar to Madagascar, and this belongs to the family of Satyridte. There are two species of caterpillar from which silk is ob- tained ; from one of these the silk is of so strong a quality, although not brilliant, that it is asserted that pieces of it, 6o BEETLES. •when exhumed from the graves, where they have heen for centuries envelopmg the dead, have lost none of their firmness. There is a caterpillar found in the interior which is so large and brightly coloured that the bushes on which it feeds are quite conspicuous from some distance. It is from five to six inches long, in a gorgeous livery of yellow, black, and scarlet. The Coleoptera are more remarkable than the Lepidop- tera for their Avidely-spread affinities, and they have been better collected. The tiger-beetles, stag-beetles, carnivorous beetles, and also the Cerambycidse and Lamiidse, are all well represented, and the rosechafers have twenty genera peculiar to Madagascar, while the metallic beetles have one genus {Pobjlothris) containing a large number of peculiar species; and the lonoicorn beetles are numerous and interestimr, con- taining no less than twenty-four genera peculiar to the island. Most of these insects are found in the lower and warmer portions of the country, so that only a few of them are met with in the ujjper forest, although there are many species even there of great beauty and interest. A small beetle of most vivid colouring of metallic green, blue, and scarlet is ex- tremely plentiful, and may be caught by scores on a particular kind of bush ; and many beautiful Buprestidse and carnivorous beetles may also be obtained in the forest-clearings. But the beetle which most interested me was one with a long, tapir- like proboscis — a large weevil, I believe. This creature is about one and a half inches long, black in colour, with tufts of yellow hairs. Examining with a hand lens one at work on the bark of young trees, I observed that the long proboscis was toothed at the extremity, and was used to detach the fibres of the wood ; these were cut across, seized by the minute pincers, and then drawn up, a day's work of the in- sect producing a considerable hole in the tree, the object being apparently either to feed on the flowing sap, or to prepare a nest for the eggs. Insects allied to our English ladybirds, but larger, are very common ; one of these has a transparent, glass-like covering, more lilce the carapace of a minute tor- toise than the wing-cover of a beetle, and this is ornamented with gold spots, just like burnished gilding. ' FIREFLIES. 6l One of the mason-wasps found in the central province builds a pocket-like nest of clay. These are often constructed ■vyithin dwelling-houses, the busy little worker coming in with a loud hum, bearing a pellet of clay in its jaws ; this is de- posited on the edge of the work already finished, the wasp getting inside the little chamber and finishing it off smoothly with her antennae and fore-limbs, the loud triumphant note changing to a lower one of apparent satisfaction during the process of working. These nests are about two inches deep, and wide enough to admit a little finger, and I frequently found several of them securely fixed to the underside of the unceiled rafters of my study. I believe they are filled with insects as food for the young of the wasp. In the warmer parts of Madagascar the nights are lighted up by numbers of fireflies. On the south-east coast I was once lost in the woods for some time during a dark evenimr, and was extremely interested with the numbers of minute lamps which danced through the air and amongst the trees. So brightly did a particular one shine out now and then, that we were several times deceived by them, and felt sure that we saw the lights of a village a few hundred yards ahead of us. The light of these insects is of a greenish hue ; it is not continuous, but is quenched every second or two ; as in some lighthouses, the interval of darkness is a little longer than the time when the light is visible. When cauQht and held in the hand, the insect gives a continuous glow, and not the series of flashes seen when it is flying. In some other orders of insects there are most interest- ing forms. A mantis, closely allied to those of Africa and America, goes through his seemingly devotional, but really bloodthirsty, attitudes ; folding his saw-like arms, as if in prayer, but in reality to strike an unwary insect. This crea- ture is called by the natives famdkiWia, i.e., "headsman," literally "head-breaker." It has a peculiarly weird, "un- canny " look, from the large green head turning round on the neck, and staring at one in a way no other insect seems able to do. Over many portions of the central provinces great numbers of ant-hills occur. These are conical mounds of a yard or 62 LOCUSTS. so liicjli, and are made by a white or yellowish ant called vftsiJcrbnho. If a piece of one of these mounds is broken off, the ants are seen in a state of great excitement, running in and out of the circular galleries which traverse their city in every direction. Tliere are vast numbers in one nest, and they have a queen, who is nearly an inch long, while the workers are about three-eighths of an inch in length. A serpent is said to live in many of these ant-hills. Several insects found in the upper plateaux have a marvel- lous resemblance, in their long bodies, legs, and wings, to the green stalks and blades of grass, while others are equally like the dry brown grass of the rainless months. There are many species of locust in Madagascar, one kind being a very large brilliantly-coloured insect ; the body is green, yellow, and blue, and the under-wings a bright crimson, making it a very conspicuous object when flying. But it has such an unpleasant odour when handled that the Malagasy have a proverb, " Valcdan amhoa : ny tomjoony aza tsy tia azy" i.e., " The dog-locust : even its owner dislikes it." It may be remarked in passing that the native language is exceedingly rich in proverbs ; and a very interesting paper might be written on those proverbs which refer to animals, as illus- trating not only native habits of thought and observation, but giving also many particulars as to the living creatures in- habiting the country. Some of the smaller species of locust are used for food by the people. Divested of wings and limbs, they are dried, and exposed for sale in great heaps in the markets. They are generally fried in fat, and are not unpleasant in taste ; I must confess, however, to getting this information at secondhand. Although locusts occasionally appear in vast numbers in Madagascar, they do not often cause much destruction to the vegetation. They are sometimes seen filliug the air as thick as snowflakes, to which they bear no slight resemblance when the sun catches the glittering surface of the wings. In the year 1869 an immense cloud of these insects passed over the capital, darkening the air, and being an hour or more in their passage above the city. Among the Hemipterous insects there is none more con- spicuous by its noise than a species of cicada called jordry. MOSQUITOES AND SPIDERS. 63 Tin's little creature is only aLont an inch long, bnt by the I'riction of the wings on a pair of niinnte roughened tubes, it produces a shrill stridulous sound which causes the woods to resound with the vibration, and when very near to it seems to make the ears tingle. There is another insect common to every part of the tropics, and to many temperate countries also, which is far too numerous in Madagascar — I mean the mosquito. In the interior we are comparatively free from this minute plague in the cold season, but in many parts of the warmer mari- time plains it is a terrible pest all the year round, and is said to often cause the death of young animals left exposed to its attacks. This I can well believe from what I have seen in several places — seen, but also heard, and unmistak- ably felt. But in travelling to the north-west coast we fell in with another insect pest in addition to the mosquito. This was a stinging fly called eddy. It is about a third the size of a house-fly, but with the wings less divergent. It attacks with a sharp prick, sometimes drawing blood. The flies are found in swarms along a belt of beautifully-wooded country with clear streams of bright sparkling water. They fly by day, but retire as soon as the sun sets, when their place is taken by the mosquitoes, who roam by night ; so that the imfortunate traveller has little respite either by night or day. Many of the spiders of Madagascar are very large and brilliantly coloured. The legs of some of the largest sj)read over a circle of six or seven inches in diameter. They spin immense geometric webs, which span the beds of considerable streams or wide paths ; and these are anchored to the sur- rounding vegetation by such strong silken cords that it requires an effort to break them. Some years ago I spent a long afternoon on a hill to the south of the capital with two friends, catching spiders. "We obtained a great number, in- cluding from thirty to forty different species ; some of these were like small crabs rather than sj)iders. Only recently, however, did I meet with one of the venomous spiders of the island. This insect is about the size of a small marble, almost perfectly globular in shape, of a shining glossy black, and with black legs, but it has a small red spot on the 64 CENTIPEDES AND MILLIPEDES. abdomen. Its bite is said by tlie natives to be fatal, and it probably is so unless speedy measures are taken to cauterise the wound. Dr. Vinson, a French naturalist, ascertained that this spider is closely allied to the malignant Latrodcdus of Elba and Corsica, whose bite is believed to be mortal, and also to another species found in Martinique, which is equally dangerous. He proposed for it the name of Latrodcctus mena- vody. One of the crab-like spiders just alluded to is also said to be deadly in its bite ; it probably requires a new genus to be formed for its reception. While speaking of venomous creatures, it may be observed that small scorpions are not uncommon in the warmer parts of Madagascar, and that centipedes are numerous. These latter have an unpleasant habit of getting into any small hole or crevice in the woodwork of houses, often choosing the hollows for the bolts of shutters and windows. One morn- ing, just before getting up, I was startled to see a large centipede six or seven inches long crawling over the mats of our bedroom. Their bite is extremely painful, resembling — so I have been told — the touch of a red-hot iron, but it is not dangerous if some simple remedies are applied. Besides the venomous centipedes there are in the forest great numbers of a perfectly harmless millipede, a series of shining black rings, eight or nine inches long, with an infinity of legs, which move like successive waves. And the mention of this ringed creature brings me to notice another of the Annulosa which is frequent in the forests. This animal is called by the natives Tainkintana, lit., " star-droppings," and is completely covered with a wonderfully beautiful coat of mail, each segment 'folding upon the other, and finished at the head by a helmet, and at the tail by another rounded and hollow plate. These are so shaped that when the creature is alarmed it rolls itself into a ball, every plate fitting into the other, and forming an almost perfect sphere, from which no force, save that of tearing it asunder, can induce it to un- coil. There are two, if not more, species ; one, about six inches long and one and a half inches wide, is of a beautifully grained bronze, like Eussia leather ; the other is about half that size, and is of a japanned black. But both present ORIGIN OF THE MALAGASY FAUNA. 65 beautiful examples of protective armour, and of exquisite con- trivance and creative skill. Not only the woods of Madagascar, but the waters also are full of interest from their abundant animal life. Crossing the river Mananj^ra one day, I noticed that, at a point where the river was wide and with a powerful current, the stones in the stream were thickly covered with a graceful plant, which in the water looked like a fern, from one to two feet long, but with very thick and fleshy stem and fronds. On examining one of these, I found it to be the home of a variety of minute animals : some of them caterpillars, which were burrowing into the stalk ; others, small green creatures like caddis-worms, but with a transparent shell; others, minute leeches ; others, again, a tiny lump of clear jelly with a double nucleus ; others, like a fresh- water hydra ; with several other kinds, all finding house and provision on one frond in the rushing waters. Origin and Meaning of the Specialised Fauna of Madagascar. — We may now inquire the meaning of the strangely excep- tional character of the Madagascar fauna. Wliat are we to infer from the remarkable deficiencies in the mammals and in some families of birds, as compared with the African fauna, from the presence of such groups as the Lemuridse and Centetidse, hardly represented in other countries, and those- countries far-distant ones ? What is the key to the existence ot such isolated and specialised forms as the Aye-aye, the M])jox- nis, and several others of the birds ? And why are so many of the living creatures of the island allied, not to African forms, but rather to those of Southern Asia or Malaya ? Answers to these questions have been given by two or three natural- ists ; amongst others, by Dr. Philip L. Sclater, who, in an article in the Quarterly Journal of Science (April 1864), says the following deductions may perhaps be arrived at from what we have before us : — " I. Madagascar has never been connected with Africa, as it at present exists. This would seem probable from the absence of certain all-pervading Ethiopian types in Madagas- car, such as antelope, hippopotamus, felis, &c. But, on the other hand, the presence of lemurs in Africa renders it certain E 66 MAMMAL ANOMALIES. that Africa, as it at present exists, contains land that once formed part of jNIadagascar. " 2. Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands (which are universally acknowledged to belong to the same category) nnist have remained for a long epoch separated from every other part of the globe, in order to have acquired the many peculiarities now exhibited in their mammal fauna — e.g., lemur, chiromys, eupleres, centetes, &c. — to be elaborated by *he gradual modification of pre-existing forms. " 3. Some land-connection must have existed in former acjes between Madagascar and India, whereon the original stock — whence the present Lemuridse of Africa, Madagascar, and India are descended — flourished." He concludes by saying that " the anomalies of the mammal fauna of jMadagascar can be best explained by supposing that anterior to the existence of Africa in its present shape a large continent occupied parts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, stretching out towards (what is now) America to the west, and to India and its islands on the east ; that this con- tinent was broken up into islands, of which some have become amalgamated with the present continent of Africa, and some, possibly, with what is now Asia ; and that in Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands we have existing relics of this great continent, for which, as the original focus of the stirps lemurum, I should propose the name Lemuria ! " Dr. Hartlaub, who has described minutely the birds of Madagascar, lays great stress upon their Indian affinities, as if these were equal in number and value to the African re- lationships ; an extreme view, which is apparently not borne out by the facts of the case. The most careful study of the subject is, however, to be found in Mr. Alfred Wallace's recent work on Hie Geogra- phical Distribution of Animals, to which I have already repeatedly referred, and to which I am greatly indebted for exact and minute information with regard to the classification of the animals of Madagascar. I can only indicate in a very few words the main points which I tiiink are established by this valuable work. Mr. "Wallace agrees to a great extent with Dr. Sclater in deeming FORMER CONTINENT. 67 it prolDable that in the Tertiary period the Indian Ocean was occupied in part by a continent or archipelago, of which we have relics in Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands, the Seychelles, Amirante, and Chagos groups, and, nearer to India, the Maldive and Laccadive groups, all of which have encircling reefs, a fact which has not been much noticed, but which, from Mr. Darwin's researches on the subject of the formation of coral, indicates that these islands are still sinking land. But he also contends that both Madao-ascar and the Mascarene and Comoro Islands must have been connected with Africa in some Tertiary geological epoch, probably while the Sahara was still a shallow sea- bottom, and before the incursion of the numerous ungulate animals and the larger felines from the Asiatic continent. A bank of soundings now existing in the Mozambique Channel reduces the width of that strait from 230 miles, its present narrowest wddth, to 160 miles, clearly indicating a former closer connection between the island and the continent. The Mascarene Islands probably represent the portion of land which was separated earliest, before any carnivora had reached the country. The lemuride type of animals evidently existed in Africa at that period, but has since become almost extinct, excepting the Galagos, a family of the Lemuridse which are not very nearly aUied to the lemuride forms now found in Madagascar, These latter, probably from long isolation, have become modified into many exceptional and peculiar species, especially as they have been free from the attacks of all large carnivora. The small insectivora are probably relics of a much more extensive fauna of that order of mammals, which was greatly developed in the early Tertiary epochs. To the fact of the long isolation of Southern Africa from the Oriental region and fauna is probably also due the develop- ment of the struthious or ostrich type of birds in the southern continents of South Africa, South America, and Australia, as well as of birds of other families also incapable of flight. "Free from the incursions of destructive felines, the dodo and other birds flourished in Mauritius and Eodriguez, and the huge ^pyornis in Madagascar, while the gigantic tortoises, now only left in Aldebra, an uninhabited island, were also 68 SURVIVALS. free to develop in size and numbers, isolated from any enemy. The nearest allied gigantic tortoises, those of the Galapagos, are no doubt survivals in the same manner, on the opposite side of the southern hemisphere, of a group which probably, from the evidence of fossil remains, once had a wide range over the whole globe. The existence in widely-separated countries of species nearly allied to Madagascar animals, such as the solenodon amongst the Centetidoe in the West India Islands, species of the urania amongst the Lepidoptera found also in the West Indies and in Madagascar, and the South American, and even Pacific, relations of some of the birds, may be explained, not on the hypothesis of any former closer connection between these now far-separated lands, but by supposing that each are survivals of once widely-extended groups, wliich have become exterminated through various causes in the intermediate regions. It will be seen from the particulars already given that Madagascar is a country which presents a most interesting field for a naturalist. I only wish that some one with com- petent scientific knowledge, as well as literary and artistic ability, would describe its fauna and flora in such a delightful way as Mr. Bates has done that of the Amazons, Mr. Wallace that of tlie Malay Archipelago, and Mr. Belt that of Nicar- agua. The materials for such a work are abundant ; and volumes quite as interesting as those just named might easily be written upon the natural history and botany of the great African island. ( 6q ) CHAPTEE IV. NOTES ON THE VEGETABLE PEODUCTIOXS OF MADAGASCAR. FOKEST SCENERY — VALTJABLE WOODS — COAST VEGETATION — PANDANUS — TAN- GliNA POISON-TEEE — PALMS — BAEK CLOTH — BAMBOOS : THEIR APPLICA- TIONS — BAOBAB — MOSSES, CREEPERS, AND LIANAS — FERNS — BEAUTIFUL- LEAVED PLANTS — PITCHER PLANTS — VEGETATION OF THE INTERIOR — SPINY AND PRICKLY PLANTS — GRASSES — REEDS AND RUSHES — VEGETABLE FOODS — RICE AND ITS CULTURE — ROOTS — ARUMS — COFFEE — SUGAR — SPICES — FRUITS — BANANAS — TRAVELLER'S TREE — MEDICINAL PLANTS — GOURDS — TOBACCO — HEMP AND COTTON — DYES — LICHENS — FLOWERING PLANTS AND TREES— ORCHIDS — GUMS — INDIA-RUBBER — LACE-LEAF PLANT. In the preceding chapter on the animal life of Madagascar, it was premised that the writer made no pretensions to exact scientific knowledge of zoology. So also the present notes npon the vegetable productions of the island must be pre- faced by saying that I know stiU less of scientific botany, being but imperfectly acquainted even with much of the nomenclature of the science. All I can here attempt is to describe in a very familiar and unsystematic way some of those more prominent features in the flora of Madagascar which would strike any intelligent traveller in passing through the country ; to note how largely the vegetable productions of the island are connected with the civilisation and handi- crafts of the inhabitants ; and to say something about a few of those remarkable trees and plants which are acknowledged by botanists to be among the most curious and interestmg of nature's productions. The main features of the physical geography of ]\Iadagascar will be remembered by those who have read the first chapters of this book, viz., the interior higlilands of granitic rocks and red clay, the secondary coast plains, and the almost unbroken ring of forest surrounding the island. As already pointed out, these geographical features have necessarily a very great JO FOREST SCEiYERY. influence upon the distribution of animal life ; while in con- sidering the botany, it is of course obvious that they do not merely injlue^ice this latter, but that the Madagascar flora to a large extent consists of this circling girdle of woods. Be- sides, however, this forest region, wdiich extends for so many hundreds of miles round the island, a considerable portion of the lower southern and western plains is also covered with a less dense vegetation ; and as the forest is found at all eleva- tions, from the level of the sea up to 6000 feet of altitude, there is a great A^ariety of temperature, and consequently of vegetable products, from those which are strictly tropical to those characteristic of the temperate zones. The elevated plateaux of the interior are generally destitute of trees, but in the sheltered river-valleys a luxuriant tropical flora is often found. ' Forest Scenery. — Some of the most picturesque scenery in the island, and perhaps, of its kind, hardly to be surpassed in any other part of the world, is to be found on the eastern coast. This being the windward side of Madagascar, receives the greatest amount of rainfall : the vapour-laden south- eastern trades being condensed into rain by the steep forest- covered slopes of the hills, which rise line after line from the coast up to the level of the interior table-land. These hills are scored into deep gorges by many of the rivers, and through these they find their way to the sea by a succession of rapids and cataracts. Such are the valleys of the Mangoro, the ]\Iananj^ra, the Matit^nana, and many others ; and in these there are endless combinations of luxuriant and dense vegeta- tion with rocks and waterfalls, presenting a thousand scenes in which a landscape-painter might find an exhaustless field for his pencil. The most frequented routes from the coast to the capital necessarily pass through this girdle of woods, and four or five days is usually spent in traversing the double line cf forest. Here, although few trees of great size or bidk have been left in the immediate neighbourhood of the rough paths which form the only roads through the country, one is always impressed with the luxuriance of the vegetation. There is a vigorous struggle for light and air as each tree strives to VALUABLE WOODS. yx overtop its neighbour and reach the upjjer region above the crowd of its competitors. Amongst this throng of vegetable life are seen numbers of palms, the feathery crowns often overtopping the other trees. ]\Iost of the exogenous trees are of hard- wooded sj^ecies, allied to mahogany, satin-wood, teak, and ebony. A great variety of beautifully-veined and durable woods, suitable for all kinds of building and of cabinet-work, are found in the Madagascar forests, and are already used to a considerable extent for furniture and the parcLuetrie floors of the houses of the upper classes in the capital city and its neighbourhood. Of these woods a kind called vdamhdana is the most plentiful, and has a great variety of colour and vein- ing. Another wood, the vardngy {Calojiliyllum inophyllu7n) is largely used for rafters and joists, and for the native canoes. The height of some of these forest trees may be imagined from the fact that the three central posts of the chief royal palace at Antananarivo are each formed of a single trunk, and are 1 20 feet high above the ground, besides a considerable depth below. In the south-eastern forests a large proportion of the trees are of considerable girth, owing to their being buttressed round the trunk with aerial roots, which seem to ascend with the growth of the tree to give the additional support required by the increasing height. The hollows between these buttresses form a number of small chambers large enough to enclose several people. In these woods the growth of the trees is so dense that it is difficult to get a palanquin through in many places, and there is a deep gloom below even at mid-day. It may be here remarked that a Hova house of the old style and of the better class is entirely constructed of vegetable materials. So also are the dwellings of the people in almost every other part of the island ; they are so made that no metal whatever is needed ; all fastenings are either of wood or of tough fibrous plants, which tie the whole firmly together. Coast Vegetation. — For several hundred miles along the eastern coast of Madagascar there runs a chain of lagoons into which the rivers flow, leaving an irregular strip of land between them and the sea. This level belt is covered with tlie richest greensward, and dotted over with masses of 72 COAST VEGETATION. shrubs and clumps of trees. On one side are the ever-rest- less waves of the Indian Ocean, and on the other the broad reaches of the lagoon, bordered by dense vegetation, and the blue line of the distant mountains of the interior in the background. Amongst the trees of this eastern coast are several species of pandanus, which form a very marked feature in the flora of the shores of Madagascar, both on this and on the western side of the island. The most common kind, one with a branching head and aerial roots rising high above the ground, occurs in dense masses all along the eastern coast. Its \o\\^ tough leaves with serrated prickly edges serve many useful purposes. They are made into bags for the transport of sugar from Mauritius ; they are nsed to protect all kinds of goods in their transit from the coast to the interior, making a perfectly watertight covering for the most perishable articles ; and amongst the tribes of the south-east they are the only plates and dishes used by the poorer people, fresh leaves being procured without any trouble for every meal. The fruit of this pandanus is a hard yellow cone, with a number of hexagonal facets, something like a pine-apple in shape, but quite woody in texture. Another species of pandanus (P. obeliscus ?) has a lofty pyramidal outline, not unlike a low poplar or a larch, but with a tuft of sword-sliaped leaves at the head, and frequently from forty to fifty feet high. The stem is as straight as that of a fir, and the branches, which grow in spiral lines round the trunk, are horizontal, with leathery tips of ribbon-shaped leaves. A very common tree along this coast is the vdavdntalca, a tree belonging to the Strychnos family of plants. It grows to the size of a small apple-tree, and bears a fruit resembling in size and shape a cricket-ball, and yellow in colour when ri^De. On breaking the hard shell, which is about a fifth of an inch in thickness, a soft yellowish-grey pulp is seen, containing a number of black seeds. This pulp has a pleasant acid flavour, very refreshing when travelling on a sultry day. A prominent feature in the vegetation of this coast is pre- sented by numbers of dense but low and spreading box-like trees, which cover a large extent of ground. Two species of PALMS AND BAMBOOS. 73 Barringtonia are also found on this seaboard, and also certain kinds of Hibiscus, from the bark of which twine and cordage are manufactured, and the Aleurites or candle-nut also occurs. (See Proc. Linn. Soc, Bot., vol. vii. May 13, 1863.) While passing through the woods bordering the sea, one frequently comes across the celebrated tangena, the tree produc- ing a poisonous nut which was long used in Madagascar as an ordeal for the detection of certain crimes. The tangena is about the size of a cherry-tree, and with its glossy green leaves, somewhat resembling those of a horse-chestnut in shape, would be a handsome addition to our ornamental shrubs, could it be acclimatised in England. But the tree was valued because of the power supposed to be inherent in the fruit, in which a kind of divine influence was believed to be embodied. The customs connected with this poison ordeal will, moreover, be more appropriately described in the chapter on Eolk-lore and Popular Superstitions. Another tree which frequently occurs along the eastern coast is the Jilao {Casuarina equisetifolict) or beef- wood tree. It is a tall graceful tree, with fine wii'e-like leaves, resembling the fir. Its wood, however, is quite distinct from that of the fir, and it belongs to another botanical order, that of the AmentacecB. It is indigenous to Madagascar, but it is also found in the Malayo-Polynesian and Australian regions. It is never, I believe, found far from the sea. jPalms and Bamboos. — The sago-palm is rather common on the maritime plains, but sago is not used for food by the people. Among the palms, both on the eastern and western sides of the island, the fan-palm (Borassus flalelliformis ?) is found very plentifully. Surely among the thousand of beautiful objects in this beautiful world these graceful palms, with their spreading crowns of enormous fans, are not the least worthy of admiration. They are not met with in con- siderable numbers on the east coast, but are more plentiful in the warmer plains of the western side of Madagascar. In sailing down the river Betsiboka we passed for several hours along groves of these palms. As we swept down the stream with the rapid current, the tall trunks seemed to pass by us as in a panorama, rising from the water's edge like columnar 74 THE COCOA-NUT. shafts, and with the lovely crown of green fans in sharp con- trast against the deep blue of the sky. These large leaves are used for roofing on the north-west coast, and make a very impervious thatch, beautifully neat in appearance from the under side. Many still undescribed species of palm are found in the eastern woods. I was much interested in the southern parts of the island to see to what a height some palms attain in the universal striving for light and air amongst the other trees. The anhona palm (I believe allied to, if not a species of, areca) often grows side by side with the traveller's tree, both soaring up to eighty, ninety, and even a hundred feet in height. The former has its trunk banded with narrow lines of green and brown. The bark is one of the toughest known vegetable substances, and is used not only in building houses, but also in making the remarkable native boats used along the south-east coast (see Chapter ix.) Num- bers of the delicate and graceful bamboo-palm are to be seen in the upper forests ; the stem of this palm is only the size of a fine bamboo, about one and a half inch in diameter. That most useful of palms, the cocoa-nut, is found sparingly both on the eastern and western coasts of Madagascar. It is said by some writers not to be indigenous, but to have been introduced accidentally some 200 years ago through some nuts having been washed ashore. From what I have seen, however, I am strongly inclined to doubt this, as I very much question whether any natural causes could have spread the uut over a large extent of the island in such a space of time ; and, until a very recent period, there has not been suflicient intercourse between the different tribes to render it probable that it has spread by being planted. The native name (voanw) is identical with that given to the cocoa- nut by many of the Polynesian islanders. Before leaving the palms, there is another of this graceful family of trees which must be described, not only for its beauty and abundance, but also for the numerous uses to which it is applied. This is the rofia palm {Sagus rvffia). It is not found on the coast, but on ascending from the plains to the height of a few hundred feet above the level of the THE ROFIA PALM. 75 sea, it is found in profusion in every valley, until one readies the upper plateaux of the interior, where it also grows, but more sparingly, in sheltered positions. The rofia has a trunk of from thirty to fifty feet in height, and at the head divides into seven or eight immensely long leaves. The midrib of these leaves is a very strong but extremely light and straight pole, being at the base about the size of the calf of a man's leg, and tapering to half those dimensions at the extremity. These poles are often twenty feet or more in length, and the leaves proper consist of a great number of fine and long pinnate leaflets, set at right angles to the midrib, from eighteen inches to two feet long, and about one and a half inch broad. From the way in which the leaf-stalks break off, leaving an irregular patch attached to the trunk, this latter has a rough appearance, very different from the smooth circular shaft of most of the palms. From the extreme strength and lightness of the midribs of the rofia leaves they are used for a variety of purposes. They form the frame- work of the roof of the houses on the eastern coast, and are also used for rafters and joists. They are most useful for ladders, being so very light and easily carried, and they are also fixed to ladies' palanquins as carrying-poles. But the fine pinnate leaves are yet more serviceable to the people. From the inner fibre the women weave a variety of strong cloths ; the majority of these are coarse, for the use of the slaves and the lower class of the people ; but a very fine and beautiful fabric, mixed with cotton, and of a light straw colour, is also manufactured to be worn by the more wealthy classes. The coarser cloths, under the name of rabdnnas, form an important article of export from the eastern ports. During a journey made in 1876 in the south-eastern provinces of Madagascar, I was much interested to find that the people of that part of the island make a kind of cloth from the inner bark of certain trees. This cloth is reddish brown in colour and of no great strength ; it is made by the women, who beat it out with a mallet, the head of which is lined and grooved in a particular way. Almost every one wears a girdle of this coarse cloth, by which the sack of rush matting which forms their only clothing is kept in its place. 76 BAMBOOS. Among the larger trees on the south-east coast one called atdfa is prominent by its pecnliar manner of growth and its colour. In many specimens the branches strike directly at right angles from the trunk, and then spread away horizon- tally for a considerable distance. The leaves are from eight to ten inches long, and are spatula-shaped ; a large propor- tion of them are always ruddy brown or scarlet in colour. As in almost every tropical country the bamboo is one of the most beautiful and useful of plants, so it also is in Madagascar. On many parts of the eastern coast, at the foot of the forest-covered ranges of hills, the bamboo forms the most strikiiio- feature in the vec'etation. Extensive tracts of country are almost covered with the long graceful stems, curving over the paths like enormous whips. The thickly- set pinnate leaves are of the brightest green, forming a delightful contrast to the darker colour of the woods on the liigher slopes. One of the strangest as well as most beautiful sights that can meet the eye is wdien passing through a thicket of these bamboos. All around rise the smooth, shining, and many-jointed stems, like the slenderest shafts, while the dense leafage overhead makes a green twilight below. Another species of bamboo has a climbing habit, and covers the sturdier trees with a dense mantle of green drapery. In this species "the cane is almost as small as a quill, with a circle of fine small leaves around the joints, which are not more than five or six inches apart. These long slender canes hang pendent from the branches of the trees, or stretch in graceful curves from tree to tree along the sides of the road." '"* The economic uses of the bamboo are numerous in Madagas- car, although not so extensive as in many Asiatic countries. It is universally employed for the small rafters of houses, and the larger stems form the usual lao or carrying-pole, by which every kind of merchandise and produce is conveyed on the shoulders of the bearers from one part of the country to the other. A piece of bamboo forms a very popular musical instrument ; portions of the strong outer fibre are detached and stramed over bows of hard wood to form the strings. * Ellis: Three Visits to Madarjascar,]). 321. BAMBOO RAFT. 77 These are played by the fingers, and from this apparently rude instrument a very pleasing music can be obtained, re- sembling the tones of a guitar. Many of the j)eople are very skilful in performing upon it. On the eastern coast, long pieces of bamboo form the only waterpots of the people. Tlie soil is not suitable for making eartlien vessels, and accordingly in every bouse half-a-dozen bamboos stand in one corner, from "whicli tbe water for domestic use is obtained. All but one of the diaphragms at the joints are broken through, and the upper end is stopped by a handful of grass. In many parts of the interior and on the eastern coast, long- pieces of the finer bamboo are used by the boys as blow-guns, with which they kill small birds and animals, in the same way as is customary among the Indians of the Brazils. Pieces of a fine kind of bamboo called vdlotdra are used by the people as a snuff-box. These are fitted with a stopper, and beautifully polished, and are sometimes ornamented witli designs burnt in on the smooth shining surface. Fifes and flutes are also made of bamboo, so that it is useful both for wind and string instruments. On some of the rivers of the south-eastern coast there are no canoes, but a kind of raft made of bamboo, and called a zdhitra, is the only means of crossmg them. And of all the rude and primitive contrivances ever invented for water- carriage, commend me to a zdhitra ; at any rate, to the first of which I had experience when crossing the Matitanana. This one consisted of about thirty or forty pieces of bamboo, from ten to twelve feet long, lashed together at the head by bands of some tough creeper, and spreading out like a fan at the stern, these bamboos constantly slipping out of their places and needing trimmmg at every trip across the river. When loaded, the zdhitra was from a third to a half under water, and although my companion and I crossed safely, he took an involuntary foot-bath, and I a sitz-bath, during our voyage across. But subsequently the whole concern came to pieces, and several of our bearers had to swmi ashore from the scattered bamboos composing the crazy craft. In the interior and on the western coast a small species of prickly bamboo caUed bdrardta is very plentifid. The leaves 78 BAOBABS AND TAMARINDS. being pointed with sharp needle-like prickles, it is no pleasant task for the bare-legged bearers to pass through a thicket of these canes. They grow profusely along the banks of the Ikiopa and B(^tsib6ka rivers, the long, feathery, grey heads of flower giving a distinct character to the scenery of this part of the country. Divested of their prickly leaves, these small bamboos are very largely used for building purposes. One of the most common and striking plants seen along the rivers of the eastern coast is the xia, a gigantic arum {A. costatum or A. colocasia), growing in dense masses along the bank in the water. On the shores of the river Matiti- nana I found this arum seven or eight feet high, and it has been seen as high as ten or twelve feet. It has thick fleshy stems and leaf-stalks, and lily-like leaves two or three feet long. The fruit and root are edible when cooked. On the western side of Madagascar the baobab tree (Adansonia) is somewhat jjlentiful. It is called hontona, and also mdfom-hdriha, or " monkey's bread," from its small fruit being eaten by the lemurs. This tree is immediately dis- tinguished from others by its enormous bulk of trunk and small spread of branches, which are bare of foliage during several months of the year, and also by its shining dark- brown bark. It is frequently seen from twenty to thirty feet in diameter. On the same side of Madagascar, the tamarind tree is one of the finest and most plentiful of the many beautiful trees found in that wooded region. It attains a great size on the banks of the chief rivers. During a canoe voyage down the Ikiopa we encamped one day under the shadow of a magni- ficent tamarind tree, one of a grove of these trees. The branches, which swept the ground, covered a circle of nearly I oo feet ; but the foliage was very thin, as it consisted of minute mimosa-like leaves, millions of which strewed the gTound, as well as hundreds of the dried fruits. These con- sist of a long pod, containing several shining black seeds, imbedded in a reddish-brown acid pulp. Mosses, Lianas, and Feriis. — In travelling through the forests on the eastern side of Madagascar, I was struck with the venerable aspect given to the trees in many jjlaces by LIANAS. 79 the masses of fine Tvliitisli-grey moss (or lichen, I am not sure which) hanging from its branches in long thi^ead-like filaments. This grey moss or lichen occurs chiefly in the upper and colder portions of the woods. In a spur of forest wdiich crosses the road from Imerina to Betsileo, at a height of nearly 6000 feet above the sea, almost every tree bears long i'estoons of this venerable-looking appendage hanging from its branches. I believe it is allied to, if not identical witli, Ilocdla fuciformis of Eastern Africa. A more usual feature of tropical woods is the way in which, in the Madagascar forests, the trees are bound together in all directions by countless creepers and lianas, which cross and intertwine in an inextricable tangle, like the disordered cordage of a hundred ships. Some of these stretch from the topmost boughs to the ground like the backstays of a lofty ship's mast, and others cross at every conceivable angle. These lianas form without any preparation a very strong tough cordage, and in carrying goods from the coast to the interior they are largely used for securing all kinds of jDackages. Great quantities of the fibrous bark of certain trees (esj^ecially that of Astrapcea cannahina, which has long oval leaves and white pendent flowers) are brought up to the capital every year by the woodmen, and are there manufactured at the Government workshops into rough-looking but strong ropes. In the dim twilight of the Madagascar woods, the ground is generally covered with a dense undergrowth of shrubs and young trees, the latter shooting up wherever an opening- appears in the leafy canopy overhead. A great variety of ferns are found in every damp hollow or shady bank ; great masses of hart's-tongue or stag's-horn fern are seen in every crevice in the tree trunks or fork of the branches ; and tree- ferns sj)read their graceful fronds wherever there is any mois- ture. Large collections of ferns have been made by some of the English ladies, and these have been described in the Journal of the Linnman Society by Mr. J. G. Baker, F.L.S., of the Kew Herbarium. Many of these are new and peculiar to the country. Mr. Baker says, in reference to one of these collec- tions, that it " contains altogether 1 1 2 species, of wdiich 2 8 prove to be novelties. That such should be the case in an 8o FEA'NS. order wliere the diffusion of the species is so "u-ide as in the ferns is calculated to raise our expectation of what we may expect when the flowering plants of the same region are gathered ; and it is interesting to notice that some of the species, such as Asplenium trichomanes, Nephrodium Jllix- mas, and Aspidium aculatcum, are thoroughly temperate types. The development of lamina in the species known elsewhere, and the strong tendency shown by many of them to become viviparous, indicates a damp humid climate, with localities excellently suited for the development of fern- growth.'"" The genera Asplenium and Pteris are largely represented, and Op)hioglossum and Adiantum are also found, but more sparingly. Dr. Charles Meller describes a pendent ribbon- like fern {Ophiojlossum pendulum) hanging from a part of the fork of a tree on the east coast, with its roots fixed in a mass of earth and leaves collected in the hollow. Each ribbon fell to a distance of from three to five feet, then bifurcated, send- ing down a spore-case, some of the bands of which measured twelve feet long. Fine specimens of the Mascarene gold, and silver ferns {Gymnogramme argenta and G. aurca) are found in the outskirts of the Madagascar woods ; and also several Lycopodiums, one of which (L. complanatum), although widely spread, was not known before either in Continental Africa or any of the islands of the Mascarene archipelago. Some of the finest ferns are found in the deep and damp fosses which surround the old towns in the central provinces. Although the tree-ferns are fine and plentiful in every place where there is shade and moisture, they hardly attain the size of the New Zealand species, of which there is such a grand specimen to be seen in the tropical department of the Crystal Palace. On my first journey through the eastern forests of Mada- gascar, I found several species of those plants with variegated- coloured leaves, which have since become so popular in England in our drawing-rooms and hothouses. Some of these are veined with gold and resemble the Echites, though not so shrubby. They were to be seen along the roadsides, but I doubt not that researches in the denser recesses of the * Linn. Soc. Jour., Bot., xv. p. 422 ; xvi. pp. 197-206. VEGETATION OF THE INTERIOR. 8r forests would reveal many others new to science. Of tliis class of plants Dr. Meller also says : " In the shady and moist parts of the woods I found several plants with variegated leaves — a Coleus with bright pink markings along the mid-rib and veins, and a Sonerila with silvery intra-marginal mark- ings ; another with white spots in a row, another with pink dotting and lines. There were four herbs in these woods with beautiful leaves of variegated tints." Species of the pitcher-plant (NqMnthes) are said to be found in southern portions of the island ; and a story is related of a naval officer who was saved, if not actually from death by thirst, at least from extreme exhaustion, by finding a number of the natural vessels filled with water. Vegetation of the Interior Upland Eegion. — But I must not linger longer in these attractive woods, with their delightfvd. recollections, but proceed to say something about the vegeta- tion of the upper portions of Madagascar. These extensive plateaux of elevated land are very bare of wood, except in the sheltered hollows and valleys of the rivers ; but the hills on which many of the ancient towns are bmlt are often crowned with a number of old trees, which show out conspicuous amongst the red clay hills and the bare granite and basalt-capped mountains of Imerina. The most beautiful and picturesque of these old towns is the former capital, Ambohimanga. This old city is about twelve miles north of the present capital ; it is on a triangular hill, some 400 feet high, and covered with wood from base to summit, so that from time immemorial " the woods of Ambohimi\nga, bending down in their growth," have been celebrated in the songs of the native poets. The trees which crown the ancient towns are chiefly dvidvij, a species of Ficus. They have much the shape and appearance of elms ; they shed their leaves in the cold season, and bear a small insipid fig. A finer tree than the dvidvy is the amontana, a magnificent tree with wide-spread gnarled branches like an oak, but with large glossy leaves like those of the India-rubber tree now so common in English houses, to which tree it is closely allied. Numbers of the villages are marked out by a couple or more of these fine trees, which 82 SPINY AND PRICKLY PLANTS. stand out conspicuous above the houses and are visible far over the plains. Perhaps the finest specimen in Imerina is to be found at the ancient town of Ambohidratrimo, where it rises like a great dome of foliage above the other trees, and has a trunk about eighteen feet in girth. The amdntana is remarkable for its vitality, a dry and apparently lifeless stick of the tree rapidly taking root if stuck in the ground. Perhaps the most conspicuous tree now to be seen in and around the capital is the Cape lilac, which was introduced by missionaries from the Cape of Good Hope about fifty years ago. Of this tree the Eev. E. Baron says : " I believe it to be the Melia Azederach, and not a lilac. Its strong scent is similar to that of the lilacs, and hence, probably, it has been supposed to be one of them. All its parts contain bitter and purgative properties." It has been extensively planted in Imerina, and grows very rapidly. Growing among these hard-wooded trees is often found the tall straight stem of the amiana {Urtica fiLrialis), a tree bearing a large velvety leaf which stings like a nettle when touched. The leaf, although so unpleasant to one of the senses, is beautiful in outline, being deeply cut and indented, and would in au artist's hand serve admirably for decorative purposes. The largest leaves are found on the youngest and lowest trees, one specimen I found measuring about thirty inches each way. The wood is soft and spongy, and of no service at all in building. Another attractive tree is the zdJiana {Bignonia articu- lata), which grows to a considerable size in some places, and, as its name implies, has a curiously- articulated leaf, look- ing as if two or three leaves were joined together, base to point. Examples have been found with eight divisions of the leaf Spiny and Pricldy Plants. — Like most tropical countries, Madagascar is tolerably prolific in spiny and prickly plants. One of these, a dwarf mimosa-like tree, of straggling creeping habit, and full of hook-like thorns, is called tsidfahdmhj, i.e., " not passable by oxen," from its being extensively used to form fences and folds for the numerous herds of humped cattle. It belongs to the Leguminoscc, and has yellow SPINY AND PRICKLY PLANTS. 83 flowers. Another tree of the same order is called fcino, and is frequently found growing over the ancient tombs of the Vazimba, the supposed aboriginal inhabitants of the central provinces. The seeds resemble in size those of a small french-bean, and grow in large pods or legumes, from lifteen to eighteen inches long, and about three broad, which look most conspicuous on the trees after the leaves have fallen. The seeds were used until very lately in the working of the sikidy or divination, a practice closely interwoven with the idolatry and superstition of the people. They are also used medicinally. A more unapproachable plant, however, than the tsiafa- humby\s, the widely-spread prickly-pear {Opuntia) or raiketra, which forms the chief fortification of the Malagasy towns and villages. A dense tliicket of this surrounds every village and homestead in many parts of the country, and a more formidable obstacle to the attack of an enemy can hardly be imagined. The trees attain a considerable thickness, and every portion of them, trunk, leaves, flowers, and fruit, is fvdly armed with clusters of sharp needle-like thorns, be- tween two and three inches long ; these, if carelessly handled, inflict painful wounds which inflame and are often difficult to heal. To an almost naked and barefooted soldiery, and without artillery, it forms an impenetrable barrier, which only rounds of chain and bar shot could clear out of the way. The prickly-pear is also of some service for food, the pears being a palatable fruit when carefully divested of their spiny covering. The larger thorns were formerly used as needles, and are still the ordinary pins of the Malagasy. It is perhaps not superfluous to remark that, except in old trees, there are no proper hranches in the prickly-pear ; all the thick fleshy leaves grow from the edge of the others, and the flowers and fruit also grow in the same position. They possess great vitality, so that a single leaf laid on the ground soon develops a number of tendril roots, takes hold of the earth, and rapidly increases. Another prickly plant also very conspicuous in Imerina, and one of the most beautiful, is a species of Euphorbia (E. splendens and U. Bojeri), which is planted on the top of the 84 GRASSES. low earthen walls dividing plantations from tlie roads. There are two varieties ; one with a brilliant scarlet flower, and the other with a pale flesh-coloured flower. Its native name is sungosungo. It resembles some of the Cacti in its prickly stem. Among the trees found sparingly in the upper regions of the island is one called hdsina, a species of pandanus, but also much like a dracocna, with long sword-like leaves. This sometimes attains a considerable size, growing not with a single cluster of leaves, as is its habit when young, but branching out into a wide-spreading tree. The young trees, with their single head of foliage, are singularly graceful and ornamental. The hdsina was formerly considered as sacred by the people, being connected with idolatrous worship. Grasses. — Although the central provinces of Madagascar are very bare of wood, there are a great number of grasses, some of which are very beautiful, and many others are of value in the useful arts. In some marshy districts masses of crimson grass are found, giving quite a peculiar appearance to the landscape. It may be remarked in passing, that the Malagasy word for " glory " is vdnindhiira, a word whose literal meaning is " the flower of the grass." In some districts the grass grows to the height of seven or eight feet, so that travellers are quite hidden from view in the dense jungle. In many places prickly grass {tsivoka) is found, preventing the bare-footed bearers from straying an inch beyond the narrow footpaths ; and in others, a curiously barbed and pointed grass called Ufon-dambo, or " wild-hog's-spear," is also a great annoyance to travellers, being strong enough to pierce the skin. This lefon-damho has the appearance of a handful of grass tied in a bundle by two or three of the long wiry blades. In some of the warmer districts of Madagascar certain of the grasses have a very distinct and powerful fragrance ; and I have often felt that the scents, not less than the sights and sounds, are among the surest signs of one's being in a tropical country. But the grasses of Mada- gascar are very important to the people, as affording an exhaustless supply of material for their household require- ments. Fine straw mats, often beautifully woven in patterns, CHARACTERISTIC FORMS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE IN MADAGASCAR. (From Wallace's "Geographical Distribution of Animals.") REEDS AND RUSHES. 8$ are part of the furniture of every Malagasy house ; these cover the floor, and often line the walls ; and on the entrance of a visitor, a clean one is always taken from the rolled-up mats overhead and spread for him to sit down upon. This straw is also platted into very neat hats and caps, which vary in shape and pattern in different parts of the country, and into a great variety of beautiful and durable bas- kets. In the Betsileo province the clothing of the lower classes consists solely of a straw mat; and on the south- eastern coast, similar mats, but made of a fine rush, are sewn into a kind of sack, and thus worn by the coast tribes. Small squares of mat are also used in these regions instead of plates and dishes ; and a variety of brushes are also made from grass stalks. Several kinds of grass are used in many parts of the country for thatching the native houses, the long and tough stalks forming an excellent covering. Still another purpose is served by grass in Madagascar. Owing to the scarcity of wood in the central provinces, grass forms the only fuel of the majority of the people. During the rainy season it grows long and rank from the abundant moisture, and then gets brown and dry during the six rainless months of the cold weather. It is the work of the old slave-women to go out and collect bundles of this fuel ; and what is left is generally set fire to towards the approach of the rainy season, so that during the months of August, September, and October the sky is lighted up at night with the glare of burning grass in all directions, and visible at immense distances all over the central provinces. Eccds and Rushes. — Hardly less important than the grasses are the reeds and rushes which grow in the marshes of Mada- gascar. Of these the zozdro, a species of papyrus, is the most prominent and beautiful. This plant has a firm triangular stem, with smooth shining skin and a pithy interior. It is about an inch and a quarter each way, and grows to a height of five or six feet in Imerina, with a head of long filaments forming the flower. In the warmer parts of the country, es- pecially in the Antsihanaka province, the zozoro grows to more than double the height and size found in the colder regions, and covers thousands of square acres of marshy land, growing 86 VEGETABLE FOODS. ill ^vater a foot or two deep. It is used for a variety of purposes : a number of the triangular stems are strung to- gether by several strong tough twigs being passed through them, forming thus a kind of light door, which is used for the filling-in of the framework of houses, for doors and window-shutters, partitions, beds, and mattresses. The tough outer skin is used for making the stronger and coarser mats used for flooring, and is also platted into capital baskets. When the sovereign goes on a journey, the rivers are crossed not by canoes, but by rafts formed of great quantities of zozoro stems, this being the orthodox ancient custom. The paintings and carvings on the tombs and temples in Eg}'pt indicate that the ancient Egyptians made rafts of the same materials, using the papyrus, which formerly grew plentifully in the Nile. The pith of the zozoro forms a good stuffing for pillows and mattresses, &c. Another very useful rush is the Mrana, a much smaller plant than the zozoro, and irregularly triangular in shape. It is extensively grown in the marshes to supply roofing material, as the great majority of the houses in the capital and its neighbourhood are thatched with Mrana. The rushes are doubled over a stout twig, fifty or sixty of them forming one rdvin-herana, as it is called. Bundles of twenty or thirty of these are sold in the markets ; and when laid properly on a roof of good pitch, Mrana forms a very neat and durable roof-covering. The roofs of the oldest style of native houses are very lofty and extremely high pitched, and in some of these the Mrana rush roofs have lasted well for nearly a century. It is rough-looking when first done, but after hav- ing a shower or two of rain upon it, the ragged ends are all cut to a uniform surface, giving it a very neat appearance. VegctaUe Foods. — It is time to say something about those vegetable products of Madagascar which are used for food. Standing at the head of these is rice, which is the staff of life to the great majority of the Malagasy tribes. MUdnam-'bdry, " to eat rice," is the native equivalent for the Eastern phrase " to eat bread," and for our English expression " to have a meal ; " and all other food is only considered as laoJca, that is, as an accompaniment to rice. The culture of the rice-fields RICE-CULTURE. 87 accordingly occupies a large portion of the time of the people ; and in the preparation of the ground, the bringing of water to irrigate the fields, and other necessary operations, a great amount of skill and ingenuity is displayed. The rice-fields are of two kinds : first, those on which the rice is sown, and then those to which it is transplanted, and where it grows until it is reaped. The former are only narrow strips of ground along the banks of the rivers, or terraces on the sloping sides of the deep valleys ; and to them water is conveyed from the nearest springs by means of aqueducts, often carried in a most ingenious fashion for a considerable distance along the curving sides of the hills. This is neces- sary from the fact that the rice is sown in the dry season, when there is no rain to afford the requisite moisture ; for rice must be sown in water, and grown in water until it is ripe. Great skill is shown in the construction of these terraces ; and there are few more beautiful sights than the hill-sides and valleys terraced from base to summit, often with nearly a hundred green steps. The Hovas are very ingenious in rice culture, but they are far surpassed by the Betsileo in the southern central provinces. Not only are the valleys and hollows terraced, as in Imerina — the concave portions of the low hills and lower slopes of the high hills — but the convex portions also are stepped up like a gigantic staircase. These works display not only industry, but also some knowledge of hydrostatics, for I could not discover how the water was brouf^ht to some of the low hills which were surrounded by lower ground. Many of these were terraced up to their highest point, the lines of rice-field running round them in concentric circles, so that there was not a square yard of ground unproductive. As soon as the rice-plants have reached a height of six or eight inches, they are all taken up and transplanted, plant by plant, into the rice-fields proper. These are much larger and more extensive pieces of ground, covering the surfaces of the broader valleys and alluvial plains. After being dug over, water is let into the fields, and after further working by the spade, and also by cattle being driven to and fro over the ground, the plants are stuck into the soft mud by the female 88 I ROOTS. } slaves. The work is done with great rapidity, and yet it is difficult to understand how the enormous quantity of rice required for the consumption of a great population can be transplanted, every plant being placed separately in the ground. The Hovas maintain that the rice would not come to perfection unless thus transplanted. Some of the other tribes, however, do not take this trouble, but sow their seed sparingly on ground which has been merely trampled over by oxen while wet. And the forest tribes cut down and burn fresh portions of the woods year by year, and sow the rice in the ashes on the sloping hill-sides. West of the capital city of Antananarivo stretches a magnificent rice-plain, extending with its ramifications nearly twenty miles north and south, and more than ten miles east and west. When the rice is freshly planted, and again when it is harvest-time, it presents a beautiful spectacle : the villages on the low red-clay hills rising like islands from a green or a golden sea. There are said to be eleven different kinds of rice known in Madagascar, and one or more of the fine large -grained varieties are reported to have been brought from South Caro- lina by a vessel accidentally touching at one of the ports of the island. After rice, perhaps the next most important vegetable food of the Malagasy is mdngahdzo, the common manioc or cassava, which is largely cultivated. The root consists almost entirely of a starchy flour, and forms an insipid food when boiled. Sweet potatoes, several kinds of beans, tomatoes, earth-nuts, onions, and the green leaves of a great variety of small vege- tables, are also eaten by the people. In the warmer parts of Madagascar a great variety of yams are found, some kinds growing wild. One species of edible root attains the size and thickness of a man's leg. The inside is white, and has a milky juice ; it is soft as a water-melon, but without seeds, and is eaten raw. From the description given by Drury of this plant, which he calls faungidge, it appears to be allied to that numerous class of juicy roots found so plentifully in Southern Africa, and with- out which many desert parts could not possibly be inhabited by the tribes which are found there. SUGAR. \ \ 89 A kind of millet {ampcmhy) is grown to some extent ; and of late years attempts have been made to cultivate wheat, but these have not as yet been very successful. Several kinds of arum are cultivated for food, one of the most common being called hoririica, the large green lily-like leaves of which may be seen in the fosses surrounding all the ancient villages in Im^rina. Another arum {A. esculentum), called by the people scionjo, has a hairy root much resembling the artichoke in taste. It is always eaten at a Malagasy housewarming, as well as at other times. The coffee plant grows well in most parts of Madagascar, and in recent years large coffee plantations have been formed along the banks of the rivers on the eastern side of the island. These are chiefly managed by Creole traders, who, through their native wives, manage to get hold of land, and also em- ploy slave labour, thus evading both their own country's laws and those of the Malagasy. Coffee promises already to become a very important article of export, and a source of wealth to the country. The sugar-cane is another plant which also grows luxuri- antly in Madagascar, especially in the Antsihanaka province, where it attains a height of twelve or fourteen feet. It is largely used as a sweetmeat, the cane being cut into short pieces for chewing ; and in the central districts a considerable quantity is also made into a coarse brown sugar. Some few years ago European machinery was set up near Tamatave, and a very good sugar was produced. But the principal use to which the sugar-cane is applied in most places away from Imerina is in the manufacture of tdaka, a coarse spirit. In almost every village on the eastern coast a rude press for extracting the juice may be seen (and smelt). These presses consist of a long hollow trough, one end being solid for a foot or two, so as to form a slightly convex surface, with a channel cut on either side for the expressed juice to run into the trough. Over this is placed at right angles a rounded tree-trunk, seven or eight feet long, with two or three short handles fixed into it ; this is turned backwards and forwards over pieces of cane laid on the convex surface, the juice being expressed by the mere weight of the round trunk. The oo f SPICES AND FRUITS. / / freshly-expressed IJuice makes a pleasant drink ; after a day or two it ferments; and is then still more agreeable, much like fresh cider; but it rapidly becomes too heady. The native still is as rude a contrivance as the press : an earthen pot with its cover fixed on with a luting of clay for boiling the juice, from which a piece of iron piping conveys the vapour through an old rum cask filled with cold water. In the central province there is, happily, a very stringent law against the manufacture or importation of spirits ; but drink- ing liabits have a fearful hold upon the ignorant coast tribes, further aggravated by the quantity of foreign rum imported by Mauritius merchants. There are said to be fourteen varieties of sugar-cane known in. Madagascar. Spirits are also made from a plant which grows plentifully in the country, the s4vob or Buddleia Madagascariensis (order Solanacece), which has long spikes of orange-coloured flowers ; these are made use of in dyeing the coarser rofia fibre-cloths. Of condiments there are quite sufficient to supply the needs of the Llalagasy, who, however, do not use hot spices so largely as do many of the inhabitants of the tropics. Cliillies {sakdy) grow abundantly in many places, and their small brilliant scarlet pods contrasting with the glossy green leaves make them quite an ornamental shrub. Ginger {sdkamaldo) is also cultivated to some extent. In the warmer parts of the island a spice, which is said to combine the virtues of nutmegs, cloves, and cinnamon, is procured from a tree called rdvmtsdra (" excellent leaf "). The leaves, as well as the fruits and seeds, are fragrant, and are the produce of a magnificent tree. In the interior of Madagascar a good variety of fruit is procurable, although many of them have been introduced into the island at a very recent period. Of the juicy sub-acid fruits we have oranges, citrons, lemons, and limes. These last grow wild and abundantly in the warmer parts of the country, and are most refreshing and wholesome. Mangoes are among the finest Malagasy fruits, and the tree on which they grow is one of the most ornamental. The mango-tree attains a great size on the north-western coast, some of the finest specimens being found at Mojanga. Besides these we THE TRAVELLER'S JREE. 91 have peaches, gnavas, Chinese guavas, o^dsy or loqiiat, pine- apples, mulberries, pomegranates, grapes, antt'Cape gooseberries. Bananas are most plentiful, and of several varieties ; the largest are called ontsy, and are more than a foot long. The trees attain a great size on the coast, and there are few more beautiful sights than a grove of these, with their smooth shining green stems eight or ten inches in diameter, and the canopy of graceful leaves twenty or thirty feet overhead. In some provinces a fine cloth is made from the fibres of the banana ; the green succulent stems are also used as food for cattle, and from their containing a great deal of water they are used to put out fires. Figs and quinces have been grown to some small extent, and in the neighbourhood of the woods wild raspberries, very large and fine, are found in great abundance. Besides the foregoing, there is a considerable variety of wild berries and other fruits, which are esteemed by the people, although most of them are not much cared for by Europeans. The most striking and characteristic tree of Madagascar is doubtless the traveller's tree {Urania speciosa), which is so plentiful in the island, and gives quite a unique character to the scenery of the maritime plains and the lower slopes of the outer belt of forest. This tree belongs to the order Musaccee, although in some points its structure resembles the palms rather than the filan- tains. It is immediately recognised as strikingly distinct from all other trees, even from the elegant palms, by its graceful crown of broad and light-green banana-like leaves, arranged, not as in almost every other tree and plant, aroiind the stem, but at the top of its trunk, in the shape of a fan. The leaves are from twenty to thirty in number, and from eight to ten feet long by a foot and a half broad. They very closely resemble those of the banana, and when unbroken by the wind have a very striking and beautiful appearance. The trunk varies very much in height, according to the situation of the tree. On the coast plains, where, with the pandanus, it is the dominant form of vegetation and has plenty of room, its average height is from fifteen to twenty feet to the base of the leaf-stalks ; but in the forest, where it has a crowd of rivals in obtaining light and air, it shoots up to heights of 92 THE TRAVELLER'S TREE. eiglity or ninety feet. The trunk is from twelve to eighteen inches in diameter; but it is of a soft spongy texture, and not of much service as timber. It grows at all heights from the sea-level to an elevation of about 2000 feet, but is never found in the higher plateaux of the island. "While travelling through the Taimoro country I noticed that the fruit is seen on almost every tree, forming three or four clusters of sheaths, about a dozen in each, much resf^m- bling in shape and size the horns of a short-horned ox. These project from between the leaf-stalks, two in full bloom and the other two generally dying off, or shedding the seeds, or rather the seed-pods. These are oval in shape, about two inches long, and yellow in colour, something like very large dates, but with a hard woody fibrous covering. When ripe they open and show each pod dividing into three parts, each of which is double, thus containing six rows of seeds about the size of a small bean. Each seed is wrapped in a covering loolving exactly like a small piece of light-blue silk with scalloped edges. In proceeding along the coast we had an opportunity of testing the accuracy of the accounts given of the water pro- curable from the traveller's tree, about which I had always felt rather sceptical, as somewhat of a " traveller's tale." In fact, I had never before seen the tree where plenty of good water was not procurable ; l)ut here there was none for several miles except the stagnant water of the lagoons. "We found that on piercing with a spear or pointed stick the lower part of one of the leaf-stalks, where they all clasp one over the other, a small stream of water spurted out, from whicli one could drink to the full of good cool sweet water. If one of the leaf-stalks was forcibly drawn down, a quantity of water gushed out, so that we afterwards readily filled a large cup with as much as we needed. On examining a section of one of the stalks, a hollow channel about a quarter of an inch in diameter is seen running all down the inner side of the stalk from the base of the leaf. This appears to collect the water condensed from the atmosphere by the large cool surface of the leaf, and conducts it downwards. The leaf-stalks are all full of cells like those of the banana. After three hours' THE TRAVELLER'S TREE. 93 walldng along the shore in the heavy sand, with a hot sun overhead, we were glad to draw from these numberless vege- table springs, and thanked the Giver of these living fountains in that tliirsty land. We afterwards found that in some villages the people supply themselves constantly from this source. But a supply of water is only one of the many benefits the coast tribes derive from this beautiful tree. All along the east coast the houses are made of a slight framework, and filled in with the mid-rib of the leaf of the traveller's tree in the same way that the zozdro (papyrus) is used in Imerina, and looking exactly like the zozdro. The leaf-stalks are fixed together on long fine twigs, so as to make a kind of stiff mat. One of these forms the door on either side of the house, being shifted backwards and forwards, and kept from falling by sliding within a light pole hung from the framework. The flooring, which is always raised above the ground, is made of the bark of the traveller's tree, pressed flat so as to form a rough kind of boarding. And the thatch of every house is the leaf of the same tree, which forms a very neat as well as durable covering. The traveller's tree might therefore, with equal or greater propriety, be called " the builder's tree." The green leaves also are the ordinary plates and dishes of the coast people. It has been generally believed that the traveller's tree was peculiar to Madagascar, but I find that it also grows in the Malay Peninsula. In a book entitled The Land of the White Elephant : Sights and Scenes in South- Eastern Asia, by Frank Vincent, jun., an American traveller (London: 1873), at p. 109, in speaking of the neighbourhood of Singapore, the writer says : " The road [leading from the town into the in- terior of the island] is very pretty, being lined by tall bamboo hedges and trees which, uniting above, form a complete shade ; the beautiful fan-pahn, or ' traveller's fountain,' as it is sometimes called, will deserve especial notice, with its immense sj)read of feathery leaves, constituting an exact semicircle." The tree is not again mentioned by the writer, but a beautiful engraving is given of this " traveller's fountain," which seems identical with our Madagascar " traveller's tree," 94 MEDICINAL PLANTS. except that it has a larger number of leaves than is seen in the latter tree. There are forty-eiglit in the engraving, which is evidently from a photograph. As far as I am aware, tliis fact has not been noticed by any other traveller, but it is another link of connection between Madagascar and the Malay Peninsula. Plants iised as Medicines and in the Arts. — The Malagasy have from time immemorial been acquainted with numerous roots, herbs, and trees which they believe to be efficacious in medicine and surgery. These are largely connected with that belief in charms which is the groundwork of their idola- trous worship ; but many of them have real curative powers, and many others would probably prove on examination to be valuable additions to our materia medica. The castor-oil plant, with its beautifully-indented leaves and green fruit covered with minute papHlce, is very common in the native gardens, and also grows wild. The fruit or berry is pounded, and a thick green oO. extracted for use by boiling. Aloes of great size are among the most ornamental vegetable produc- tions of the interior. The great fleshy leaves considerably exceed in height the stature of a man ; and when the plant blossoms, a great flower-stalk, straight and tapering as a mast, shoots up from the centre of the plant to a height of between twenty and thirty feet, with a crown of flowers, many hundreds in number. The juice is used medicinally, and a fine strong silky thread is prepared from the fibres of the leaves and flower-stalk. A much smaller variety of aloe (called vdhana) is found plentifully on the bare summits of the hills. The leaves are edged with red, and it bears a tall spike of red and yellow flowers. In travelling through the skirts of the great forest on the eastern coast, one passes continually through dense thickets of a plant called longdzy. This is a species of cardamom {Amomum cardamomum) ; the stem is a tall tapering rod, five or six feet high, with a number of long simple leaves. The fruit is a kind of scarlet pod, found near the base of the stem, and contains a sweetish acid pulp of a silky white appearance ; but if one of the small purplish black seeds is accidentally crushed by the teeth, a most unpleasant burning sensation is USEFUL PLANTS. 95 felt for some miimtes at the Lack of the mouth and in the throat. Among the jjlants which are useful in Madagascar for other purposes besides food must be reckoned the' gourds. These are found in great variety of shape and size, and are used instead of bottles, and for storing all kinds of liquids. A rude kind of guitar or banjo, called lokdnga, is also made with a gourd ; a long piece of wood with three or four strings is fixed to a gourd of a flat shape so as to give the resonance required ; but the music produced is not of a very high order. Tobacco is grown in considerable quantities by the Mala- gasy. It has not, however, been used for smoking until very recently, the native use of the fragrant weed being to take it in the form of snuff; and this again is not applied, as in most countries, to the nostrils, but is tossed by a dexterous jerk of the hand into the mouth, where it is retained for a few minutes under the tongue. This snuff is carried about in a beautifully - polished piece of hollow cane or bamboo. Hemp {rongdny) is also occasionally smoked by some of the more dissolute portion of the people, but its use is illegal. Par its more legitimate uses, however, hemp is grown to some extent, and is woven by the women into a coarse strong cloth for lambas, the national article of dress. Cotton is also cultivated, and a great variety of beautiful cloths are manufactured from it. The most favourite kinds are made in stripes with richly ornamented borders, in which silk is introduced. Many of the dyes are procured from vegetable substances, the reddish brown used as the groundwork of many lambas being obtained from the bark of a large forest tree called ndto. Another vegetable dye, which is of some commercial importance, is the orscille, a lichen which forms the principal product of the sterile country at the south-west corner of the island, and grows in abundance on the bark of the spiny shrubs which are the characteristic vegetation of that region. Indigo, called in the native language aika, is cultivated by the Malagasy, and might probably, by the application of 96 FLOWERING PLANTS AND TREES. European skill and capital, be so largely grown as to become one of the most valuable exports. For the sustenance of the different species of silkworms the leaves of the mulberry-tree are used to some extent ; but in the central portions of the island anotlier tree is largely used for this purpose. This is the tapla, a small tree of which there are extensive plantations. The fruit, which is edible, is a long green pod containing a sweetish pulp. The lichens growing on the bare rocks and hills of the treeless central provinces have not yet been collected in any complete manner, but from a few specimens obtamed by the late Mrs. Pool, the Eev. J. M. Crombie remarks : " Jud'dnf? from its climate and situation, there can be no doubt that Madagascar possesses a very rich and extensive lichen flora. Unfortunately, however, it is still in this respect almost entirely a terra incognita, nor does the present small collec- tion throw much light upon its lichen treasures, though it affords some indications that these are both valuable and varied." '"" Flowering Plants and Trees. — In speaking of Madagascar, as well as of most tropical countries, it is frequently re- marked, " Of course there are very magnificent flowers there." It is a common mistake to suppose that in the matter of wild flowers the tropics are much richer than the temperate zones. But, as has been well shown by Mr. Alfred Wallace in his work on The Malay Archipelago (vol. i. 127, 128 ; ii. 294-298), the reverse is the case; and although there are, it is true, many beautiful flowers, they do not occur in great numbers, nor are they found in such masses as to give a character to the scenery. There is, for instance, nothing comparable to the effect of gorse, or heather, or clover, or even of the buttercups and daisies of an English meadow. It should be observed, however, that this remark applies chiefly to flowers growing on the ground ; for in the forest * Jour. Linn. Soc.,Bot., vol. xv. ISTo. 86, pp. 409, 410. A list of the fifteen species is given, from which it appears that the lichens belong to the following six genera : — Thserophoron (i), Usnea (3, a species of Usnea, TJ. xanthophaga, is found in the Campbell Islands), Parmelia (i), Stictina (7), Ricasolia (this has special interest as being hitherto only known as inhabiting equinoctial America), and Physcia (2). FLOWERING PLANTS. 97 there are many trees whicli, when in flower, present grand masses of colour, being covered with scarlet, yellow, crimson, or purple bloom, No recent traveller has given more atten- tion to the floral wealth of Madagascar, or described it with so much enthusiasm, as the late Eev! W. Ellis, who was an accomplished botanist, as well as an earnest missionary. Among the flowering plants Mr. Ellis mentions as seen on the eastern coast are species of acacia, solanum, vinca or CatJiaranthus roseus, gardenia, and many kinds of hibiscus ; one of these latter {H. tiliaceus) grows to a great size, straggling over a considerable space, and covered with large yellow and claret- coloured blossoms. The aleurites or candle- nut, common in Polynesia, is also seen on that coast, and also trees of large and shining foliage, like the magnolia, and large - leaved betonicas. Amongst Madagascar trees which have become naturalised in Mauritius, and " con- spicuous beyond all the rest, is the stately and gorgeous Foinciana regia, compact-growing and regular in form, bat retaining something of the acacia habit, rising sometimes to the height of forty or fifty feet, and between the months of December and April presenting amidst its delicate pea- green pinnated leaves one vast pyramid of bunches of bright, dazzling scarlet flowers. Seen sometimes over the tops of the houses, and at others in an open space standing forth in truly regal splendour, this is certainly one of the most magnificent of trees. Its common name is ' mille fleurs,' or ' flamboyant.' The Poinciana, and the large beautifully yellow- flowering Colvillia, as well as some fine and fragrant species of Dombeya, and other kinds, were introduced from Mada- gascar by M. Bojer, a German naturalist, in 1824."'" A magnificent creeping-plant {Crypta stygia), with masses of purple flowers, has been introduced into the capital, as well as into Mauritius. Other flowering plants noticed by Mr. Ellis are heaths, species of petunias, gentians {Tacliiademus carinatus, and T. medinilla), and others resembling Stephanotis, vanilla {Dendrobium), and Indian shot (Canna indica). Another tree conspicuous for its beauty when in flower is the AstrapcEa Wallichii or viscosa. The Malagasy name for it * Three Visits to Madagascar, pp. 41, 57. a 98 ORCHIDS. is derived from a word meaning " lightning," on account of the "brilliancy of its flowers. Sir Joseph Paxton and Dr. Lindley have thus sj)oken of A. Wallichii : " One of the finest plants ever introduced, and when loaded with its magnificent flowers we think nothing can exceed its grandeur." ""' Mr. Ellis says of it : "I had seen a good-sized plant growing freely at Mauritius, but here it was in its native home, luxuriating on the banks of the stream, its trunk a foot in diameter, its broad-leaved branches stretching over the water, and its large, pink, globular, composite flowers, three or four inches in diameter, suspended at the end of a fine down- covered stalk, nine inches or a foot in length. These, hang- ing by hundreds along the course of the stream, surpassed anything of the kind I had seen, or could possibly have imagined." f There are many fine orchids in the Madagascar woods: among these two species of Angrcecum were brought into notice by Mr. Ellis, who was the first to bring specimens of them to England. One of these, the A. sesquipedale, has an extraordinarily long spur; some of those measured by Mr. Ellis being fourteen inches in length, thus nearly approaching the foot and a half to which it owes its name first given by Du Petit Thouars. This spur points to the existence of an insect with an extremely long trunk or sucking-tube for the fertilisation of the flower. The exquisitely white waxy flowers of these orchids are seen very frequently in the forests, masses of the thick fleshy leaves occupying the forks of the branches or any projecting part of the trunk, places which they share with the hart's-tongue and stag's-horn ferns. Mr. Ellis says he " found the trunk of a tree lying quite rotten on the ground, and Angrcecum scsqui2Jedale growing at intervals along its whole length, the roots having penetrated into the decayed vegetable fibre of the tree." In specimens which have been brought to England the pure waxy white flowers preserve all their delicate beauty for more than five weeks. Of another orchid brought to England by Mr. Ellis {Epiplwra jpulesccns) Dr. Lindley says, " This little-known * Paxton's Botanical Dictionary, p. 33. f Three Visits to Madagascar, p^i. 2S3, 2S6, 290. VEGETABLE EXPORTS. 99 orchid is one that all lovers of what is beautiful and fragrant will eagerly welcome. Its scent equals the sweetest lilies of the valley, and its flowers are of the deepest golden yellow, most richly striped with crimson." ^^ One of the finest displays of flowers I ever saw in Mada- gascar was on the sea-shore near the mouth of the river Matitanana. A considerable space of ground was covered with bushes of what I suppose were orchis plants, although the flowers exactly resembled those of an orchid growing on trees higher up the source of the river. Each bush had a score or two of branches, and each branch bore a number of large waxy white flowers, all in bloom, the whole forming a magnificent sight. Vegetalle Exports. — Many of the vegetable productions of Madagascar are of considerable commercial value. Of late years large quantities of gum-copal have been exported. This is obtained from more than one species of tree growing chiefly on the eastern coast. The forests are rich in gum-producing trees, and long lists of such are given in the works of early writers on Madagascar. The gum of certain trees has been used from time immemorial as incense, for in the worship of the charms or ody venerated by the Malagasy tribes, these were always invoked together with the fumes of fragrant gums ; and some have supposed that the most frequent name for the Supreme Being, Andriamdnitra — that is, " The Fragrant One " — is derived from the use of incense in the ancient religious worship of the people. Large quantities of indiarubber have also been exported from Madagascar during the past few years. Some of this is obtained from a liana or creeper (Vahea gummifera), but the greater portion comes from trees of a considerable size. But such a wanton destruction of the trees has taken place that unless some restrictions are placed upon the production, the trade will be wholly at an end at no very distant period. From what has been already said it will be seen that the vegetable productions of Madagascar are very varied and abundant, and were European capital and skill to be intro- duced, large quantities of almost every kind of tropical pro- * Gardener's Chronicle, May 28, 1858. loo THE LACE-LEAF PLANT. duce miglit be grown for export, and prove a source of immense wealth. Pace is already exported in some quantity, and coffee is being grown to a considerable extent, and its production is yearly increasing; but sugar, indigo, tobacco, and spices might also be produced in quantities practically inexhaustible. The valuable timber of the immense forests is also certain at some future time to form an important item in the exports of the country, and a careful scientific explo- ration of the woods would doubtless bring to light other vegetable products of commercial value. No such complete investigation, however, has yet been made. Many years ago, Sonnerat, a French naturalist, called Madagascar the land of promise for the botanist, and Du Petit Thenars said that ten years would not suffice to gain an adequate idea of the vege- table treasures of the island ; but the jealousy of the native government up to a very recent period, and the unhealthi- ness^ of many parts of the country, have hitherto prevented scientific botanists from attempting a thorough exploration of the interminable woods. About forty or fifty years ago Messrs. Bojer and Hilsenberg explored parts of the island, but no complete or accessible record of their researches has been published. M. Grandidier's great work on Madagascar, now in progress, will probably do something to fill up the gap. The Lacc-leaf Plant. — This chapter may be concluded by a description of a very interesting plant peculiar to Mada- gascar, and which is called by Sir W. J. Plooker " one of the most curious of nature's productions." This is the Lace-leaf plant, or water-yam ; in scientific phraseology, Ouvirandra fenestralis. This curious plant has an edible root, and grows under water a foot or more deep ; from tliis spring a number of graceful leaves, which spread out just under the surface. These leaves are nine or ten inches long and a couple of inches wide, and their structure is most remarkable, for the whole leaf is like a living fibrous skeleton rather than an ordi- nary leaf. The portions of the leaf between the veining are not filled up, as in every other plant, but are open, so that the whole is composed of fine tendrds in a regular pattern, so as to resemble a piece of bright green lace or open needlework. Mr. Ellis says, " It is scarcely possible to imagine any object THE LACE-LEAF PLANT, loi of the kind more attractive and beautiful than a full-grown specimen of this plant, with its dark-green leaves forming the limit of a circle two or three feet in diameter, and in the transparent water within that circle presenting leaves of every stage of development, both as to colour and size." The flower is a curious forked tuft, pink in colour, and rises above the surface of the water during the fructification. The ouvirandra grows in the streams along the eastern coast, but it is also found abundantly in the colder interior provinces in running water not many miles west of the capital. Mr. EUis was the first to bring plants of the lace-leaf to England, and from these specimens have been obtained for the principal botanic gardens of London and its neighbourhood. For a long time this plant was supposed to be unique, but a few years ago another species was discovered in West Africa by a French botanist, and a third has since been found in Senegal, but these are said to be much less singular in appearance, the spaces which are open in the Madagascar species being partially or entirely filled up in the African ones. The facts now given will be sufficient to show that Mada- gascar is a country of great interest to the botanist as well as to the zoologist ; and it may be hoped that many more years will not elapse before its still unexplored vegetable riches shall have been thoroughly investigated by scientific travellers. There are probably many wonders and beauties of vegetable life still awaiting discovery, and yet hidden in the depths of those vast forests which form a green girdle round the island. ( I02 ) CHAPTEE V. ORIGIN AND DIVISIONS OF THE MALAGASY PEOPLE. MALAYO-POLYNESIAN AFFINITIES — ALLEGED CONNECTION WITH AFRICAN RACES — EUROPEAN AND ARAB ELEMENTS— AFRICAN INFLUENCE ON WEST COAST — PRINCIPAL DIVISIONS OF THE PEOPLE — COLOUR, PHYSIQUE, AND LAN- GUAGE — DIFFICULT PROBLEMS RAISED BY VARIATIONS IN THESE RESPECTS — ATTEMPTED SOLUTIONS OF THESE — LIGHT AFFORDED BY TRADITION AND PHILOLOGY. It has already been pointed out, in treating of the animal life of Madagascar, that there are numerous most interesting questions raised by the very exceptional character of the fauna of the island, and that a considerable proportion of the living creatures inhabiting the country have very remote affinities, their nearest allies being found not in Africa, but in the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, and even in still more distant regions. The same fact of dissimilarity between island and continent meets us when considering the Eth- nology of Madagascar. For it may be confidently said that a considerable proportion of its inhabitants are not of African origin, but are unmistakably connected with the races which inhabit the Polynesian and Malayan Archipelagoes, and are thus the most western representatives of that very widely- extended division of mankind. This fact, although denied by one or two writers whose opinion is entitled to respect, is now generally admitted by etlmologists. The grounds for this belief are found in the close connection between the languages of Madagascar and those of the Malayo-Polynesian races, and in the similarity of the customs, handicrafts, and mental and physical character- istics of these now widely-separated peoples. These resem- blances will be noticed more in detail in succeeding chapters upon the language, customs, superstitions, art, and relationships MALAYO-POLYNESIAN AFFINITIES. 103 of the Malagasy, and form a chain of evidence which is exceedingly strong, and which is confirmed by every recent accession to our information about the various tribes inhabit- ing Madagascar, The Malay relationships of the Malagasy have, however, been disputed by Mr. Crawfurd, who, in A Dissertation on the Affinities of the Malayan Languages, maintained that the connection between them was very slight indeed, and endeavoured to account for the presence of the undoubted resemblances between them by the arrival of a few piratical proas driven b}'' a hurricane from the Malay Archipelago, and bringing with them a few of the most necessary articles of food. The words for these, together with others, of an admittedly very important character, he thinks maintained their ground, while the immiOTants themselves were absorbed in the mass of the population. But Mr. Crawfurd has largely under- rated the connection between the two languages, as has been conclusively shown by the Eev. W. E. Cousins ; and those who know the Malagasy will be disposed to place little 'reliance upon his opinion on this point where he says that they " do not bear any resemblance to " the Malays, and that " they are in fact negroes, but negroes of a particular description." Another writer, Mr. C. Staniland Wake, in a paper read before the Anthropological Society (Dec. 14, 1869) on "The Eace Elements of the Madecasses," has endeavoured to show that there is a much closer connection between the peoples of Madagascar and those of South and East Africa than had hitherto been supposed. This opinion he tries to prove by pointing out a number of resemblances between them in physical structure, hair, craniology, pastoral habits, political arrangements, and in religious notions and superstitions. No doubt some of these are entitled to be considered as of weight ; and the quotations he gives of descriptions of a Hova and a Betsimis^raka skull are very important confirmations of his opinion, if they are indeed fair specimens of the craniologij of these tribes respectively. But as it is very difficult to obtain a Hova cranium, it appears to me that it is quite possible that the specimen described by Dr. Carter Blake and adduced by 104 AFRICAN AFFINITIES, Mr. Wake, although possibly obtained in Im(5rina, may have been that of a slave, either from one of the tribes distant from the Hovas, or even from an individual with a distinctly African admixture. Those who have lived among the IMalagasy in the central province know how carefully and religiously they preserve and bury the bones of their dead, so that it is one of the most difficult matters possible to obtain a skull of one of the free people ; while violation of a grave is looked upon as the most heinous of crimes. Unless, therefore, there was most unmistakable evidence that the skull in question was really that of a pure Hova, little stress can be laid upon the evidence of a single so-called Hova skull. Could a series of crania be procured from all the principal divisions of the inhabitants of Madagascar, some most valuable information as to the affinities of the Malagasy would doubtless be obtained ; but owing to the superstitions and habits of the people there seems little hope at present of getting light on this question from such a source, Mr. Wake has, I think, laid too little stress upon some other points which tell against the supposed African affinities, such as the Malagasy non-use of skins for clothing, a material so universally employed in South Africa ; their use of woven and beaten-out vegetable fibres, which connects them so closely with the Polynesian tribes ; the use of the feather- bellows found among the Malays ; their ancient knowledge of iron-smelting; the employment of the brotherhood-by- blood covenant, &c., &c. And the affinities which he be- lieves he finds between the languages of South Africa and of Madagascar seem, in the greater number of the examples lie adduces, to be of so obscure and doubtful a character that they have very little value as establishing any relationship. I\Ir. Wake takes his illustrations from Dumont D'Urville's Vocabulary, but in dictionaries of the Hova dialect, either French or English, or even the Vocahulaire Sakalava et Betsimisara of the Abb(5 Dalmond — much fuller and more correct works than D'Urville's — some of the supposed resem- blances disappear entirely, while some of the words cited as connected with South African tongues — Kafir and Namaqua PHILOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS. 105 — are found unaltered from the ]\Ialagasy form of them in one or other of the Malayo-Polynesian languages. It must he said here that Mr. Wake does not deny some Malayan affinities in the Malagasy (indeed he devotes a long paragraph of his paper to an examination of the points of agreement between the Hovas and the Siamese, saying that " it is among the more civilised people of the Malayan Archi- pelago that we must seek for special Hova affinities " ), but he thinks the African relationships as strong ; so much so that he is inclined to suppose that many of the African races went from Madagascar to the continent, and that Madagascar, or some spot farther eastward, and now submerged, was the seat of man's primitive civilisation. If, however, we take such a work as Mr. Alfred Wallace's Malay Arcliipdago, and examine the vocabularies given at the end of the second volume, we shall find that in the list of " Nine Words in Fifty-nine Languages " of that region, the Malagasy words are discovered in every one of the nine columns ; and not only so, but in most of these nine examples words exactly like, or most closely identical with, the Malagasy are found in a great number of the fifty-nine languages. Thus, the Malagasy afo (fire) is found in twenty languages ; Ula (tongue) also in twenty ; fotsy (white), in thirty ; and so on. Again, in the list of " One Hundred and Seventeen Words in Thirty-three Languages of the Malay Archipelago," the Malagasy words are found in more than eighty, or five-sevenths of the whole number ; and also, as in the other list, often in not one only, but in many of these thirty-three languages. This remark applies to the Hova form of Malagasy, but it is highly probable that were the coast dialects more fully known many other similarities would be discovered. And it is also a fact that in the Polynesian lansuan;es, and in those of New Guinea, there are also numerous correspondences with Malagasy ; so that the argu- ment for the Malayo-Polynesian affinities with the ]\Iada- gascar language is very strong indeed, and there is nothing yet produced on the African side which can be at all com- pared with it. It will, however, be desirable to state in as brief a form io6 EUROPEAN AND ARABIAN ELEMENTS. as is possible what we know positively about the Malagasy people ethnologically considered. But it must be premised that our information is still very defective, for no careful and syste- matic examination of the differences between the various tribes found in the island has yet been made ; and in addition to the want of cranial observations we much need a series of photographs, both in full face and profile, of typical specimens of the different races, together with particulars as to their colour, hair, height, &c., &c. From the long intercourse Europeans have now had with the people of the eastern coast and of Imerina, these are the best known of the various tribes ; but there are in both cases certain extraneous elements intermingled, so that it is not quite easy to determine how far these have modified the original stock. On the eastern coast there is an undoubted European mixture in the population, arising partly from the intercourse which the pirates of the early part of the eighteenth century had with the people, and also from the Creole settlers and planters, who take native wives, and whose children become absorbed in the native population. There is also a certain amount of foreign blood derived from sailors and others who touch at the ports. When coming down to the east coast in 1867, after nearly four years' familiarity with the Hovas only, I was much struck with the lighter colour of the B^tsimis^raka women as compared with the Hova women. In addition to this European mixture there is also an Arabian element in the eastern tribes, derived from the ancient Arab settlements, both in the province of Matitanana on the south-east coast, and in the island of St. Marie's and the mainland opposite to it, farther north. It is possible, however, that this did not materially affect the mass of the people (although it has left ineffaceable traces of its influence on the language), since the white settlers became the princes and nobles of some districts, and kept themselves apart from the rest of the people. In some tribes these white chiefs are said to have been exterminated by the French, to whose settlement in the country they were strongly opposed ; but, on the other hand, the chiefs of some of the Tanala or forest STONE ELEPHANT. 107 tribes, living many miles inland, in the heart of the dense woods of the eastern side of the island, are said to derive their origin from the Arab settlers. In the Antananarivo Annual for 1877 Q^^- ^0 there is some information derived from the Tankla people of Ivohitrosa, a village situated at the edge of the high table-land of south-eastern Betsik'o. In this paper it is said that the chiefs of Ivohitrosa, together with those of other places in this same forest region north and south of them, are descended from those who "came from across the ocean, they were not natives of Madagascar." Then follow the names of the ancestors of the different tribes, Firambo being the father of the chiefs called Zafirambo, &c. {Zafy, be it remembered, is the native word for "descen- dant," and also for " grandchild.") This account is confirmed by a short paper in the same publication for 1878 (p. 115), in which the Eev. W. D. Cowan describes a stone elephant which still exists at a village called Ambohisary on the east coast. This figure is made of soap-stone, and is in a good state of preservation ; it is about seven feet long and four feet high. It is hoUow, and evidently formed a receptacle for gifts and offerings. Accord- ing to tradition this stone elephant was brought from Imaka (Mecca ?) by Eamania, the ancestor of the tribe called Zafira- mania, who inhabit the district about Mananjara. This man is said to have been an uncle of Mohammed, and there are numerous details of his history preserved in Arabic books kept by his descendants, some of which were translated by order of Flacourt, the French Commandant at Fort Dauphin (1648-165 5), and others by order of Benyowski (1774- 1786). From other Arabs who arrived at about the same time as Eamania are said to be descended other ruling clans (or andrians) along the east coast of Madagascar. And of these clans Mr. Cowan says : " Having now met witli representative chiefs of several of these divisions, I speak with confidence of their remarkable resemblance and distinc- tive character, which separates them widely from the people over whom they rule, and goes far to verify their traditions." I must, however, remark here that my own knowledge of these people, derived from a journey through the southern io8 ARAB ELEMENT. Tan^la country and the south-eastern coast, does not confirm what Mr. Cowan here states. I could see no difference be- tween the clans he names and the mass of the people. But as ]\Ir. Cowan has had fuller and more frequent oppor- tunities of observation than I have had, his opinion is entitled to considerable weight. At Ambohipeno, near the mouth of the Mktitanana, some of the people, who call them- selves Zafy Ibrahim (" descendants of Abraham "), said to me in conversation, " We are altogether Jews ; " but I could not detect any difference in colour, features, or dialect between them and the other people of the eastern coast. At the same time the Arab influence in this region is undoubted. At this very place M. Grandidier obtained in 1870 copies of Arabic books on various subjects. And here also a son of one of. the former dnibidsy, or diviners, gave me a paper with a number of Arabic words, equivalents for as many Malagasy ones ; showing that, in some families at least, a knowledge of the language of their ancestors had not yet died out. Farther north also, at the Isle of St. Marie's, and the adjacent mainland, the people call themselves Zafy Ibrahim. If the traditions and written documents referred to above are cori-ect in the main, this Arab element must have come mto Madagascar about 1200 years ago (the Hegira or Moham- medan era was a.d. 662), and as the immigrants seem chiefly to have been men, for some are expressly mentioned as talcing native women as wives, it is not remarkable that the foreign influence is so little prominent in the features and colour of the people. During all these hundreds of years the mixture with native blood has been assimilating it more and more every succeeding generation with that of the majority of the population, and climatic and other influences have also been working in the same direction.* Besides this Arab influence exerted many hundred years ago * It is perhaps not unworthy of remark, that the names of the Arab ancestors of the noble clans in the south-east of Madagascar seem derived from purely Malagasy roots, for Ramania, Isambo, Imahazo, Imanely, and Irambo are all good ^Malagasy words. Possibly, however, they have been somewhat altered from their original form to those more exactly resembling native words, a change of which there are numerous examples in the names of things of foreign introduction. FOREIGN INTERMIXTURE. I09 on the soutli-east coast, it is also found in operation to this very clay on the opposite side of the island, the north-west, as will be noticed presently when speaking of the Sakalava tribes. Among the Hovas, in the central province of Imerina, there is probably only a slight foreign {i.e., extra-Malagasy) mixtme of blood, although the whitest and most European-like natives are to be found among the upper and well-to-do classes ; and in looking at some of these I have felt strongly inclined to believe that some not very remote ancestor of theirs was not a native Malagasy. Takmg the population of Imerina as a whole, there can be no doubt that it is of a more mixed char- acter than is the case in many provinces. For during the first half of the present century, when the Hovas were pur- suing their career of conquest through the central and eastern portions of Madagascar, great numbers of the women and children of the conquered tribes were brought back to the capital and its neighbourhood, where their descendants now form a large proportion of the slave population. It is at the same time quite true that the free people do not intermarry with the slaves, and those free people who may become slaves for debt or other causes {zdza-Hdva) marry among themselves, and not with the slaves proper {andevo). And the Andrians or noble clans (with some strictly defined exceptions) marry from those of their own rank. So that there is a tendency from the habits of the people to keep the original stock of any tribe free from much foreign intermixture, for tribes and families, as a rule, marry among themselves in order to keep landed property together, as well as from a strong clannish feeling. The people of the western and northern portions of Mada- gascar, loosely called Sakalavas, have three decided foreign elements mingled with them, or, at least, found among them. First, there are the Arab immigrants just referred to.'"' The Arabs have probably had intercourse with the country, and numbers of them have settled in it, for many hundred years past, although they seem to have kept themselves distinct to * These people are called Saliima by the ^lalagasy ; is this name derived from the salutation salama = Hcb. shalom ? no INDIAN AND AFRICAN ELEMENTS. a great extent from the native population, and do not inter- marry mucli with them, except they can get hold of an heiress or a woman of high rank. Then there is an Indian element, there being a considerable number of Banyan traders from Kutch and Bombay at some of the large towns on the north-west coast, so that Indian dress, ornaments, utensils, music, and customs meet one at every turn in these places. And as both Arabs and Indians are Mohammedans, the towns of Marovoay, Mojang^, Morontstinga, and some of the islands, are much more like Arab or Hindoo places than IMalagasy ones. The houses in these places are of stone, with flat roofs and deep shady recesses ; there are mosques for worship, and the cry of the muezzin is heard at the appointed times of the day for Mohammedan prayers. Then there is an African element, derived from the numbers of slaves from the mainland who have been brought into the country from time immemorial by the Arab slaving dhows. The emancipation of the African slaves two years ago by the Hova government will doubtless do much to stop this traffic, although, from the character of the north-west coast of Madagascar, — full of bays and inlets, where a dhow can easily evade the English cruisers, — it will probably go on to some extent wherever the Hova authority is slight. According to Sir Bartle Frere and other authorities, hundreds of slaves were, until a short time ago, brought into the country every year. This infusion from the neighbouring continent has doubtless had some effect on the lanfjuacre of the western tribes, and probably added a darker strain to their colour. Having now looked at the foreign influences which have been at work in various parts of Madagascar to modify the original Malagasy stock, something may be said about the chief differences to be remarked among the various tribes as regards colour and physique. Every traveller in Madagascar is aware that there are very considerable differences in the colour, outline (as viewed in front) and profile of the face, and stature of the people he meets with in passing through the country. He finds almost every shade of colour, from a very light olive, not darker E VIDENCE FROM HA IR. Ill than is seen in the peoples of southern Europe, down througli all gradations of brown to a tint which, although not black, is certainly very dark. In the quality of the hair, too, there is a good deal of difference ; the lighter-coloured people having visually long, black, and straight hair, while the darker tribes have, as a rule, shorter and more frizzly hair, although it is rarely, if ever, of the true negro woolly or tufted kind of head-covering. This correspondence of colour of skin with a certain kind of hair is, however, by no means invariable, curling and frizzly hair being sometimes found with light- coloured skin, and straight hair with dark skin. And even where the hair is frizzly it is often long enough to be braided in various fashions, so that the Sakal^va and others of the darkest-hued people have their hair arranged in a number of long tails consisting of minute plaits, a kind of hair- dressing hardly possible where the hair is rather a kind of wool.* In the contour of face and head also there is considerable variety, many individuals approaching in this particular to a European type ; others having the high-cheek-bone Malayan form of face ; others again have some approximation to what are considered as typical African features — broad nostrils, somewhat prognathous in profile, and thicker lips, although I do not remember to have seen any true Malagasy with decidedly negro features. Speaking broadly, the Malagasy may be divided into three main groups : the Eastern, the Central, and the Western tribes. Of these the Hovas (north central), and perhaps the Betsimis^raka (east coast) and some neighbouring tribes, are the lightest in colour (although there are some Hovas as dark as any of the more swarthy races) ; then come the Betsil^o (south central), Tanala (forest tribes of the east side), other eastern tribes, and perhaps the Bara (southernmost central, although our information as to these is not very exact) ; while the Sakalava, all along the west side of the island, and * Since writing the above, I am reminded b)' my wife (for ladies arc closer observers in such matters than men) that the Malagasy are accustomed to add other hair than their own to these long braids. Still, I think the darker- coloured races have long hair, as a rule, although it may be a little frizzly. 112 EVIDENCE FROM HEADS. overlapping its north-east corner, are tlie darkest, together ■with some of the east coast and southern tribes. As regards stature, the lighter races are probably a little below the average English height, with well-proportioned limbs and graceful and agile movements. I think, however, I have detected in some families of Andrians or nobles a superior stature to the majority of the people, a fact which may probably have arisen from the chiefs being able in former times to procure more abundant and nutritious food, from which circumstance also it is well known that the chiefs of many of the Polynesian islands are of much superior stature to their subjects. Some of, if not all, the darker- coloured people are somewhat taller and more robust than their lighter-tinted neighbours, with a fuller chest and more massive limbs. The Hovas are noticeable for their well-shaped heads, with high foreheads, and often European cast of counte- nance. Their appearance gives one the idea of considerable intellectual capacity. In some I have noticed the slightly oblique position of the eyes, and a somewhat Chinese ex- pression. Mr. Ellis's description of them in his Three Visits to Madagascar may be accepted as generally correct, when he says : " The foreheads were always well shaped, even when the space between the eyebrows and hair, as in some few instances, was comparatively narrow. The eyes were never large and projecting, but clear and bright, and the eyebrows well defined without being heavy. The nose was frequently aquiline and firm ; it was, however, more frequently straight, and sometimes short and broad, without fulness at the end. Their lips were occasionally thick and slightly projecting ; though seldom round and large, but often thin, and the lower one gently projecting (possibly from snuff-taking), with short curling upper lip. Their eyes are dark brown and hair jet black. Style of feature seems to mark the Hovas much more distinctly than colour and hair." The portraits given in the works cited in the footnote '"" will fully confirm the * See The. History of Madagascar, vol. i. pp. Ii6, 117; Three Visits to Madagascar, pp. 129, 137, 138, 413, 417; Madagascar Revisited, iip. 74, 220; Tour du Monde, 2476 liv. pp. 211, 217, 219. APPEARANCE OF THE SAKALAVA. 113 above description. The men have not much beard, but they ■wear moustachios, often growing rather thick, and clipped close. Except that most of the other races of the central and eastern side of the island are darker in colour than the Hovas, much of the above description would apply to the finer ex- amples of some of the other tribes as well. The children of the Tanala people in the heart of the dense forest, of the B^tsUeo, the Betsimisaraka, and the Sihanaka, are equally quick, bright, and intelligent with those of the Hovas, and, judging from the appearance of the few Sakalava I have met with, I should judge that they are not below the other tribes in mental qualities. I was always struck with the bold, free, martial appearance of parties of this tribe, who are occasionally seen at the capital. As is remarked in The History of Madagascar (vol. i. p. 129) : "There is something in the very appearance of the Sakalava in his favour. His manly air and gait, his full countenance and penetrating look, declare him destined to something higher and nobler than he has yet attained." If I am not mistaken in my recollection of many of them, they have often an almost Eoman shape of nose, thin at the upper part, although rather broad at the base. Captain J. C. Wilson, E.ISr., in some "Notes on the West Coast of Madagascar," * says the Sakalava are the finest race of savages he ever saw ; strong, tall, and independent, somewhat like Africans, but better looking. He describes them as being good shots, of pastoral habits, and having clean and comfort- able houses. Mr. G. A. Shaw, who has resided amongst the Betsileo for seven years, says of them : " As compared with the Hovas^ the Betsileo have a greater proportion of big men, and the average size both of men and of women is greater than in the north. The average height is not less than six feet for the men, and a few inches less for the women. They are large- boned and muscular, and their colour is several degrees darker than that of the Hovas, approaching in many cases very close to a black. The forehead is low and broad, the nose flatter and the lips thicker than those of their con- • * Jour. Roy. Gcog. Soc, vol. x.xxvi., 1S66. H 114 LIGHT AND DARK-COLOURED RACES, querors, ■whilst their hair is invariably crisp and woolly. ISTo pure Bdtsiluo is to be met with having the smooth long hair of the Hovas. In this, as in other points, there is a very clear departure from the Malayan type." * It has been said by some writers that there is a strongly- marked division between the light and the dark coloured races of Madagascar. As far as my own observation goes, I doubt the accuracy of this statement, and should rather say that the one type shades into the other by gradations almost im- possible to be marked off in any exact manner either by tribal or geographical divisions. For instance, by some writers the Sihanaka are classed with the S^kaRva, probably on account of their dark colour ; but judging from their way of building their houses, and other habits, and from their dialect, they are a division of the Betsimistiraka or Bezanozkno, who have come up from the coast and eastern districts. With them have become mingled a number of Hovas, but this mixed race is darker than either of the peoples composing it; and it seems probable that the great heat and moisture of their country, shut in as it is on almost aU sides by forest, have tended to darken the colour of their skin. I fancied I could trace a distinctly different type of feature from the Hovas, but observations made during a single hasty visit are not very reliable. There can, however, be no doubt that while from one point of view a three-fold division of the Malagasy tribes can be roughly made, taking another standpoint, that of language, they separate into two very distinctly-marked groups : the Hovas, or northern central tribes, forming one division ; and the other comprising all the rest of the people, both of the east and west coasts and in the northern and southern interior provinces. We do not yet know with great minuteness the peculiarities of all the dialects other than the Hova, but we know sufficient to affirm that they all seem more related to one another than they are to the Hova. Most if not all of them appear to Ifeve a more nasal n sound than the Hova gives to have a broader and more open sound in some vowels, and to cut off many of the terminals of trisyllabic roots {ka, * Antananarivo Annual, No. iii. p. 79. TRIBAL DIFFERENCES. 1 15 tra, and no), wliile many words obsolete, or only used in special senses, in the central provinces, are still in common use among the outer tribes. From this fact, and also from other circumstances, as well as tradition, there seems much reason to believe that the Hovas (and perhaps some of the lighter-coloured eastern tribes also) are the latest immigrants into the country, and that the other tribes have been inhabitants of Madagascar for a longer period. It seems certain that the Hovas have come into Im^rina within a time to which tradition points back, and that they displaced an aboriginal race, the Vazimba (of whom more presently). Here, however, come in two or three perplexing inquiries : First, — Although there are considerable differences between the various tribes in colour, physique, &c., yet does not the substantial unity of language point, if not t o a com mon origin, at least to a common region, from which they all came, although perhaps at somewhat widely-separated intervals of time ? Is it possible that if they are of a radically distinct stock, there would not be very clear indications of at least two different languages in Madagascar ? Yet we do not find such different languages; for although the dialects of some tribes are puzzling enough at first both to natives and Europeans from a distant part of the country, this arises chiefly from various pronunciations, the empl oyment o f words either obsolete or used in another sense elsewhere, and other minor differences, and certainly not because a distinctly dif- ferent language is employed by such tribes. A glance at the personal names employed among the Skkalava, in whose dialect probably the greatest differences from Hova exist, shows that most af them are essentially from roots common both to them and to the Hovas. So it is also with the names of places ; the structure of the language is the same ; and although there is a small proportion of words in the Sakalava vocabulary which are not employed by the Hovas, it has not yet been shown that this is of African origin. At the same time there may very likely be some African infu- sion in the west-coast dialects, and possibly extending from thence into the interior. Eemembering the proximity to Ii6 EFFECTS OF MOISTURE AND HEAT. Africa, and the constant intercourse that has been going on from time immemorial, it would be strange if there was not some little connection between the languages of island and continent, and perhaps a few roots commencing with the consonants nrj and nj are from a different stock to the great mass of the language. Then again, if all the different tribes of Madagascar are from a common region, as one seems forced to conclude from the unity of their language, how is it that such differences exist in colour and physique, &c. ? Possibly, as seems sug- gested by what has been already remarked with regard to the Sih^naka, the colder climate of the highlands of the interior has to some extent modified the Hovas as regards colour, while moisture and heat combined have tended to darken the other tribes living in the lower and warmer regions of the country. But although this may explain some of the varia- tions in colour and physical conditions, it cannot be con- sidered adequate to explain the many other differences found among the inhabitants of Madagascar. How are these to be accounted for ? and where did they originate ? May it not be that we have in Madagascar, as in the Mala- yan and Polynesian Archipelagoes, two races represented — one, an olive or light-brown people closely connected with the inhabitants of Eastern Polynesia (from the Sandwich Islands through the Samoan, Marquesan, Society, Paumotu, and otlier groups, down to New Zealand) ; and also a darker race, allied to the Melanesian tribes inhabiting Western Polynesia, from Fiji to New Guinea ? The mixed character of the words comprised in the Malagasy vocabulary seems to favour this suggested mixed origin. Taking Mr. Wallace's " List of One Hundred and Seventeen Words in Thirty-three Languages of the Malay Archipelago," we find that vdrona (bird) is from the Malay and South Celebes languages ; dnaha (child), besides being found in Malay, Javanese, and Celebes, is also used in Ceram, Sanguir (Philippines), and by the Sea Gypsies ; oiio (cocoa-nut) is found in Bouru, Amboyna, Ceram, and all over the Polynesian groups inhabited by the lighter-coloured races ; atdcly (egg) is used in Mysol, Gilolo, and Ceram ; and so on. And an examination of Polynesian vocabularies would EXISTENCE OF DISTINCT DIALECTS. 117 doubtless furnish fresh facts in the same direction. There is still, however, a residuum of a few important words whose origin has not yet been discovered. Some of the facts pointed out by ^Mr. Wallace as to the limited area of some of these Malayan languages, such as the existence of very distinct dialects, and sometimes altogether different tongues, in neighbouring villages (see Mai. Arch. pp. 473—475, vol. ii.), seem very remarkable when compared with the substantial unity of language over so large an island as Madagascar, which has an area of more than 200,000 square miles. The same condition of things as exists in Malaysia is found also on the south-east coast of New Guinea, where the Eev. W. G. Lawes says there are from twenty to thirty distinct languages on a coast-line of only two to three hundred miles in length. In Madagascar, on the other hand, we find a number of tribes scattered over a large area, many of them with con- siderable tracts of uninhabited country separating them from \ other tribes, and yet strangely alike in language and in / customs, and to a certain extent also in physical qualities.'"* ' Considerations of language would lead one to infer that the ancestors of the Malagasy came from a rather wide area of the Malayan Archipelago ; that then they remained together long enough in one part of Madagascar for their various lan- guages to unite so as to become one tongue ; and that subse- quently they separated into the different tribes now inhabiting the country, their varying dialects as at present existing becoming gradually differentiated from the original stock, j)artly through the custom oi fady or tabooing the words and particles occurring in the names of their chiefs (see chajDter on Language), and also by other well-known influences which are constantly affecting and slowly changing human speech. Then there is a third question which meets us : How did the ancestors of the Malagasy come from their distant homes * These are : a somewhat flatter physiognomy than is found among Euro- peans, the men being usually better formed than the women, among whom there is a tendency to corpulency ; having weak beards, generally plucked out when young ; and somewhat colder blood and general temperature of body than Europeans have. See History of Madagascar, vol. i, p. 115. ii8 SAILORS OF THE COAST TRIBES. and the islands where their ancestors dwelt ? How did they contrive to cross the 3000 miles of ocean which separate them from the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago ? This is certainly a difficult problem to solve. Still there are facts which may suggest a solution of the question. In the first place, it is well known that the lighter races of the Malayo- Polynesian region are adventurous sailors, and often make voyages of several hundred miles in their canoes. There seems little doubt that to this fact is owing the wide distri- bution of these peoples, north and south, from the Sandwich Islands to New Zealand (a distance of above 4500 miles), to say nothing of the 10,000 miles east and west from Easter Island to Sumatra. It is well known, both from tradition, language, and reliable native accounts, that some groups of islands in the Pacific have been peopled from others at great distances in somewhat modern times, and that considerable distances have been traversed by canoes, the occupants of which have sometimes made long voyages through being over- taken by hurricanes, and occasionally, although less frequently, through a spirit of adventure. It is evident also that the coast tribes of Madagascar still possess much skdl as sailors. Until the early part oTT^he present century the people of the north-west coast used to make an annual piratical expedition to the Comoro Islands, and one of the articles in the first English treaty with Piadama I. provided that these raids should be discontinued. Such expeditions, of course, required a considerable number of canoes of large size to take a sufficient force of fighting men ; indeed, we know that these expeditious, which were carried on for forty years, became at length so formidable that the Portuguese authorities at Mozambique sent, in 1805, a corvette of fourteen guns to attack the piratical fleet. But the ship was becalmed and overpowered, and carried into a Malagasy port; and in the next year but one, another expedition of from 7000 to 8000 men seized a French slaver, which was also taken and destroyed. The last of these daring attacks was made in 1 8 1 6, but it was repulsed with much loss, and afterwards met with storms, so that out of 6250 men in 250 canoes, not one is believed to have INTERMEDIATE STAGES. 1 19 survived.'''' Later writers also speak of tlie adventurous way in which the people of the north-western islands put out to sea in their outrigger canoes.t And on the south-east coast the writer found that most ingeniously constructed boats were in common use among the people, for going through the heavy surf to the foreign vessels. (See chapter on Malagasy Customs.) When, therefore, we consider both the great distances occasionally traversed in the Pacific, and the nautical skill still evinced by the Malagasy, it seems less incredible than it might at first sight appear, that even the 3000 miles between the Malay Archipelago and Madagascar should be crossed by canoes bringing the ancestors of the Malagasy people. It will perhaps be objected that in the Pacific there are numerous groups of islands which would serve as intermediate stages in the passage between such widely-separated lands — as, for instance, New Zealand and the Sandwich Islands — and that crossing the Indian Ocean in one voyage would be a very different undertaking. This is perfectly true, but it is not necessary to conclude that the passage across was made in one voyage. If we examine a chart of the Indian Ocean, we shall find that there are numerous groups of small islands scattered over its area, — the Maldive, Chagos, Amirante, Seychelles, Mascarene, and others — which would serve as resting-places between the Malayan region and Madagascar. And if we examine the chart more minutely, we find that many of these islands have circling reefs, a pretty sure sign (according to Darwin and other authorities) that they are sinhing land, and so are no doubt of much less extent now than at an earlier period in human history. It seems highly jDrobable, therefore, that in past ages not only were these islands of much greater size than they are at present, but that there was also land where now a wide ocean rolls its waves. As already mentioned in speaking of the fauna of Madagascar, it has been supposed by many naturalists of eminence (Wallace, Sclater, Bates, and others), that in * See Guillain, op. cit.. pp. 199, 200 ; Owen's Xarrative, vol. ii. p. 12. f Antaiuinanvo Annual, No. iii. pp. 23, 24. 120 RELICS OF SUBMERGED ISLANDS. recent geological periods the area of the Indian Ocean was, in part at least, occupied by a considerable extent of land, of which Madagascar, and the Mascarene, and other groups are the relics, the strange relationships of the animal life of these islands appearing to require some such link between Mada- gascar and the more easterly regions of the world. This supposition is borne out to a great extent by the deep-sea soundings recently made (although certainly not to the full extent of the supposed requirements), for an examination of the chart shows that there was probably a large island to the north-east of Madagascar, nearly as large as Madagascar itself, but of a longer shape, curving round to the north-west, something like a boomerang in outline, and with its north- western end about as far from the northern point of Mada- gascar as the latter is from the African coast (about 260 miles). Of this former island the Amirante and Seychelles groups form the relics of the northern portion, and the Car- gados Garayos shoals and islets of the southern end. Then there would seem to have been an island considerably larger than Ceylon, about half-way between tlie boomerang-shaped island just described and India, whose position is indicated by the Chagos group ; while the soundings indicate probably another long island about the size of Sumatra, lying in much the same contiguity to south-west India as Sumatra does to the Malay Peninsula. Of this island, the Maldive and Laccadive islets alone now lift their heads above the waves. South-east of these, a very deep sea, i 5,000 feet deep, probably indicates a very ancient physical feature of this part of the globe, and shows that in all the more recent geological epochs at least, an ocean of profound depth has separated the region occupied by the islands just described from the Malayan and Australian regions. It appears to me that these former physical conditions of portions of the area of the Indian Ocean, give some probable clue as to the path along which Madagascar received from the far eastern archipelagoes the ancestors of its present population. Still another question occurs, as to which again we can only put forward some slight hints towards a solution, viz., the question of date : At what period did these immigrants LIGHT AFFORDED BY TRADITION: 121 — dark and light in colour — cross the space between the Malayan region and Madagascar? The absence of any ancient writings and monuments leaves us little besides tradition and language to fall back upon. The former of these is vague and uncertain, but one or two probabilities may be gleaned from it, as well as from language. We know little as yet about the traditions of the coast tribes, but Hova tradition points very clearly to their ances- tors having come into the central province from the east coast. In a native history which was published at" tl?e capital in 1873, a list of Hova chieftains and kings is given. The present sovereign makes the thhty-sixth on this Hst, but it is distinctly said that the first-named of these thirty-six was not actually the first, but that " the beginnings of the sovereigns who reigned here from the very first is still a matter veiled in obscurity," the accounts " being so mixed up with fabulous legends that the whole of them cannot be con- sidered as reliable." Then follows a story deriving the origin of some of these chiefs from a son whom Aiidriam^nitra (God) cast down to the earth to play with the Vazimba (the early inhabitants of the central province). Now this list seems to give us some slight indications of a date, after which it is not probable that the Hovas arrived in the centre of the island, and it is most lUcely that it was considerably earlier. For if we look at a list of English sovereigns, we see that from WiUiam the Conqueror to our present Queen, their number is (curiously enough) exactly the same as that of these Hova chieftains. It is not quite certain that all these Malagasy princes reigned successively, but most of them no doubt did so ; and therefore, supposing that the average length of reign was about the same in Madagascar as in England, probably the Hova incursion was not much, if at all, later than our Norman Conquest, and perhaps was much earlier than that event ; while the date at which they arrived in Madagascar itself is lost in obscurity, as well as the probably much earlier invasion of the island by the other races. Philology gives us a little additional light here, but only a little. The Eev. L. Dahle has pointed out, in a valuable article on "The Influence of the Arabs on the Mabgasy 122 LIGHT AFFORDED BY PHILOLOGY. Language," * that the presence of Arabic names for the months and days taken from the constellations of the zodiac and the principal stars in these constellations, gives " some conclusions as to the time when the Arabic influence began to work its "way here," and along with it the introduction of the terms in question, " at least as to the terminus ante quern it could not have taken place." Mr. Dalile adds that " about the end of the eighth century the Arabs already began studying astronomy, and translatiQg Greek works on that subject, and "Consequently they can scarcely have introduced their astrology here earlier than the ninth century; probably it took place much~TSter." It will be seen, however, that this refers not to the arrival of the Malagasy in the island, but only to the introduction of a certain element into the already-existing population. As to the ]\Ialagasy language as a whole, the Eev. W. E. Cousins says : f " The fact that resemblances to the Malagasy, both in its vocabulary and in its grammar, are found in such widely-separated regions [the Malayan and Polynesian Archi- pelagoes], sometimes where they are wanting in the Malay itself, makes it probable, I think, that the Malagasy emigra- tion must be placed far back at some period before the more cultivated languages took their present forms. We should also give due importance (i) to the absence of Mohammedan traditions in Madagascar, (2) to the presence of a few Sanscrit words, and (3) I think, too, to the richness of the Malagasy in derivative forms, as I judge that the Malagasy has a far greater variety of such forms than the Malay." Mr. Cousins also says that, from the examples he adduces of the affinities between Malagasy and the Malayan and Polynesian languages, he is " disposed to believe that the Malagasy represents an older stage in the common language now so widely spread over the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and has not been derived from what is at present known as Malay." Thus, so far as philology goes, it seems to indicate that the emigration of the Malagasy tribes from the east occurred at a somewhat remote era in the history of the human race. * Ant(xn<\nar\vo Annual, Ko. ii. p. 82. t "The Malagasy Lanrjuagc ; " Philol. Soc. Trans., 1878. ( 123 ) CHAPTEE Yl. CnARACTERISTICS OF THE DIFFERENT TRIBES INHABITING MADAGASCAR IN ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES. nOVAS — B^TSILEO — BAEA — TANALA — TANKAY — SIHANAKA — BETSIMISIrAKA AND EAST-COAST TRIBES — ABORIGINAL PEOPLES BEFORE MALAY INCUR- SION : VAZIMBA — KIMOS OR QUIMOS — KALIO OR BEHOSY — POPULATION — VARIOUS ESTIMATES — CHIEF TOWNS— TABLE OF PRINCIPAL TRIBES AND THEIR SUBDIVISIONS. The varieties in colour and physique found among the peoples inhabiting the different provinces of Madagascar have already been noticed in the preceding chapter ; but as there are many other particulars which should be remembered in order to form a tolerably accurate notion of the people in their numerous divisions, we shall here note down some of the more important of them. Some information may then be given as to the traces found of earlier races in Madagascar before the arrival of the ancestors of the bulk of the present inhabitants ; and also as to the probable amount of the existing population of the island. I. The Hovas. — At the head of the Malagasy tribes stand the Hovas, who are now by far the most advanced of them all in civilisation, enlightenment, and intelligence, as well as in their political position. They occupy the central province of Imerina, and from this vantage-ground they now dominate a great part of the interior of Madagascar, all the eastern portions of the island, and parts of the north-west. For many centuries, however, the Hovas were only one among the many tribes inhabiting the country, and their power did not extend beyond their own central region ; for in Imerina itself there were numerous petty independent sovereignties up to a com- paratively modern period, and even within the present century 124 HOVAS. tliey were tributary to the Sakal^va chieftains. But during the latter portion of their time of subjection to the western tribes, the kings from whom the present Hova royal family are descended were gradually consolidating their power by uniting the petty states of Imerina into one kingdom, so that an aggressive policy was begun by Andrianimpoina, father of Eadama I., and carried on by Eadkma himself (1810-28). The Betsileo people in the south were obliged to submit ; the neighbouring peoples in Imamo and Vonizongo were over- powered ; then the Sihanaka to the north, and some of the east-coast tribes. A treaty made by Eadama with the English gave him additional power, through his obtaining European drilling and organisation for his troops, as well as firearms and ammunition. With these powerful aids to success he threw off all allegiance to the Sakalava, invaded their country again and again, and by a mixture of force and diplomacy obliged them to submit, so that Eadama from that time assumed the right of sovereignty over the whole of Madagascar, a claim which his successors have always insisted on. The same aggressive policy was carried on, often with great cruelty, in the south-eastern parts of the island by E^nav^lona I., who succeeded Eadama in 1828. But the Hovas have never been really masters of the whole of Mada- gascar, and probably a third part of the island to the west and south is independent, and their authority is only slight over many other distant parts of the country. It is most fully acknowledged in the central and eastern provinces. There is no doubt that the Hovas have a greater ability than the other tribes for taking a leading position. They can rule because they can obey, and to this faculty of obedience to authority, organising power, and united action, they owe their present position in the country, as well as to their having had kings of such remarkable energy and intelligence as Eadama I. and his father. Eor twenty- five years, during the reign of Eanavalona I., the country was as much as possible isolated from all foreign influence ; trade was shut out, and Christianity cruelly per- secuted. But since the death of that queen in 1861, great advances have been made by the Hovas, especially under the HOVAS—BETSILEO. 125 government of tlie present benevolent sovereign, E^nav^lona II., and her sagacious and powerful prime minister : educa- tion and civilisation have greatly progressed, and enlightened views on morals, humanity, and religion have, through the teaching of English missionaries, chiefly of the London Missionary Society, made wonderful advances, and are quietly revolutionising society in the central provinces, as will be detailed more fully in a concluding chapter. It may be remarked also that the cooler, bracing climate of the country where the Hovas dwell has doubtless exerted considerable influence in making them what they now are. Imerina is the most elevated region of the interior of Mada- gascar, averaging about 4000 feet in height above the sea- level. The soil being generally far less fertile than it is in the warmer coast-plains, more energy and continuous labour are needed to procure the necessaries of life than is the case among most of the other tribes ; and all this has produced a more robust and self-reliant spirit among the Hovas, who have at length become, what was evidently their destined position, the dominant tribe of the island. Now that Chris- tianity is beneficially influencing the political conduct of the Hovas, an extension of their authority over the whole of Madagascar would probably be very beneficial to the country. The district which they inhabit is perhaps about eighty miles long from north to south, and about sixty miles from east to west. 2. The Bdtsileo. — Next to the Hovas should be mentioned the Betsileo, who inhabit the central portion of Madagascar south of Imerina. In industry, skill in agriculture and in manufactures, they are not behind the Hovas; and although conquered by Eadama I., they are a brave and warlike people, the various divisions of the Betsileo being constantly fighting with each other in former times. They are divided into foul principal tribes with numerous subdivisions (see Appendix), and their ancient towns and villages were built on the sum- mits of very lofty hills. Morally, the Betsileo are said to be in advance of the Hovas, although lying and cheating are as rife among them as in other parts of Madagascar. They are extremely quarrelsome and litigious, often spending a great 126 betsilP.o—bara. amount of property in law-suits about some trifling matter. Of this propensity ]\Ir. Gr. A. Shaw gives some extraordinary instances.'" Drunkenness is also prevalent, but the people are more simple and unsuspicious than the Hovas ; the clannish feeling is very strong among them, and they show much family affection and hospitality. In former times their government was very despotic, and there is still much reverence paid to their chiefs, although these are shorn of most of their former power. Curiously enough, the Betsileo kings used to be called " the Hova," as if some feeling of Hova superiority had impressed them even before being con- quered by their northern neighbours. Their superstitions, burial-customs, &c., will be noticed in other chapters. The Hova authority being very firm among the Betsileo, idolatry has been abolished, and a considerable number of the population are under instruction, for the people have no lack of intelligence. Indeed, next to the Hovas, no tribe has made greater advances during the last ten years than have these " many unconquered " of the southern highlands of Madagascar. 3. The Bdra. — Proceeding farther south, through the centre of the island, we come next to the Bara people, about whom, until very recently, hardly anything definite was known. But a Hova army having passed through part of the country in 1873, some information was obtained from the native officers about them.t In 1876 two English mis- sionaries made a journey through the eastern part of the pro- vince; and in the following year a journey across the Bara country to the south-west coast (St. Augustine's Bay), and attended with considerable peril while among a west-coast tribe called V^zo, was made by the Eev. J. Ptichardson, who has contributed some valuable information about the Biira and their country in his pamphlet, entitled " Lights and Shadows ; or. Chequered Experiences among some of the Heathen Tribes of Madagascar." These people inhabit a series of undulating plains divided by lofty ranges of hills, * See Antaniinarlvo Annual, Nos. iii., iv., "The Betsileo: Country and People. " t Antananarivo Annual, No. ii., pp. 45-50- A BARA WARRIOR. 127 forming tlie most southerly central portion of Madagascar. The area of their country is perhaps about 20,000 square miles. They appear to be in a much more uncivilised con- dition than most of the Malagasy tribes ; they are divided into a number of petty states which are perpetually at war with each other, and the Hovas have hardly any authority over them. They are distrustful, suspicious, and churlish, and not very hospitable or friendly to strangers ; they are also very superstitious and immoral, purity and chastity being un- known, and in speech and manner they are rough and filthy in the extreme. They have far less dexterity in manu- factures than either the Hovas or the Betsileo, and they are mostly ignorant of the use of money. Mr. Eichardson gives the following graphic picture of a Bara warrior : — " His hair is done up into knobs of fat, wax, and whitening, numbering from ten to one hundred and twenty ; and on the crown is a chignon of the same materials, about the size of, or larger than, a cricket-ball; each knob is impacted against the other, and all have the ring of a hard wax ball. On his forehead or temples he carries his large charm or round shell, about the size of a crown-piece, called a felana. Eound his neck he carries a number of beads of various sizes, and a few small wooden charms. In his ears he will have rings or pieces of wood, sometimes sticking in the lobe of the ear, and sometimes hanging down like ear-drops. Hanging round his neck and resting on his breast, he carries a circular charm about six inches long, covered with innumerable small beads with two or more long ones at the end. The stock of his gun, a flint-lock, obtained from the traders on the coast, is covered with brass-headed nails, varying in number from forty to two hundred and twenty. His spear-heads — for he generally carries two or more — are very bright and well-tempered ; and in the shaft, or where the shaft is inserted in the head, rings of brass are worked in. His belt — which is sometimes six inches broad — and powder-horn, his cartridge-box and tinder- flask, are decorated with brass-headed nails to the number of a hundred and twenty, and each one the size of a shilling, or even a florin. Hanging from the shoulder, and resting on his 128 TAN ALA. right side, he carries his scarf of charms. Eound his loins he wears a few yards of cloth, coloured or plain. Slung on his gun are a pair of sandals, and thus equipped he stands ready for any fight." " What he, tkinlis : Give me my gun, my powder and ball, my spear ; leave me my rum, my wives, my oxen, and my king ; let me rob, plunder, kill, and destroy anything or any- body I please. Let me despoil every man, and carry away any man's cattle, his wives, his children, his slaves, to my heart's content. Let no man molest me ; and then, who cares who governs the country !" (pp. vii. viii.) Neither education nor Christianity has yet obtained much influence among this degraded people, but something is now being done to enlighten the easternmost portion of the B^ra. 4. The Tancila. — To the east of the two last-mentioned tribes runs a line of dense forest, dividing the interior high- lands from the lower maritime plains, and separating the Betsileo and Bara from the east-coast tribes. Here, amongst these almost impenetrable woods, live the Tanala, or forest people, as their name implies {dla, forest). They stretcli over an extent of forest region about 200 miles long, but only a few miles in width, many of their villages being perched upon lofty hills amidst the trees. The northernmost of the people acknowledge the Hova supremacy, and are ruled by an energetic old chieftainess named lovana, who lives at Ambohimanga. Many of the southern Tanala are independent, especially those of the district called Ikongo. The people here have never been conquered by the Hovas, having bravely and successfully resisted them more than once ; their chief town, of the same name, is situated on a lofty and almost inaccessible mountain, about five miles long, and more than a thousand feet high. As there are springs of water at the top of this hill, and also rice-grounds, the inhabitants cannot be overcome by famine ; and the sides of the hill are mostly precipitous, the only ascent being so narrow and difficult that a very few men could secure it against a considerable assaulting force. Another almost equally inaccessible position is Ivohibe, a detached and very lofty conical mountain-fastness. These forest people are BEZANOZANO. 129 very superstitious and addicted to cliarms and ordeals, but they are also most hospitable. Education and Christianity are making some way among lovana's people, and even in unconquered Ikongo teachers have lately been allowed by the Tanala king to settle among his subjects. The Tanala people are probably closely allied with the neighbouring Betsileo and the coast tribes east of them. 5 . Th& Tankdy or Bezdnozdno. — If we follow on the map the line of eastern forest and trace it northwards, we find that it divides into two, leaving a long narrow valley between the separated belts of wood. This open space is known as Ankay (from hay, a clearing), and the inhabitants are variously known as Tankay (or Tak5,y) and Bezanozano (probably from zdnozdno, small trees, brushwood). The climate of their territory is hot and unhealthy, as it is enclosed by dense forest on each side, but the soil is very fertile. A considerable number of the men of this tribe act as bearers of goods from the coast to the interior, being extremely hardy and capable of enduring continuous labour. This work is chiefly carried on in the cooler season of the year. In many of their customs, and in their dexterity in weaving rushes and grass for mats, a material which is also used for clothing, the Tankay resemble the forest and east- coast tribes. They are very hospitable, a trait of character which seems common to all the peo]3les on this side of the island, as well as to the Hovas and Betsileo. In their mar- riage and funeral customs, dialect, and other particulars, the Tankay have many points of similarity with their Sihanaka neighbours farther north. They are darker in colour than the Hovas or the Betsimisaraka, but more robust and strong in body. A very full and interesting monograph on this tribe and their country is given by the Eev. P. G. Peake in No. iv. of the Antananarivo Annual, pp. 31-43. 6. The Sihdnalca. — Proceeding farther northward, still between the two lines of forest, we come to the country of the Sihanaka tribe, or "lake people," as their name implies, the largest lake in Madagascar, the Alaotra, being in the district, and in former times was probably much larger than at present. About two-fifths of Antsihanaka is marsh, while I 130 SIHANAKA. the rest is called hay, a word denoting that which is not forest or marsh, but the low rising-grounds between the two which are free from wood. There is some reason for suppos- ing that these people are allied to the Betsimisaraka tribes of the eastern coast, and that they advanced from the coast to the interior up the valley of the river ]\Ianing6ry (by which the Alaotra communicates with the sea), and then settled on the edges of the plain, as their villages are most numerous around the north-eastern bays of the lake, while there is a large tract of fertile country to the south of them which is almost entirely uninhabited. In the early part of this century the Sihauaka were conquered by the Hovas, after a severe struggle, but for many years they have quietly submitted to Hova authority, and their two chief towns are garrisoned by officers and soldiers from the central province. As may be imagined from its marshy character and its warm climate, Antsihanaka is a very unhealthy part of Madagascar, but it is exceedingly fertile, and most kinds of vegetable produce grow most luxuriantly, sugar-cane and the papyrus {zozdrd) growing to double the height and size they attain in Imerina. The people are largely employed in tend- ing cattle, immense numbers of which find rich pasture in the moist levels. Many of these herds belong to the wealthy people of Antananarivo : one noble is said to have nearly ten thousand cattle ; there are others who have five thou- sand, many own a thousand, and the majority of th© people liave at least one hundred. Many of the Sihanaka also get wealth by catching and selling the abundant fish of the lake and other waters of the district. Until very recently all selling was done by barter, but now money is coming into use. In their rice-culture they do not dig the soil or trans- plant the young rice-plants, as do the other tribes, but drive their oxen over ground upon which water has been allowed to flow, and sow in the soft mud produced by the trampling of the animals. The rice is not stored in pits, as in Imerina, but in immense circular baskets, twenty to thirty feet in diameter, and about eight feet high. These are kept in their compounds or in the fields, and are roofed over. The people SIHANAKA—BETSIMISARAKA. 131 reckon tlieir rice by the number of tliese stores, of wliicli the richer Sihanaka have seven and eight. In one of the villages in the dense papyrus thickets among the marshes to the south of the lake live a strange tribe of people, who seem quite isolated from the other Sihtl- naka, and more barbarous in their habits, and have a distinctly different dialect. In the rainy season, when the water rises, it enters into the houses of these people ; and they put together several layers of zozdro so as to make a kind of raft, so that as the water rises this raft rises with it. Upon these zozoro they make their hearth and beds ; and there they live, rising and falling with the water, until the rainy season is over and they can live on the ground again. There are some curious stories about the simplicity of tliese people and their ancestors ; for they have no intercourse with any one outside their village, except on a certain day, when they go out to sell the fish they have caught. The Sih^-naka are marked by their superstition, love of ornament, intemperance, and laziness. They think it shows a want of respect to visitors if they have no tdaka (rum) to give them. Nothing can be done, either at funerals or festivities, without drinking toaka. But for four years past, the Eev. J. Pearse, with several Hova evangelists, has been living among them, and some progress has been made in education and in the knowledge of Christianity. 7. The Betsimisdraka and other East-Coast Tribes. — If we cross from Antsihanaka over the lower line of forest, we come to the peoples inhabiting the plains of the east coast. These are often all loosely called by Europeans Betsimisaraka, probably because the chief ports with which foreign vessels trade are in the territory of that tribe. But the Betsimisa- raka, although one of the most important of these eastern peoples, and formerly perhaps the most numerous and power- ful of them, are only one of the many tribes found along the eastern coast. From the northern point of Madagascar down to the Bay of Antongil the people appear to be allied to the SM^al^va, but south of that bay come in succession the Bet- simisdralM (of whom there are two chief divisions called respectively Anteva and Voriino), the Betdnimena (a little 132 BETSIMISARAKA—SAKALA VA. more inland), the Taimdro, the Taifdsy, the Taisuka, i\\QTandsy, and the Tandrdy, who reach down towards Caj)e St. Mary, the southernmost point of Madagascar. There are numerous subdivisions of these tribes, as shown in the tabular state- ment appended to this chapter, and possibly there are others not properly included in any of the above-mentioned peoples. Of the east coast inhabitants the Betsimisciraka are the lightest in colour, with straight hair, and have most affinity with the Hovas ; the Taimoro are much darker and have frizzly hair ; the Taifdsy again are lighter coloured than the preceding ; and then the more southerly tribes are mostly dark, like the Taimoro. These coast tribes are, on the whole, gentle and docile people, although some of them made a strenuous resistance to the Hova invasion of their country ; but since their conquest they have submitted quietly to the central government. Among some of these tribes, as the Taifasy and Taisaka, there exists a much higher state of morals than is found among the Malagasy generally. The Arab influence in this part of the country has already been spoken of in the preceding chapter. Among the Betsimisa- raka there has been some little educational and Christian work going on ; but among the more southern tribes hardly anything has been yet done for the people in this direction, the only advance being found in the neighbourhood of the Hova military posts at the chief towns and ports. 8. Tlie Sdkaldva or Western Tribes. — The people who inhabit the whole of the western side of Madagascar, and who also overlap the northern and southern ends of the island, are commonly termed Sakalava, and are often sup- posed to be a single tribe of people. This is, however, a popular error, for the inhabitants of this extensive region consist of a number of separate tribes, all having their own name, and, until about 200 years ago, each having its own government. For more than two centuries the people of the west coast have been divided into two great sections or distinct nations, called respectively the Sakalava of Menabe, or of the south, and the Sakalava of Iboina, or of the north. But these two nations derive the name they bear in common from a small tribe coming originally from the south-west, SAKALAVA CONQUESTS. 133 and living on the banks of a small river called Sakal^va, from •which they took their name. This tribe being endued with a warlike spirit, and led by chiefs of superior ability, invaded the neighbouring territory, and incorporated by suc- cessive conquests the different populations inhabiting the whole western portion of the island. The southern kingdom of Menabe was first formed, and very soon afterwards the northern one of Iboina, both by members of the same family of chiefs, so that the name Sakal^va came to be loosely applied to all the peoples in the west of Madagascar. For more than 170 years these western people were the most powerful in the island. Not only were the coast tribes subdued, but also some of the more inland races ; the Sihanaka, the Bez^nozano, and even the Hovas, who then had little power beyond their own immediate territory. The Sakah\va kings procured European arms and ammunition from foreign traders at the north-western ports ; and there seems ground for believing that the chiefs who commenced the aggressions on the other tribes had European blood in their veins, a fact which has always given some supremacy in Madagascar. Their government was absolute, and the monarchy hereditary ; and there was a class of feudal chiefs holding their land from the sovereign, and forming an order of nobles. But towards the commencement of the present century, the supreme power in both the SMcalkva kingdoms fell into hands much less vigorous and capable than were those by whom they were founded. Meanwhile the Hovas in the centre were rising into power, led by Andrianimpoina and then by his son Eadama I. The yoke of the Sakalava was soon thrown off, and pretexts for the invasion of their territory were found before long. Although his army met with severe loss again and again, as much through disease and famine as in actual fighting, Eadama never for a moment abandoned his purpose. Some of the chief positions were captured, and then policy came to the aid of the Hova king. By marrying the daughter of the SMcalkva king of Mdnab^ he induced him to acknowledge the Hova supremacy ; and as each of the two western kingdoms left their neighbours to fight alone they were conquered in detail; so that in 1824 the greater part 134 SAKALA VA. of the western side of the island -was reduced to Ead^ma's authority. During the reign of his successor, the cruelty of the Hovas caused a portion of the northern Skkalava to place themselves under French protection, and to cede some of their territory to France. The Bourbon Government accordingly took posses- sion of the Island of ISTosibd, and in virtue of their treaty with the Queen of Iboina still lay claim to territory on the mainland. For some years past the Sakalava appear to have quietly acquiesced in Hova domination, although once or twice disturbances have occurred. The Hova authority, however, is slight over a great portion of the western coast, except in the neighbourhood of their chief military posts ; and the tribes in the south-west are virtually independent. Owing partly to this fact, and also to their country being farther removed than that of other tribes from contact with Europeans, we know very little yet about the S^kal^va, and much of their country is still unexplored. They have less settled habits than most of the other tribes in the island, being more a pastoral than an agricultural people ; and they do not use rice for food to anything like the extent common with the people of the central and eastern portions of Mada- gascar, but live on the manioc and other roots. They are extremely superstitious, and have numerous curious customs and beliefs, as will be found detailed in succeeding chapters. Although, as noticed in the preceding chapter, there has been much Arab and Indian intercourse with the people of the north-west coast, the western tribes generally are the least advanced of almost aU the Malagasy races. They have as yet been hardly touched by European civilisation, nor has educa- tion or Christianity made any progress among them ; but as a mission station has lately been formed at Mojanga, it may be hoped that some advance will soon take place. The Nor- wegian missionaries have also a station in the south-west, at a town called Manja. The Sakalava country is much warmer than the central and eastern portions of the island, and it largely consists of extensive plains at only a moderate height above the sea- VAZIMBA. • 135 level. These are, however, intersected by two or three chains of mountains which run in a very straight line north and south ; and there is a good deal of land covered by forest.'" Traces of Aboriginal Pcoiplcs hcfore the Malayan Incursion. — While considering the subject of the ethnology of Mada- gascar there is still one more point of considerable interest in connection with it, about which a few words may here be said. It is frequently asked whether there are any indica- tions of the presence of an aboriginal race, an autochthonous people, inhabiting the country before the arrival of the Malayo-Polynesian tribes — dark and light — who have for so long formed the mass of the population of the island. I be- lieve there are traces of the existence of such earlier inhabi- tants, although our information is scanty, and with regard to some of them, mixed up with something of the marvellous, so that it is rather difficult to disentangle fact from fable. First, with regard to the central province of Imerina, for many hundred years inhabited by the Hovas, — there are numerous indications of the previous occupation of this part of the island by an earlier people called Vazhiiba. The graves of these people (or what are believed to be such) are scattered over the bare downs of many parts of Imerina ; these are small shapeless heaps of stone, and are regarded with superstitious fear by the people. It would be a valu- able help in ascertaining something more definite about these Vazimba could we open the graves, as we do the " barrows " of the Wiltshire downs and the Yorkshire wolds, and examine the contents ; but such a test is at present quite impossible owing to the superstition of the people. Tradition, however, supplies some little information about them, and there seems no reason to doubt that it contains a considerable element of truth. There are so many minute particulars preserved, together with the names of several of their ancient chieftains, and details of their sayings, &c., that it seems likely we have a substantial basis of fact on many points. According to the accounts handed down, the Vazimba * For fuller particulars of the Sakalkva history, see an article by the \^Titer of the above in the Antananarivo Annual, No. iv., pp. 53-65 ; and also Guillain's Documents sur , . . la Fartie Occidcntale de Madogascar. 136 VAZIMBA. were a race of low stature ; they liad heads somewhat naiTow and elongated ; they were ignorant ^-Jilie__use of iron ; and from their inferiority to the incursive Hovas in this respect they were obliged to flee before the superior weapons of their enemies. A remnant of this tribe is said by some French writers to be still existing in the S^kal^va country on the west coast, between the rivers Manambolo and Tshibihina.* With all the other people of that side of the island they were conquered by the chiefs who founded the northern Sakaliiva kingdom of Iboina. It is much to be wished that some com- petent traveller would visit this part of Madagascar to inquire into the habits, dialect, and traditions of the people living there. The names of six of the Vazimba kings are preserved, and the last of these is said to have been driven westwards out of Imerina by the Hova king Andriamanelo. The natives say that the lake Itasy, forty to fifty miles west of the capital, was formed by a Vazimba chieftain, named Eapeto, damming up a river in the vicinity, and so the rice-fields of a neighbouring chief with whom he was at variance were flooded and have ever since remained under water. From these accounts, together with the asserted different physique of these Vazimba, their ignorance of the working of metal, &c., it seems highly probable that there was a race of different origin to the bulk of the present inhabitants, and occupying at least a portion of the centre of the island. Since writing the foregoing I see, from an article on " The Betsileo : Country and People," by Mr. G. A. Shaw, in the Antananarivo Annual, No. iv. p. 5, that Vazimba graves are known also among the people of the southern province. These, however, are not, as in Imerina, heaps of stone, but circles in the grass, where offerings are made to procure the removal of sickness. The same superstitious dread is felt at inadver- tently treading on these graves or circles ; this, it is believed, I)roduces illness which is only to be cured by an offering made at the same grave where the offence had been com- mitted. Then there are also accounts (less easy to be credited) in some of the earlier French writers of another race of people * See Guillain, op. cit. p. 18. KIM OS. 137 in the interior of Madagascar, who were called Kimos or Quimos, and who were said to be of very short stature, averag- ing only three feet six inches in height. Of these people there are no such traces accessible to us as there are of the Vazimba; but the accounts given by Commerson, who was a scientific traveller and botanist, and Count de Modave (Governor at Fort Dauphin, 1768-70), are so circumstantial that it is difficult to believe there could be no residuum of fact on which they were founded. These dwarfish people are said to have been lighter in colour than the majority of the inhabitants of Madagascar, they had woolly hair, very long arms, while the breasts of the women had hardly any prominence except when nursing their children. They are said to have been very bold in defending their own territory against an invader, using the spear and bow ; they excelled in certain handicrafts, and were of in- genious and active disposition, with pastoral habits. A woman of this tribe was in the possession of de Modave, and is de- scribed both by him and by Commerson, in different accounts, as being about three feet seven inches in height, with the physical characteristics enumerated above. The country of this pigmy race is described as being toward the southern centre of the island, on the twenty-second paral- lel of south latitude, and about 1 80 miles north-west from Fort Dauphin. This is a part of the island never yet ex- plored by Europeans, and on the confines of the Bara country. On the whole, one is disposed to conclude that we have here indications of the existence of an aboriginal race of people. Possibly these Ivimos were a race somewhat like the Bush- men of South Africa, who are also short of stature, and of a lighter colour than the tribes surrounding them. Besides the foregoing, we hear vague accounts of another strange race of people in the western part of Madagascar. The Eev. W. E. Cousins gives the following particulars of these in the Antananarivo Annual (1875, p. 106) : — "About a week's journey west of the capital is a tribe called the Kalio or Behdsy. They live in a wooded country extending from Mojanga to Mahabo. Their food is honey, eels, and lemurs. The lemurs are caught in traps and fattened. They 138 BEHOSY. are black, and in appearance are much like the Sakal^va. They make network of cords, hence the name Bdhdsy. They jump from tree to tree like monkeys, and cannot easily be followed, as the country is rocky. They are extremely timid, and if captured, die of fright." From another paper in the same Annual (p. 76) it appears that these people live in the hills called B^mariiha, on the farther side of the great depression which bounds the high region of the central part of the island to the west, and about the nineteenth parallel of south latitude. These Behosy seem to resemble in some of their habits the " monkey-men " of Dourga Strait, New Guinea (see Wood's Natural History of Man, voL ii. p. 224). It is much to be wished that some fuller information could be obtained about these singular people, for they appear to be lower in the scale of humanity than any other of the Malagasy tribes ; and if what we hear is correct, are probably of a different stock to the rest of the inhabitants of Madagascar. It may be remarked, in conclusion, that it unfortunately happens that those portions of the island where these abnormal races — Vazhxibn^ JKimris,^ and Eehp sy — are said to be found, are those which are at present least known to Europeans. But we may hope that as we are becoming better acquainted with the country every year, no very long period wiU. now elapse before these parts of it are explored, and that so fur- ther light will be thrown upon its ethnology. A few remarks may be here made upon the subject of the amount and distribution of the Population of Madagascar. It may be said at the outset that no very accurate in- formation can be obtained on this point. The population is scattered over a great extent of country, large regions of which have never been even crossed by foreigners, much less carefully and minutely examined; and as the authority of the central Hova Government is but slight over a large part of the island, no reliable information as to the popula- tion of the island generally can be procured from this source. Besides this, no census of the kind employed in European countries has been taken, even in the central province where the Hova influence is most powerful; and the Government ■ SMALL POPULATION. 139 has shown some sensitiveness to anything approaching a collection by foreigners of statistics as to population, the birth and death rate, &c. There are, however, some few facts and statistics available from other sources, such as the rough numbering of villages and houses in certain districts, and the observations of travellers in passing through different parts of the island, &c., from which some approximate estimate might be formed ; although, with regard to some tribes, even these aids do not exist, and it becomes more a matter of guess than of calculation. Madagascar as a whole is very thinly peopled, and large tracts of fertile country are wholly uninhabited. Many reasons may be assigned why the population is not large, and, apparently, has not increased:' since it was known to Europeans. Among these are the too-early marriages which are so common, the licentious habits of both sexes, and pro- bably the intermarriage of near relatives, all tending to lessen the fertility of the women, so that large families are rare. Until the treaty made with England by Eadama I. (1820), great numbers of the Malagasy were sold as slayes, and carried away to Mauritius, Bourbon, and other foreign colonies. Then the superstition of the people, causing them to put their children to death if born on certain unlucky days, was a means of keeping down the population in all parts of the island, and still causes the destruction of a fourth of all the children new-born in some of the "tribes. Then the tangdna poison ordeal used to cause great waste of life ; and the people resort to charms for the cure oT^disease, instead of using the most simple medicines. Eor some five or six years past the small-pox has ravaged the coast, passing round from the north-west by the north to the south-east of the island, and has lately caused considerable mortality in some of the central southern provinces. Last year an unusual epidemic of malarial fever passed over the central parts of Madagascar, and occasioned great loss of life. To these causes may be added the frequent wars between the different tribes, and especially the great destruction of human life during the long-continued wars carried on by the Hovas durmg the 140 OPPOSING INFLUENCES. first half of this centurj', to suhdue the other peoples of the island, by which both conquerors and conquered suffered severe loss. Besides all these things, there is the unhealthy climate of a good deal of the coast and plain country, and the poor and insufficiently-nourishing food used by the poorer classes, so that their constitution is not fortified to resist disease ; while in the colder parts of the island the want of warm clothing for the children adds considerably to the mortality of the young during the cooler months. When all these opposing influences are considered, it is not wonderful that in some parts of Madagascar the popula- tion should be apparently decreasing, although, perhaps, this is not true of the country as a whole. But it is certainly not increasing to any extent, and in some provinces is evi- dently considerably less than it was a century ago. In read- • ing Benyowski's Travels, it appears as if much larger bodies of men were called out for war in his time than could be mustered at the present day. But it may be hoped that, as in many of the Polynesian islands, the introduction of Chris- tianity has proved to be the salvation of the inhabitants as peoples (as well as in other ways), and has put a stop to the rapid decrease which in some cases threatened their total extinction at no very remote period — so it will prove to be in Madagascar. In a large part of the island the destruc- tion of life by the tangdna ordeal, and through the belief in unlucky days, has been put an end to, and the increase of intelligence and civilisation, as well as improved morals, will do much to check other causes of mortality. Various estimates of the population have been made at different times. In Ellis's History of Madagascar, published forty years ago, we find the following table : — The Hovas [north central] ...... 750,000 The Sakalavap [west coast], including the Bezanozano ) , _ ^ and the Sihanaka [east and north-east] . • ) ' ' The Betsileo [south central] 1,500,000 The Betanimena and Betsimisaraka [east coast] . . i ,000,000 Total . . 4,450,000 It is also stated that it had been ascertained that there were in the country nearly a million of houses, a little under VARIOUS ESTIMATES. 141 five per house being adopted as the average inmates of each (vol. i. pp. 113, 1 14). But as the Hovas never conquered a considerable portion of the south and west of Madagascar, there could be little reliable information to be obtained about those parts of the country. It is also said that " the amount of the population is evidently less than the island has contained at former and not remote periods of its history." Some Trench "writers have given a considerably lower esti- mate of the population, and from the intercourse which some of these have had with the western coast, some reliance may be placed upon their opinion as regards that portion of the island. M. Barbie du Bocage reckons the entire population at only three millions.* In a paper read before the Anthropological Society of London (March 1868), by Lieut. Oliver, Pt.A., on "The Hovas and other Characteristic Tribes of Madagascar," he gives a number, but says also, " of which it is impossible to obtain accurate information." f I. Hovas . . . Fair . . 800,000 1. Malay origin ? ] ^; it^lSsiSca* '. \ ^^"^^ ^^^^^ ^'5-'°°° (4. Betsileo , . . Brown . 1,500,000 I 5. Antsih^naka . . ) j^ j,^^^^ ^ . , . . , T 1 6. Bezanozano . . j ^ -^ ' 2. Aborigmal? •< 7. Southern tribes and L,,, r.oonoo (8. Sakalkvas . . P^^'^ ' ^'"°°'°°° Total . 5,300,000 This estimate is evidently largely in excess of the facts, as may be seen from an examination of one item. From statis- tics I obtained in the Antsihanaka province, I reckoned that the people there do not probably exceed in number from 40,000 to 45,000, while the Eev. P. Gr. Peake, whose district comprises part of the territory of the Bezanozano tribe, gives 45,900 as their number, an estimate formed on the basis of the Govern- ment taxes on freeholds. Giving a few more to allow for the strangers in the district, these two tribes together amount to less than 100,000, or only a third of Oliver's estimate as given above. It may be added that his division of the different tribes, as regards origin and colour, is very arbitrary, * Madajascar : Possession Frangaise depuis 1642, p. 63. 142 ESTIMATE BY DR. MULLENS. and not borne out by facts, as will be gathered from the statements in the previous chapter. Later still another estimate has been made by the Eev. Dr. Mullens, who made several journeys through the central parts of the island in 1874 and 1875. I I, Betsimisaraka, iiichidin" Silianaka, Tanala, Tankay, ) andIk6ngo . / . . T* . . \ 300,ooo 2. Sakalava, North and South ..... 500,000 \ Hovas and cocrnate tribes, including B§tsileo ) / \?T)'/ \ f 1.700.000 (300,000) and Bara (200,000) ... J Total . . 2,500,000 Probably the truth lies somewhere between this and the three previously-given calculations ; so that until fuller in- formation can be obtained perhaps we may conclude that the population of Madagascar is between three and a half and four millions.""' It is no doubt true that large districts have been almost depopulated within this century by war : on the north-west coast the people having in some parts retired in a body to the neighbouring islands, or gone away to the Comoro group. On the other hand, in some parts of the country there seems a denser population than had been supposed. Thus, in a journey through the south-east provinces in 1876, I found that in the valleys of some of the rivers were a great number of populous villages placed very closely together. And in notes of a journey taken by Mr. Richardson in the following year, he says, " I am inclined to think that the population of the B^ra province has been considerably under- estimated. The two evangelists, who have travelled much in Madagascar, north, east, and west, and Eab^, repeatedly asserted that what they saw gave evidence that there were as * Since writing the foregoing, I find my opinion confirmed in the main by an estimate made by M. Grandidier [Bull, de la Soc. de Oiog., Avr. 1872, p. 378). He says: — "It is impossible to obtain any exact account of tlie amount of the population of IMadagascar. At the same time, I believe that one cannot reckon it at under four millions. The province of Imerina contains nearly a million Hovas, and in the country of their neighbours and allies, the Betsileo, there must be 600,000 inhabitants ; nearly two millions inhabit the east of the island ; as for the Sakalava, Slahafaly, Tandroy, and Bara, they certainly do not reach, altogether, to the number of 500,000 souls." Against tliis last item, see Mr. Richardson's estimate of the Bara only, as given above. POPULOUS DISTRICTS. 143 •many people in tlie Btira province as in Imerina. I feel confident that there are far more people there than in the Betsileo ; and I think that half a million is the lowest figure at which the population of the Bara could be estimated. It may be more." Of four of the Sakalava tribes occupying the south and south-west of the island, M. Grandidier reckons their numbers unitedly as 150,000, This district is, however, one of the least fertile portions of the western coast, and therefore probably thinly peopled compared with the pro- vinces to the north of them. The small province of Angontsy (north-east coast) is given by another French authority as having a population of 9000. The most populous districts in Madagascar are doubtless the central province of Imerina — especially within a circle of about twelve miles round the capital — and some portions of the Betsileo province to the south. In these parts of the country the extensive and fertile rice-plains provide food for tlie large number of populous villages, as well as for the chief towns of the two provinces. There are few large towns in Madagascar. The capital, Antananarivo, is by far the most important place in the country, and has a population of above 100,000 people. Kanarantsoa, the capital of the Betsileo, has about 5000 people. Then comes Tamatave, the chief port of the eastern coast, with 6000 or 7000 inhabitants ; and then Mojangk, holding the same position on the north-west coast, with about 1 4,000 people. There are very few towns besides with a popu- lation of as many as 5000, and the majority of the villages are small. Taking the places we saw in Antsihanaka, and omitting the two chief towns, we found that they averaged about forty-four houses each, but in many parts of the country the number is much smaller than this. In the Betsileo province great numbers of the houses are not gathered together into villages, but are scattered over the plains in groups of from three to six, and forming numberless little homesteads near the rice-fields. 144 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VI. DIAGRAMMATIC TABLE SHOWING THE DIVISIONS OF THE MALAGASY PEOPLE. (FROM NORTH TO SOUTH.) Western Tribes. Tsimih^ty. Bdh6sy ' or KaU6. All loosely termed SAKALAVA, Tankarana (extreme north). Tandrona. Behisotra. Tiboina. Tsimilanja. Timiraha. rimahilaka. Vazimba(?).* Tlmeua. Antanindro. Tifihcrdnana or Zifiman^ly. Andraivola. Yuzo or Mixsikdra. Tandsy Mahafaly (emigrants from S.E. coast). Earambbla. Central Tribes. NORTHERN TANKAY. Zina-tSibanaka. SIHANAKA- MAINTT. Sfanisotra. Manendy. Tsi^randaby. HOVAS. V6niz6ngo. Imkmo. Mirovatana. Tsimabafotsy. Mandiavato. Tsimiamboboliby. Voromabery.f Vakinankaratra. BEZANOZANO TANKAY. Taisaha. BETSILEO. TAN ALA (forest tribes). Menabe. Manandriana. Zafimaniry. Isandra. Itongoarivolava. Iliilangina. Itsitiaroa. Mandr^noz6mina. V6hitr6sa. Ilafarivo. Iliilanginiivo. Avaradrano. Andoharano. lirindriino. BARA. (Many subdivisions, often called after tlie names of their chiefs). Kimo3(?). Tsi^nimbalala. (In many maps a tribe so called is placed S. of tlie Bara, but nothing Ifl known of them). Tsiminambondro. Sotrohazo. Taivondro. Tatsimo. Safma. Tslmanompo. Marohala. Zaflntsira. Taiv6nona. Tais6njo. TANDROY (extreme point south). Eastern Tribes. NORTHERN SAKALAVA. BETSIMISARAKA. Northern B6tsim. BiStsim. proper. Zafin'Ibr.a}iima (on I. of .S. Marie's). B^tinlm^na (a little inland). Antiiva or Anteva. Vorhno. Timbah6aka. TAIMORO. Antaray. TapMana. Zafin'Ibrahima or Antarava. Tatsimatra. Zk&siiTO. Zizaliiva. Mahazoarivo (Sak. colony). TAISAKA. Zinafanilitaa. Taizato. Tonilaza. Zaramanompo. Ranovao. Zazamena. Lohavohitra. Zazavao. Misiinaka. TANOSY. * Supposed aboriginal tribes. t People of the capital and its neighbourhood. Besides the divisions given above, there are six ranks of Audrians or noble clans among the Hovas. Vlna9ftSrodcs.Dz^ASnn. lii^ ( 145 ) CHAPTEE VII. CURIOSITIES OF THE MALAGASY LANGUAGE! WITH NOTES UPON THE "HISTORY," "POETRY," AND "MORALITY" EMBODIED IN NATIVE WORDS. MALAYAN, NOT AFRICAN AFFINITIES — ONENESS OVEU THE ISLAND — MUSI- CALLY SOUNDING — PARALI-ELISM AND BHYTHMICAL STRUCTURE — CURIOUS DEFICIENCIES AND FULNESS — PREFERENCE FOR PASSIVE — DIALECTS — DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COAST AND HOVA FORMS — TABOOED OR "fIdy" words — OBSOLETE WORDS — ADDITIONS FROM FRENCH AND ENGLISH SOURCES — ARABIC INFLUENCE — EXAMPLES OF THE "HISTORY," "poetry," AND "morality" IN MALAGASY WORDS— WORDS INTRODUCED IN RELIGIOUS MATTERS— ONOMATOPOETIC WORDS. The preceding chapters upon the origin, divisions, and char- acteristics of the different tribes inhabiting Madagascar may now be followed by some account of their language, noting a few of those curious features which distinguish it from our western tongues, and especially showing (to borrow terms from Archbishop Trench) how much " history," " poetry," and " morality " is embodied in native words. (Some few parti- culars — it wiU have been observed — have already been noticed in discussing the origin of the Malagasy people.) At the outset we have the remarkable fact that although Madagascar is, comparatively, so near Africa, the speech of its people is not allied to that of any African tribe, and has very few points of connection with the languages of the con- tinent. Malagasy is, therefore, not of African stock, but is a member of the great Malayo-Polynesian family of languages, being, in fact, its most westerly representative. In Easter Island, in the Pacific, we have its farthest eastern limit, so that at the Equator these nearly allied tongues are spoken over an area embracing more than half the circumference of the globe. It seems very extraordinary that the peoples speak- K 146 MALA VAN AFFINITIES. ing languages most nearly allied to Malagasy should be sepa- rated from Madagascar by a wide ocean more than 3000 miles across ; yet such is undoubtedly the fact, for Java, Borneo, Celebes, and the Philippines (in the Tagala tribes), are the islands whose speech is most like that of the Mala- gasy. And a glance at a comparative table of the most commonfy-used words in the Malay Archipelago and in Poly- nesia, shows that there is hardly a dialect which does not con- tain many words common to it and to the language spoken in Madagascar. (Seepages 105 and 116.) The Malay aflfinities of the Malagasy tongue have been recognised by linguists for more than 250 years past ; for the second and fifth books published in Europe about ^lada- gascar (only about a hundred years after its discovery) were vocabularies of these two languages."" And more minute investigation of this subject by subsequent writers, from the learned Eeland, two centuries ago, doT>-n to Marsden, Baron AV. von Humboldt, J. J. Freeman, Latham, Van der Tuuk, and Marre de Marin, has confirmed the early opinion of Dutch and German authors, and made it certain that very close relationships exist between the sjieech of the Malagasy and those of the Malayan and Polynesian regions.t Last, but far from least in importance in giving minute information upon this point, comes one of the missionaries of the London Missionary Society, the Ptev. W. E. Cousins, who, in a paper read before the Philological Society {Trans. 1878), has shown by a careful comparison of Malayan and ]\Ialagasy that not only are a large number of words (at least 300) common to both, but that these words are of a very important cliaracter, being those which are the most simple and universally-needed words in all languages. Among them are the numerals, those for the parts of the body, for the nearest blood relations, for times and seasons and the aspects of nature, for many animals, birds, and plants, and for * Spraak ende woord boek in de Malcische en de Madagaskarsche talcn ; Fred, de Houtman ; Amsterdam : 1603 ; and Colloquia latino -maley tea et madagas- carica ; Goth. Arthusius ; Francfort : 1613. t See Humboldt's Kavji Sprache ; Dritt. Th. 8, 326 ; and H. N. Van der Tuuk's Outlines of a Grammar of the Malagasy Language ; Roy. Asiat. Soc. SIMILARITY WITH MALA VAN ROOTS. 147 many of tlie useful arts, the most common actions, and tlie most necessary articles of daily use. He thus shows that the theory by which Crawfurd sought to account for the pre- sence of the Malay element in Malagasy is utterly inadequate, and that sailors from a small fleet of piratical proas, driven by a storm across the Indian Ocean, could never have so radically influenced the language of the country to which they came as strangers. Not only are there numbers of words in Malagasy derived from Malayan roots, but in the grammar and structure of both there is remarkable similarity, and also in the particles, pronouns, and adverbs, &c. Another curious circumstance connected with the lano-uan-e of Madagascar is its substantial oneness all over the island. It is well known that in many parts of Africa, in New Guinea, and in other regions, the people of neighbouring villages sometimes speak not merely varying dialects, but even totally distinct languages. This fact makes it aU the more remarkable that in a vast island, nearly a thousand miles long, a number of different tribes, often widely sepa- rated from each other, should speak only one language. This, however, is the case ; there are, it is ^trtter a number of dialects, but there are no traces of two or more different languages of distinctly separate stock. Compared with many languages, Malagasy is certainly an easily-learnt tongue. This arises partly from the simplicity of its grammar, and the absence of those inflections which are so perplexing in many languages, there being no changes for number, gender, or person. And it is also due partly to there being no fresh character to learn, as there is in almost all Asiatic tongues. The Malagasy had no written language before Europeans taught them the use of letters, so, of course, the Eoman alphabet is used. Although some sliglit attempts had been made by early Jesuit missionaries to prepare books, to the missionaries of the London Missionary Society " belongs the honour of having introduced the use of letters among the l»Ialagasy people," and of having given " the written form of the language in use among them to the present day. The two men who laid the foundation of this work were David Jones and David Griffiths." 148 MUSICALLY-SOUNDING LANGUAGE. Like the majority of Malay o-Polynesian tongues, Malagasy is a very soft and musically - sounding language, and has been called by some the " Italian of the Southern Hemi- sphere." It has no harsh or guttural sounds, but abounds in vowels and liquids. It is most pleasant therefore to listen to a native orator, especially as in the more formal Malagasy speeches the parts of every sentence are regularly balanced in construction, forming a kind of rhythm very closely resem- bling the parallelism of Hebrew poetry. The arrangement ot the sentences in the poetical books of Scripture is, therefore, quite in accordance with Malagasy usage in public speaking. A large number of hymns for Christian worship have been written during the last eight or ten years, and in these both rhythm and rhyme have been successfully attained, so that many of the classical hymns of England (such as " Eock of Ages," " Hail to the Lord's Anointed," " There is a Land of Pure Delight," &c.) have passed into Malagasy. On first making acquaintance with the Malagasy tongue, one is struck by some singular deficiencies in it ; and chief of these is its having no plural form, either in nouns or verbs, just as if the plural of all our nouns was, as in the word " sheep," the same as the singular. But in other parts of speech it is much fuller than English, as in some of the pronouns, and especially in the adverbs of place, where there is such a series of fine gradations of distance, from the speaker's point of view, together with other minute distinctions, that it is doubtful whether any but a native ever acquires an absolutely correct use of them. And again, in certain subjects there is great fulness, so that there are a number of words to express the different ways in which a bullock's horns are curved, and at least a score to denote the various modes of dressing the hair. On one point at least Malagasy is in great advance of other allied tongues, viz., in the fulness of its numeral system. It is a well-known fact that many peoples have no words for any numbers exceeding those of the fingers of both hands, and some do not even count more than the fingers of one hand ; but in IMalagasy we have a complete numeral system up to a million. This is certainly one proof (among many COAST AND HOVA FORMS. 149 others) of the mental capabilities of the people using it. The word for million is tdpitrisa, literally " the finishing of counting ; " the word for ten thousand is the same as that for night, dlina. The preference for the passive instead of the active form of verb is also a marked feature in Malagasy ; so that instead of saying, " I see it," a native would, nine times out of ten, say, " Seen by me it " {hitalco izy). There is thus, as in Hebrew, the constant use of the suffix pronoun, both with nouns and participles ; and in the terseness and elliptical character of the language it has also several points of analogy with that ancient tongue. Only two or three of the dialects spoken among the numerous tribes of Madagascar have as yet been carefully investigated, but collections of words are now being made and materials gathered for comparison. But there are quite enough differences both in vocabulary and pronunciation to make it difficult for natives from distant portions of the island to understand one another at first, for not only are many of the words themselves different in different places, but the style of speaking and pronunciation also varies very much, the vowel sounds being much more open and broad on the coast than amongst the Hovas. "While there appears at first sight to be at least three clearly-marked groups of dialect, viz., the Hova, or speech of the central province ; the Saka- lava, or dialect of the western side of the island ; and that of the Betsimisaraka and allied tribes on its eastern side, closer examination seems to reduce their number to two, as the two latter have many points of similarity with each other and common differences from the Hova. As the Hova people are the ruling tribe of Madagascar, and all native literature is printed in their dialect, it may be regarded as the normal form of the language, and probably will eventually become the standard of the Malagasy tongue, especially as the Hovas are scattered over a great many military posts in the island, as well as at the ports, and, of course, take with them their books as well as their own style of speaking. It is very interesting to observe that all the coast dialects, in other words, those spoken in the warmer regions of Mada- 1 50 DIALECTIC DIFFERENCES. gascar, are miicli more like the Polynesian languages than is the Hova, spoken in the colder highlands of the interior. Many of the coast words consist entirely of vowels, as in the Pacific Islands, and these doubtless represent the most ancient forms of the words. But the Hovas seem to have a feeling after firmer and stronger sounds than these soft vowel-formed words contain, and so they insert an z in the middle of many, and add the syllables na, lea, or tra to the end of numbers of the two-syllabled words spoken on the coast. Thus, the coast words idlio, iaiidy, dia, ia, become isiVho, i;jah^y, kiza,, and ha. in the Hova dialect ; and vola, fdsy, and dla on the coast, become vdla?2a, f^si/ja, and ^\ddra in the interior. These phonetic changes are doubtless connected with climate, in accordance with some still obscure laws of correlation between temperature and laryngal structure. So much do the Hovas like a firm closing syllable that they add some of the ter- minals abovementioned to English words and names. Thus, " sabre " becomes s^ba^ra, and two of my missionary brethren, named respectively Briggs and Jukes, are always transformed by the ordinary people into Biringitra and Jukitra ! Another case of dialectic difference among the Malagasy tribes is the strange custom, common to all the Polynesian languages, of considering the words forming the names of their chiefs as fddij, or tabooed for common use. Now in all this great group of tongues, proper names consist largely of names of common objects — animals, birds, insects, plants, trees, &c. But if any of these happen to form the name, or part of the name, of the chief of the tribe, it becomes sacred, and must no longer be used for the name of that animal, bird, or tree, &c. To this latter another name is given, often being a descriptive epithet, or a periphrasis for the ordinary name. Thus, the late Queen Pasoherina was known before her acces- sion to the throne in 1868 by the name of Pabodo,'" but on becoming queen she took the name of Pasoherina. Now * It may be well to remark that in pronouncing Malagasy words the a, if accented, is sounded like a in "fother," unaccented, as in "at ;" the e always like e in " fete " ; the i, if accented, like the 1 in "marine," unaccented, as in "in" ; and the is always like o in "move," except in the exclamation. G is always hard, and the other letters have one invariable sound, s being always s, and not like z. The letters c, q, u, w, and x are not employed. TABOOED OR "FADV" WORDS. 151 solidrina was the word used for the silkworm moth, but as soon as it was assumed as t|ie name of the sovereign it could no longer be applied to the insect, which since then has been called zdna-ddndy, "offspring of the silk." So also with a chief in the western part of Imerina who was called Andria- mamba ; mdmba is one of the names of the crocodile, but in their chief's territory his dependants could not call the reptile by that name, but were always scrupulous to use the other word, vody. It is just as if in England we were unable to use all words in which the syllables of the names Victoria, William, or George occurred, and were forbidden to say " victory," "victim," "vixen," or "will," "willing," "wilful," or "geology," "geometry," "geography," &c., &c. What an endless annoyance should we not consider it ; yet this is precisely the case in most parts of the Malayo-Polynesian countries and islands. (t is easy, therefore, to see how very great an influence such ji curious and inconvenient custom must have in altering the speech of different parts of Madagascar, and how changes must be continually going on to further separate one dialect from the other. It is doubtless a very important factor in the dialectic differences which occur in the country. In the Journal of IMr. Hastie, formerly British Eesident at the court of Eadiima I., it is remarked that "the chieftains of the Sakalavas are averse that any name or term should approach in sound either the name of themselves or any part of their family. For similar causes the names of rivers, places, and things have suffered so many changes on the western coast that frequent confusion occurs ; for, after being prohibited by their chieftains from applying any particular terms to the accustomed signification, the natives will not a(;knowledge to have ever known them in their former sense. This practice very much resembles the jealous monopoly of names by the kings and great chiefs of the Pacific Islands." ''^ In glancing over the pages of the Malagasy-English Dic- tionary (printed 1835), one meets with a great number of words which are now obsolete. Many of these were connected with the silddy or divination, and denoted certain arrange- ments of numbers in that curious superstitious practice, which * Tyerman and Bennct's Voyages Round thf World, 2nd edit., p. 276. 153 FRENCH ADDITIONS. was worked something like a game at draughts. Others belonged to idol-worship, and are accordingly, like the idols themselves in the central provinces, a thing of the past, and will soon become, to tlie younger people at least, as much unknown as if they were foreign words. The dictionary of the first missionaries will thus be to succeeding generations a kind of museum, where alone they will find relics of the superstitions of their fathers ; just as the people of many Polynesian groups can now only find in European museums the idols which their ancestors worshipped. But while the language loses in some directions, it is con- stantly gaining in others, from its contact with Europeans, chiefly of the French and English nations. For the last 200 years the French have had considerable influence in Mada- gascar, and during the last sixty years the English have also powerfully affected the language, so that now scores of words • derived from these two sources are naturalised in Malagasy, and form an integral part of the common speech. So that if through some strange catastrophe all other knowledge of the Malagasy people were lost, a complete vocabulary of the pre- sent day would give a large amount of information as to the influence exerted upon them by the two European nations. The existence of a large class of words connected with the arts and appliances of civilised life would be an honourable testimony to what the French had done for civilisation in Madagascar; for we find in Malagasy the words chaise, la table, la bougie, I'armoire, and la clef, cheval, la selle, and la bride, bas, pantalon, epingle, and la mode, du the, cafe, la biere, du vin, and la cuisine, la fenetre, la cloche, la case, la sac, la sole, la vente, and cachet, with many others.'"" But English influence would be no less marked in several directions. In government the Malagasy have adopted our words Prime ]\Iinister, Commander-in-Chief, and Secretary of State ; while almost all the terms denoting grades of rank in the army and words of command are English, showing that * These words are all altered in spelling, and in many the French article is also retained as an integral part of the word, as shown in tlie above list by the article being added to many of them ; thus, la table becomes in ilalagasy spelling latdbalra, la clef is iaklle, while epingle is painrjotra. ENGLISH ADDITIONS. 153 they received from us all they know of military tactics and training. And the presence of such words as brick, square, rule, and many others used in building, and those for various tools, would also show that to English teaching the Malagasy owe the introduction of improved houses by the use of sun- dried brick, as well as instruction in building generally. But the influence of England would be most honourably shown by the fact that almost all the foreign words connected with education and literature are from us, such as school, class, and lesson, pen, copy-book, slate (and even black-board), book, gazette, press, print, and proof, capital, period, and names for all the stops, &c., grammar, geography, and addition, with many others, showing how much they owe to us for their intellectual advancement. And numerous words connected with religious belief and practices would also be lasting memorials that from England they have derived the greatest of all blessings, the knowledge of revealed religion ; for we find naturalised in Malagasy such words as baptism, Bible and Testament, psalm and epistle, angel and apostle, martyr and virgin, patriarch and deacon, evangelist and missionary, demon and devil, and tabernacle, temple, and synagogue ; while the English pronunciation of the name of our blessed Lord (written Jesosy Kraisty) is firmly fixed in the language. All these words will form enduring records of the powerful influence that two western nations have exerted in civilising, enlightening, and Christianising this branch of the Malayo- Polynesian family of peoples. A few ecclesiastical terms are also being introduced by the Eoman Catholic and Anglican missions, but it is doubtful whether many of them will become naturalised like those already noted. And so also with a considerable number of words of Latin and Greek origin which are being taught in connection with the various sciences ; from the difficulty of pronouncing most of these, few of them are likely to come into common use by the mass of the people. While, however, histoiy is now being embodied in the additions made to the language of Madagascar by two far-off" European peoples, the language testifies to a very powerful influence exerted upon it many hundred years ago by one of 154 ARABIC INFLUENCE. the most western Asiatic nations, the Arabs. It is well known that during the Middle Ages these people were great travellers and colonists, spreading far down the eastern coast of Africa and into the interior; and before the tenth century they also sailed across the IMozambique Channel to the Comoro Islands, and then on the shores of Madagascar, both east as well as west. From the time of Flacourt, one of the ablest French commandants in Madagascar (1648-165 5), it has been known that the IMalagasy words for the days and months are of Arabic origin ; this is obvious even to those unac- quainted with the language, from many of them commencing with the Arabic article Al ; as Alatsinainy, Monday ; Ala- robia, Wednesday ; Alkhamady, the first month ; Al^hasaty, the fifth month, &c. The subject has lately received minute investigation by the Eev. L. Dahle, a learned member of the Norwegian Mission, and his researches have brought out many interest- ing facts connected with the language, and thus thrown light upon a remote period as to which no record or tradition gives any information. The number of Arabic words in Malagasy is not very numerous, being, as Mr. Dahle remarks, " more significant by their quality than their quantity," and so forming "instructive historical documents of the Arabic contribution to Malagasy civilisation and superstition." * In chronological, astronomical, and cognate terms, Mr. Dahle shows that the Malagasy words for the days of the week are closely identical with the Arabic words for those days, being, in fact, just the numerals for the first five, while Zom^, Friday, is Dschuma', i.e., " congregation day," the sacred day of the Mohammedans, while Asabotsy, Saturday, is simply the Hebrew Sabbath, slightly altered in its trans- mission through the Arabic. But in the month-names, a still more interesting fact is shown by Mr. Dahle, viz., that the Malagasy Words for these are the Arabic names, not for the months, but for the constellations of the Zodiac. These were doubtless introduced because of their use in divina- tion, for the words for this practice, as well as those for witch- craft, fate, &c., are also shown to be of Arabic origin. Besides * Antananarivo Annual, No. ii., 1876, pp. 75-91. HISTORY EMBODIED IN WORDS. 155 this, it is the custom in some parts of the country to reckon the days of the month, which are all lunar, not by sevens, but to give them separate names from the first to the twenty- eighth. Many of these Mr. Dahle discovered to be the Arabic names, slightly altered, of some of the principal stars in the different constellations of the Zodiac. But it need only be further added here that some terms of salutation, many words for dress, woven fabrics, and bed- ding, the words for money and trading, terms referring to books and writing, and some sixty miscellaneous words, have also been identified as most probably of Arabic introduction. So that to the Arabs the Malagasy owe a considerable element in their language connected with civilisation, and by which they have been raised much above-the semi-barbarous condition of many other branches of the Malayo-Polynesian race ; while they have also received from the Arabs ceitajji superstitions which they have engrafted upon their original charm-worship. But besides the history now being embodied in the lan- guage generally by contact with Europeans, and that powerful influence exerted upon it many centuries ago by the Arabs, there are numerous separate words, in most cases of purely Malagasy origin, in which old customs and states of society are, as it were, fossilised and preserved unaltered up to the present time. A few examples of these may not be uninter- esting. The word for " gateway " is vdvahddy, a compound of vdva, mouth, and Jiddy, fosse ; it is now applied to any gateway, whether there is an enclosing ditch or not, but the word is a memorial of a period, happily now passed away, when every considerable village in Imerina was an independent state, and when every Malagasy house was its owner's castle, enclosed in a deep fosse dug in the hard red clay, and with a rampart of earth inside that, through which a narrow open- ing or mouth, closed in time of war by a huge circular stone, alone gave access to the courtyard. Another common word is also a memorial of the unsettled state of society before there was one central government, the word for " mountain," tendromhdhitra. This means literally 156 CURIOUS CUSTO.V. " point of tlie town," and recalls the time when every elevated point was chosen for a village for security against an enemy. And so throughout the central provinces towns may be seen perched on hills several hundred feet high ; in many cases, although there are no dwellings remaining, the deep fosses in the hard clay, often double and treble and even more in number, show where an ancient fortified town formerly stood. This state of society, when height meant security, is also recalled in a common polite phrase always used by a Mala- gasy when you are approaching his house. A native always says, Miakdra, Tdmpoko4 ! meaning, " Pray, walk in," but literally, " Ascend, sir," although the house or village where he lives may be on level ground. But the old form of salu- tation remains although the circumstances have so much altered. Another word also points back to a more primitive state of society than exists at present. A few years ago, a con- siderable number of stone bridges with circular arches were constructed over the chief streams in the neighbourhood of Antananarivo ; these are all called tetdzana, a word mean- ing literally " stepping-places " or stones, which, as in other countries, was doubtless the earliest and most primitive form of Malagasy bridge. A memorial of a by-gone custom is preserved in the phrase miUla-pdladla, i.e., " to lick the sole " (of the foot). This is often used as an expression of extreme humility, and is not unfrequently employed in native prayers in public, especially by old men, accustomed to antique forms of the language. It is now only a figure of speech, but upon referring to the " Adventures of Eobert Drury," wdio was a slave in Mada- gascar for fifteen years (1702— 17 17), we find him continu- ally having to perform this act of homage to his master, and seeing it performed by others. The names of some of the domestic animals and the most useful plants and fruits now found in Madagascar are proofs of their foreign origin. Thus, the domestic cat is called sdka, probably from the French chat, with the strengthening suffix ka ; it is certainly quite a modern word. But the wild cat, possibly indigenous, is kdry. So also the domesti- FOREIGN ELEMENT IN DOMESTIC NAMES. 1 57 cated swine is Idsda, probably a corruption of the French coclion ; while the wild hog, closely allied to an African spe- cies of potamochcerus or river-hog, is called dmho. The fine humped cattle of the island were probably introduced many centuries ago from Africa, for they are called omby (or ombe), doubtless the same word as the Swahili word for ox, ngombe. One of the most amusing words used as a name for a bird is that for turkey, voron-tsi-loza, which means "the not terrible bird." This name has doubtless arisen in this way : when first seen it excited some fear from its formidable-looking crest and wattles and its gobbling noise ; but it was soon perceived that there was nothing to be afraid of, and so the apprehensions it at first caused being found to be groundless it was called voron-^sz'-loza, "a bird 7iot to be afraid of" after all. So also, the peach, guava, and many other fruits, retain their foreign names, being unknown until the French intro- duced them ; while, on the other hand, the word for the cocoa-nut, voa-wto, is the same as that used in the Pacific Islands, and points back to a very remote period, when the ancestors of the present inhabitants of Madagascar either brought it with them from over the sea, or found it growing in the country, and gave it the name by which they had known it in the far eastern Malayan or Polynesian islands. One of the few words which has been retained in Mala- gasy very nearly in its original form is the widely-spread saldm, the beautiful shalom (peace) of the Hebrew. It is, however, chiefly used in the sense of being in health. Turning from the " history " to the " poetry " embodied in Malagasy words, we find many beautiful examples of this element in language. And first of all, is the native name for the sun, which shines with such unclouded brilliance in Madagascar almost all the year round. It is called mdsodndro, the " eye of day," surely a most poetical term for the glorious orb which is *' Not as in northern climes, obscurely bright, But one unclouded blaze of living light." During more than half the year the sun rises in undimmed splendour, pursuing his course towards the zenith, and then to 158 POETRY EMBODIED IN WORDS.' liis setting, often in a cloudless sky, and so continually loolc^ down upon the world like the eye of every day. From the absence up to a recent period of any clock or watch many native expressions for time are very vague, and it strikes a foreigner as very strange to hear a Malagasy say, even in the forenoon, if one is late, that "evening is the day" Qiariva ny dndro), and even " night is the day " {dlina ny dndro), a figure of speech common in many eastern countries. Then, a river is rdnirdno, " mother of waters," while a capital is renivdhitra, " mother of towns." When the people in the nearly treeless highlands of the interior speak of the inhabitants of the more wooded coast plains, they call them 'ny ambdni-rdvina, i.e., " the (people) under the leaves." And when the whole people are spoken of they are termed ny amhdni-ldnitra, " the (people) under the heaven ; " but when the royal family are excepted, they are termed ny anibdni- dnd7v, "the (people) under the day." In another figurative expression the people at large are termed hdzah-dman-dhitra, " hay and grass," although it is not quite clear whether the comiDarison refers to their numbers, or to the light estimation in which " the masses " were held by former sovereigns. A less ambiguous and very poetical term is the word for glory or honour ; this is vdnindhitra, that is, " the flower of the grass." Many of the grasses in Madagascar are very fine, and it seems possible that their beauty suggested the idea, and perhaps also their transitory character, honour being so dependent in a despotic state of society upon the caprice of the sovereign. In some passages of Scripture, such, for instance, as i Pet. i. 24, where all the glory of man is compared to the flower of the grass, the exact similarity (in the Malagasy version) of the things compared has a curious effect on the ear. From the aspect of the interior country during the dry rainless months, when " the beauty of the grass is as a fading flower," it being brown and parched, and all the rice-fields are bare, comes another descriptive word, the season being called ririnana, that is, the time of being swept off or cleared away. I have often thought, as I have gazed with intense delight FLATTERING TITLES. 1 59 on the great fronds of the fan- palm standing out in bright green against the sky, that the native mind has caught a very- striking feature of the beautiful tree in calling it hc-fela- tdnana, " many palms of the hand," comparing its green fans to enormous hands spread against the blue heavens. As might be supposed, the complimentary terms and phrases in Malagasy are full of poetical figures. The com- parisons iised by the sovereign and addressed to the army, calling them " horns of the kingdom," &c., are mentioned in another chapter; but another phrase used of the people is also very common, and strikes our English ears as very strange. They are frequently styled the mainty moldly, " the black soot," the idea being taken from the long strings of soot which hang from inside the lofty high-pitched roofs of the old- fashioned Hova houses. These were never cleared away, for they were considered as a proof of an old and long-established family having inhabited that house, a kind of patent of respectability ; and thus the word has become equivalent to what is ancient and venerable from age. In the exaggerated and inflated Oriental style of address- ing Malagasy sovereigns they were termed the " defence," the " glory," the " sun," and even the " God," of their subjects ; while these latter were addressed by flattering titles, as the '•' walls of the rice fields," the " great lake " supplying water, the " cloth without difference back or front," " the water level, neither high or low," " the lip (or rim) of a vessel, one all round," and " the guinea-fowl all one colour," &c. The Borizano, or civilians, are complimented as " the spades with long handles to manure well (literally, apply soot to) the earth and the kingdom," " the hoofs to stand firm " (against an enemy), the " stones filling the hands of the people," and as being " the grass called tsiriry to remain upon the land, and not the bird called tsiriry to fly away from it," &c. "While the " Ten ten- thousand men " or Folo-dlin-ddhy, the army, are styled " sharp spears and thick shields," " needles of the kingdom, and wetted thread to bind it together," " horns of the kingdom," and " bolts and covering of the land to keep together what Eadama gathered," &c. The sovereign styles the people, and they also call her, rai-dman-dremj, i.e. l6o MORALITY EMBODIED IN WORDS. " father-and-mother/' an expression continually applied to any friend or protector or superior. Some of the salutations are very poetical. A frequent word of welcome is arahdba, probably derived from the Arabic, and equivalent to the Hebrew rachah, " to be enlarged," a phrase of which we have many examples in Scripture ; as, " Thou hast enlarged me when I was in dis- tress" (Ps. iv. i); see also Gen. ix. 27; Ps. cxix. 32; Isa. ix. 5 ; &c. Then the common farewell is Veldma, " May you live," while to a superior it is proper to say Trardntitra, "May you reach old age." Something may now be said about the " morality " which is embodied in many Malagasy words, a feature of the lan- guage of which there are many striking examples. One of the most curious of these is the word for hypocrisy, fihatsdraniMlatsihy , which means literally " the becoming good by spreading a mat." The meaning of this, at first sight obscure phrase, is seen by remembering that the clay floors of the ordinary Hova houses are covered by the strong and neat mats made by the women. But as the Malagasy are, when untouched by Christianity, by no means as cleanly a people as might be desired, when a mat becomes dirty it is not usually removed, but merely covered over by a cleaner one ; and so the process goes on until often there is a layer of four or five mats rotting on the floor, each one being dirtier than the one next above it. The habit of using the native snufif in the mouth, and rejecting it again in any convenient corner, the underside of the mat being often the most handy place, is an additional contribution to un- cleanliness. When a stranger enters the house fresh mats are spread for him to sit down upon, and all looks nice and clean, but, let no one look underneath, for all sorts of filth may be hidden below ! The house has merely become clean by " spreading a mat." And so the custom has suggested an ethical use of the phrase for conduct which is all clean and proper outside, but is merely a cloak for evil and impurity beneath. Then there are two words connected with the marriage relation, which also are witnesses against some of the evils « THANKING A WIFE." l6i of native society. One of these is the word for polygamy — fumporafesana, from the root rdfy, an adversary. So invari- ably has the taking of more wives than one shown itself to be a fruitful cause of enmity and strife in a household, that this word, whicli means "the making an adversary," is the term always applied to it; and the root- word rafy is just that by which, in the Malagasy Scriptures, Peninnah, Hannah's co-wife, is described (i Sam. i, 6). The different wives are always trying to get an advantage over each other, and to wheedle their husband out of his property ; constant quarrels and jealousy are the result, and polygamy becomes inevitably the causing of strife, " the making an adversary." The other word, that for divorce, is an example of that tendency in human nature to gloss over an evil by calling it by a fine name. When a Malagasy wishes to divorce his wife he has no need to apply to a law tribunal, like the Court of Probate, or indeed to a court of any kmd. He simply takes a piece of money, sends it to his wife before certain wit- nesses with the words, " Misaotra anao alio, Tompolwvavy " (" 1 thank you, madam "), and the thing is done ! The wife has no appeal, and yet this unjust and often cruel act he calls by the fine-sounding name fisaoram-bddy, which is literally "thanking a wife," thanking her, in short, for the past, and dismissing her as if he were doing her a kindness instead of an injustice. Among words which are lilvc a covert satire upon the effusive wordy loyalty so common in Madagascar is the term mdnantsnfa Andriana, which really means " to inquire, implying ignorance " (pretended), an expression which is applied to those long inquiries about the sovereign and her family, and the chief officers of state, which are used upon every possible occasion by military officers of the Hova Government, and by those having business to do with these officials. These comj)limentary inquiries are amusing at first, but become somewhat tedious when repeated over and over again in the course of a journey upon meeting with every petty official. They run somewhat in this way : " Since you our friends are arrived, we ask of you. How is Queen Eanavalona, Sovereign of the land ? How is Piaini- L i63 EXPRESSIVE WORDS. laiarivony, Prime ]\Iinister and Commander-in-Chief? How is Eainimahartivo, Chief Secretary of State ? How is Eala- itsirofo, Chief of the Judges ? How are the Queen's relatives and the Twelve "Wives ? How is the kingdom of Ambohi- manga and Antananarivo ? How are the cannon ? How are the muskets ? How are the Christians in Imerina ? &c., &c. Finally, How are you our friends after your journey ? and how is your fatigue ? " &c., &c. And so the inquiry- drags its wearisome length along ; but it is all mdnantsafa, pretended ignorance, and pretended interest too ! Although slavery in Madagascar seems, and actually is, mild compared with that of many countries, yet, after all, the common word used in speaking of it is an unmistakable proof of the feeling with which it was regarded, at least in former times, when probably it was much more to be dreaded than now. To become a slave is in Malagasy to be very, tliat is, to be "lost," a terrible phrase, which is still retained in ordinary use. Another expressive word, tlrrowing light upon the way in wliich buying and selling is carried on in Madagascar, is that for "bargain," ddivdrotra, literally, "a fought-out sale;" for, as in the East generally, a bargain is a long and tedious busi- ness, the seller beginning by asking many times the sum he is really willing to take, and the buyer offering as little in proportion, until, after an immense amount of haggling and talk, an approximation is gradually made and the purchase effected. The word for "paying" is mandda, exactly the same word as is used for the act of vomiting ! A remark or two upon some of the words used in religious matters may conclude this part of the subject. And first of these is the word employed in speaking of religion itself Throughout Madagascar Christianity is uni- versally known as the fivavdlmna, "the praying;" so com- pletely has the true religion become identified with prayer that when any one becomes a Christian they say of him, much in the same way as was said of one of old when he became a believer in Christ, "Behold, he prayeth !" And then it is interesting to remark how in Malagasy, as in other languages, the Greek, for example, words which WORDS USED IN RELIGION. 163 formerly had a wide and vague signification become specia- lised and limited. Thus the word for church and congrega- tion is fiangonana, which originally meant simply an assembly for any purpose, but is now entirely confined to assemblies for religious worship. So also with the word for pastor, mpitdndrina, which is literally "one taking care of" or superintending, a word formerly applied to any superin- tendent, but now being gradually limited to denote the overseer or pastor of a Christian congregation ; much, in fact, in the same way as the word episcopos was gradually specialised to mean an ecclesiastical overseer, a primitive bishop. And, still in the same line of things, just as by the influence of Christianity and by their use in the ISTew Testa- ment, many Greek words were purified and raised to a higher level, so it has been with many Malagasy words, such as those employed as equivalents for "grace," "faith," "justifica- tion," "righteousness," &c. These have now a fulness and meaning wdiich they never conveyed to the Malagasy in their heathen condition. It is also, perhaps, worthy of remark that many native words have acquired the same double meaning that they have in our own language, one simply referring to physical qualities, asid the other having an ethical significance. As with us, mdloTca, crooked, means also morally crooked, i.e., wicked; mahitsy, upright, means also upright in conduct ; marina, level, is also right and true ; and madio, clean, is also used for moral purity and innocence. Although in such widely-separated countries as England and Madagascar a great deal of difference of course exists in the modes of thinking, it is curious to observe how close a resemblance there often is between the idioms used in each. For instance, we speak of " stealing a march " on any one ; the Malagasy say " stealing a step " (manffdla-dia). We speak of "stealing a look," the Malagasy idiom is precisely the same {mangdla-pijcrij). When overtaken by heavy calamity we say we are " overwhelmed by sorrow," and the Malagasy say they are " flooded in sorrow " (difotr' alahelo). While we speak of youthful people being "in the flower of their age," the Malagasy say they are in " the cream l64 ONOMATOPOETIC WORDS. of it " (lidrotrdrony), just our own expression for tlie best of a thing. We speak of " high-handed " conduct, while the Malagasy say, Such an one " uses his arm " {manao 'sdndry). We speak of " going with the stream," and they say ' follow- ing the flow of water." The language is indeed very full of examples of short terse phrases and adages, proverbial in form, which give great force and point to native speaking ; and an interesting chapter might be written upon Malagasy proverbs as illustrating native habits of thought, and the moral and religious notions of the people. There is a large class of words of the kind called onomato- poetic, like our " whizz," " bang," " crack," &c., where the word is a close imitation of the sound it describes. Thus we find hehy, for laughing ; mihitsibitsika, for whisper ; mitsiky, for a giggling smUe ; dondona, for knocking ; efon^fona, for hard breathing ; ddboddbolca, for splash, together with many others too numerous for further mention. Enough has prol)ably been here said to show that the language of Madagascar offers many features of great interest to the philologist, and that a careful study of its peculiarities throws much light upon the history and character of the people whose mother-tongne it is, and who can employ its musical sounds and poetical idioms with such effect. It has now received a further addition to its capabilities by em- bodying Christian truths, and by being used for the noblest purpose to which human speech can be applied, in the diffusion among the tribes of the great African island of that jUdzanUdra, or " glad tidings," which is for every nation and people and tongue. ( i65 ) CHAPTEE VIII. CURIOSITIES OF MALAGASY NAMES: PERSONAL, TRIBAL, AND GEOGRAPHICAL. LENGTH — NO FAMILY NAMES — PERSONAL PREFIX — DESIGNATION FROM CHIL- DREN — UNPLEASANT NAMES — TABOOED WORDS IN CHIEFS' NAMES — ROYAL NAMES — SAKAlIVA CUSTOMS — CHRISTIAN NAMES — TRIBAL APPELLA- TIONS — PLACE-NAMES — FOREIGN NOMENCLATURE IN COAST GEOGRAPHY. Almost every one unacquainted witH the Malagasy language is struck by the length of many of the names, both of places and people, but especially of the latter. Thus, to a European, there seems an unconscionable length in such names as llavoninahitriniarivo, Eainivoninahitriniony, and Eabodonan- drian-ampoinimerina ! The last but one of these was the name of the former Prime Minister ; the last was the sacred name of the persecuting Queen Eanavalona. But such names are of course compound words, being quite a little sentence in themselves ; and when analysed are seen to con- sist of a number of simple roots of two or three syllables, with a good deal of meaning in them, and often with no little poetry of expression as well. Thus, Ea-vonin'ahitri-ni-arivo is (omitting the Ra, to be explained presently) " the glory of a thousand," the word for " glory " being, as was shown in the previous chapter, literally " the flower of the grass." Then, Eai-ni-v6nin'aliitri-ni-6ny is "the father of the glory of (or, the flower of the grass of) the river," or, in other words, the father of a son named Eavoninahitriniony. And Ea-bodon'- andrian-am-p6in-imerina is " the simple one (or child) of Andrian-am-p6in-imerina," which latter name means " the prince in the heart of Imerina " (the central province). 1 66 NO FA MIL V NA MES. There are, however, a great many Malagasy names which are much shorter and simpler than those given above, such as Easoa, Eavelo, Eaivo, Eabodo, Eanoro, Eavony, Eaziify, Eazay, Eavao, &c. ; and these are also combined in every conceivable way, as Easoav^lo, Eabodosoa, Easoanoro, &c. As among the Eastern nations generally, there are no family names in Madagascar, although there are tribal ones, some- thing in the same way as among the Scottish and Irish clans. And so, as names are comparatively few, it is often puzzling to know " who is who ; " there are so many Eakotos and Eanaivos, Eaivos, and Easoas, as well as Eainisoas, Eaini- kotos, &c., that continually some other appellation has to be added to distinguish persons from others of the same name, such as describing them as son, or brother, of such an one, who is better known, or giving their rank, as Government officials, or their position as deacon, or pastor, or preacher in the church. It is perhaps, after all, not much more puzzling than it is with us to discriminate the various Smiths, Browns, and Joneses of our acquaintance ; nor so much so as in some parts of Wales, where every other person is a Davies or a Griffiths ; or in portions of Scotland, where every one is a Campbell or a Macdonald. It will have been noticed that all the above-given Malagasy names commence with the syllables Ea- or Eaini-. The former is a particle which, added to any word, makes it a proper name. It is also prefixed to other words as a respectful way of addressing people: thus, children, ankizy, are addressed Ean- kizy ; anabavy, sister (of a brother), becomes Eanabavy, &c. The word Andriana, which is literally " prince," is also pre- fixed to other words in the same way to make a proper name, Eavelo becoming Andriambelo, &c. ; while a less respectful mode is by prefixing the particle I, as Ikoto, Inaivo, &c., a form also used for affectionate familiarity. The names of animals, birds, insects, plants, and trees, or the words for any action or object, may be used as a proper name with these prefixes. Thus, two of the lads of noble family who were sent to England by Eadama I. for instruc- tion were Voalavo and Totozy, i.e., Eat and Mouse ; while the DESIGNATION FROM CHILDREN. 167 words for crocodile {inrhiiba), wild-hog (Idmbo), goat {osy), dog (amhda and aliJca), &c., are all to be met with as personal names. The other common prefix, Kaini-, " father of," is commonly taken by men when they have a child born to them. Thus, for instance, a man may have been called all liis life Eakoto, but if he has a chUd, say a girl, who perhaps is named Easoa, he abandons his old name, and is henceforth known as Eaini- soa, or " Father of Soa." Frequently also, although not quite so commonly, the mother of the child takes the name of B^nisoa, " Mother of Soa." There seems to be among the IMalagasy a desire to be remembered rather by their children than by their parents ; something indeed of the feeling of the old Eomans as shown in the saying of the noble matron Cornelia, " Call me not Scipio's daughter, call me the mother of the Gracchi." Occasionally people who are not parents will change their name in this way, especially if they adopt other relatives' children, which is very frequently done. The Malagasy have strong family affections, and consider their brothers' and sisters' children as almost the same as their own, and their uncles and aunts as fathers and mothers, indeed, they call them so constantly, there being no single word equivalent to ours for those relationships. In one tribe of the Andrians, or peojDle of noble birth, the ordinary rule ot fathers calling themselves after their children is not followed ; the clan of ^.ndriam^sinavalona forming in this point an exception to the practice of the Malagasy generally. I had often been surprised in considering that there were in Malagasy many offensive names, such as Eafiringa, " dung- hill," Eabezezika and Eabetay, "much dung," &c. The first of these is an extremely common name, and is that of the present governor of Tamatave, an officer of high rank. On inquiring, however, the reason of this, I was told that it is done from a superstitious idea which some have that a pleasant- sounding name may cause envy; just indeed from the same feeling that makes the people dislike that any one should praise their children for good looks. If yon do this, remark- ing that an infant is pretty, or a fine child, they will reply, " No, it is ugly, or nasty," believing that they thus avert the i68 RESPECT FOR ROYAL NAMES. consequences of the evil eye, wliich is, as is well known, a widely-spread superstition in the East. The idea seems to be that the envy of the evil powers is excited by any openly- expressed praise of human beauty or goodness, and that they will consequently attempt to injure those so praised. In the preceding chapter on the Malagasy language, atten- tion was called to the curious custom wliich the people of Madagascar have of considering as tabooed the words and syllables which form the names of their chiefs and sovereigns, and to the dialectic changes which this custom produces on the language. This sacred character of the sovereign's name accordingly makes it an offence to utter it lightly or carelessly. Instances have occurred at dinners and entertain- ments given to Europeans by Malagasy that the queen's name has been mentioned freely in conversation by the former ; but they have soon been politely requested by their hosts to refrain from its frequent use as highly disrespectful to their sovereign. It is also considered indecorous to use the names of the royal palaces as a comparison of size or height, &c. It should also be added that this respect for a royal name is also extended in a certain degree to the name of every one of any position in society ; for in public speeches and hdbdrys a Malagasy will not mention the name of any one without lirst making an elaborate apology for doing so ; and so also they do in speaking of the dead, avoiding, if possible, mention- ing their exact name, and giving instead a complimentary periphrasis. So that the name' stands for the person it re- presents, and is held to be as worthy of respect, much indeed as " the name " of Jehovah and of the Lord Jesus Christ are in Scripture frequently put for the persons of the Divine Beings, numerous instances of which will occur to every Biblical student. The word " name " is also used by the Malagasy as an equi- valent for position, influence, and fame. Thus, they say of a person who has done nothing to distinguish himself, Tsy manan' andrana izy, " He has no name," nearly equivalent in fact to our phrase, "He has made no name for himself." It has been the custom among the Hovas at least, if not with the other tribes in Madagascar, for the sovereign to take SAKALAVA CUSTOMS. 169 a ne"w name on his or her accession. Thus, the late queen, ■who was named Eahodo, became Easoh^rina, and the present sovereign, who was known as Eamoma, was called Eanavklona II. To these names is added the word manjdTca, i.e., " reign- ing," so as to become almost an integral part of the name ; thus, Easoheri-manjaka, Eanavalo-manjaka, the last syllable of the first name being omitted for euphony. The sacredness attached to the royal names among the Hovas is extended, after the death of the sovereign, to every- tliing connected with their tombs and funeral ceremonies. Thus, they do not say of a king that he has died, but has " retired," niamhoho, literally, " turned his back " upon his subjects, or, has " gone home to lie down," nddimclndry. His corpse is not called faty, the usual word for that of a subject, but ny mdsina, " the sacred " (thing) ; and it is not " buried " {aUvina), but " hidden " {afdnina) ; and his tomb is not a Jdsana, but trano masina, " the sacred house," in which is hidden the silver coffin, which is termed Idkambola, " the silver canoe." Everything, in short, is specialised by a name different from that applied to the same thing in connection with the people generally, whether nobles or otherwise. The S^kalavas along the west coast of Madagascar have a different and very curious custom with regard to the names of their kings. After their death they give them a new name, by which from that time they are always known, it being considered as sacrilegious to speak of them by the name by which they were known while living. Thus, Andrianda- hifotsy, a king of M^nabe, was afterwards called Andrian^ni- narivo, and Eavahiny, a queen of Iboina, was known after her death only as Andriamam^lonarivo. The posthumous names of S^kal^va chieftains almost all ended in the word arivo, " thousand," and with the other portions of the name signified that the deceased monarch was loved by, feared by, or desired by, thousands (of his subjects). This custom appears to have been general among all the tribes of the west and south-west of Madagascar. Since the wide acceptance of Christianity in central Mada- gascar many Scriptural names have been introduced, and some have become quite naturalised among the Malagasy, w ijo CHRISTIAN NAMES. especially tlie names John and Jonah, slightly altered to follow the phonetic character of the orthography ; the former hecoming Eajaonina, and the latter Eajonc\. So also we find Samuel, Daniel, Joseph, Boanerges ( ! ), Japhet, Zechariah, and many others ; and in all these the accent is carried forward a syllable, so that with the name-prefix the words become Easamioela, Eadaniela, Eajosefa, &c. Women's names taken from Scripture are not so common ; but the Latin form ot Mary, Maria, is also a native word, so that it enters into the composition of many names, as Eamariav^lo, &c. A few natives, chiefly elderly people, have had English names given to them at their baptism, which they use prefixed to their native names ; and so we find such combinations as John Eainisoa, David Johns AndrianMo, Joseph Andrianaivorave- lona. But in recent times it has not been considered desir- able to alter native names by any foreign element, at least among the Protestant missions. The Eomish missionaries have given European names to their converts when baptized so that numbers of the saints of the Eoman calendar are represented by their Malagasy protegees. Some of the compound names sound curiously enough : thus, one may find amongst school children, Eamosejof^ra, i.e., Ba, native prefix; niose, corruption of the French monsieur ; and jofera, again a native name ; and also Eamosevazuha, which might be translated, " Mr-monsieur- white-man " (or foreigner) ! Many of the tribal names are very poetical, and remind one of those borne by some of the North American Indian tribes. Thus, we have in the southern-central province, the BdtsiUo, "the many unconquered;" along the eastern coast are the Betsimisdraha., " the many unseparated," standing shoulder to shoulder against an enemy ; in the north-east- central district are the SihanaJca, " the lake people," from the nature of the country they inhabit ; through the dense woods of the south-eastern side of the island are the Tanala, "the forest people ; " while in the extreme north are the AntanJcar- ana, " the rock dwellers," so called from an almost impreg- nable rocky fastness in their territory. Then the central tribe of Hovas are subdivided into many smaller clans. The people in and around the capital city of Antananarivo are TRIBAL APPELLATIONS. 171 called tlie Vdro-mahcry, " the powerful birds," the birds known by that name being a species of large hawk or small eagle, and used as a kind of crest or emblem by the Hova Govern- ment. To the north of these are the Tsimiamhdholdhy, " the men not turning their backs," i.e., on an enemy ; farther north still, at Ambohimiinga, the old capital and sacred town, are the Tsimdhafdtsy, " those not turning pale " (with fear) ; while to the north-east are the Mandiavato, those " treading the rock," standing firm. In the names of two tribes on the eastern coast of Mada- gascar are preserved traces of the Arab settlements made several centuries ago in that part of the island, as already described in the chapter on the Origin and Divisions of the Malagasy people. These are the Zafy Ihrahima, i.e., the grand-children or descendants of Ibrahim or Abraham ; and the Zafy Ramania, or, as some writers give it, Zafy Bahimina, or descendants of Imina, the mother of Mohammed. As already mentioned in the preceding chapter, tlie custom of fddy or tabooing certain words has had in some parts of Madagascar a most unsettling effect upon the nomenclature of places. But this remark does not apply to much of the central and eastern portions of the island ; and in the names of mountains, rivers, districts, and towns there is a field of research as yet unexplored, and which would pro- bably yield some information as to the settlement of the country. A cursory glance over a list of villages shows many parallels to English place-names. Thus, we have Malagasy " Sunnysides " in Ambohibemasoandro, " the place of much sun ; " " Oxfords " in Ampitanomby ; " Holytowns " in Ambohimasina ; " Stonebridges " in Antatezambato ; while very numerous places called Ambohimanjaka and Ambohit- riniandriana are the " Kingstowns " and " Princetowns " of the central provinces, denoting the village of the headman of many small tribes at a time when the country was still divided with numerous petty kingdoms or chieftaincies. Some interest attaches to the name of the largest lake in Madagascar, the Alaotra, a sheet of water of about twenty- five miles long, in the Antsihanaka province. Among the S^kaliva, Alaotra means " ocean " or " sea," so that its name 172 PORTUGUESE ELEMENT IN NOMENCLATURE. denotes the sea-like sheet of ■water. {Cf. the use of BaJir among the Arabs for lakes, in " Sea of Galilee " (or Balir et- Tabiriyeli), and *'Salt Sea" (or Bahr el-Lut\ Alaotra, ac- cording to the Eev. L. Dahle, is possibly the Arabic Al-lutat, " the dashing of the waves," the ocean ; and the Arabs of the Comoro Islands and East Africa are known among the Mala- gasy as the Talaotra, i.e., " those from beyond the ocean." An inspection of a map of Madagascar shows a curious contrast between the nomenclature of the interior and that of the coast-line. The former is purely native, as no European power has ever succeeded in retaining territory for long away from the coast ; but the fringe of names along the sea- line has a considerable European element in it, and throws considerable light upon the successive periods during which tlie Madagascar coast was visited in early times by different European nations, as well as upon the attempts made by some of them to plant colonies in various parts of the island. Besides this, as all surveying and map-making has hitherto been the work of Europeans, and as the naval commanders who gave many of the names of prominent places were usually unacquainted with the Malagasy language, and consequently knew nothing of the native names of headlands, rivers, and bays, they give many of them European names in a very arbitrary fashion, in some cases, however, not the less em- bodying an historical fact or date. Thus, most of the promi- nent capes of Madagascar bear the names of saints — St. Mary, St. Vincent, St. Thomas, and St. Sebastian — showing the reli- gious feeling of the Portuguese, the first European power who discovered the island, which for a considerable period was called by them and others Isola de San Lorenzo, after the saint on whose day it was first seen by Eernando Soares. The traces of the Portuguese are also left in St. Augustine's Pdver and Bay, the shoal of Bonaventura, the Island of Juan de Nova, and the fine harbour of Diego Suarez, at the ex- treme north of Madagascar. We find another memorial of tlie same nation in the name of the chief inlet on the eastern side of the island, Antongil Bay, so called from Antonio Gil, a Portuguese, who first discovered it. Besides the names given above, numerous other saints' names are found in ancient ENGLISH ELEMENT IN NOMENCLA TURE. 173 maps, as St. Justina, St. Eomano, St. Julian, St. Clara, St. Lucia, St. Eoche, and others, but these latter Lave been dis- used by later geographers. The memory of the French occu- pation of Madagascar is retained in the words Fort Dauphin, to the extreme south-east ; the island of St. Marie's, still held by them, on the east coast ; Port Choiseul, Foule Pointe, and Louisbourg. And lastly, an English element in the map, but probably quite unrecognised by the natives, is seen in the names given by Captain Owen and others to various ports and islands ; as William Pitt Bay, Liverpool Point, Port Croker and Point Barrow, and in Barren, Barlow, Crab, Murder, and Grave Islands ; while Owen's surveying ships are both memorialised in " Barracouta " Island and Port "Leven." Some of the foreign names given to places in Madagascar have been strangely altered by the Malagasy, both in sound and spelling, so that one hardly recognises in Toamasina, the native name of Tamatave, the San Tomaso of the Portuguese settlers ; and still less in F^radof^y, the Fort Dauphin of the south, two centuries ago the chief French port and stronghold in the island. In Madagascar, not less than in European and other countries, place-names will doubtless prove on careful exa- mination to be one of the most valuable of ancient his- torical records ; and while we sometimes ask carelessly, " What's in a name ? " it will be seen that in Madagascar, as in other parts of the world, names form, strange as it may seem, more enduring and unmistakable records than tombs and temples, or marble and bronze. ( 174 ) CHAPTEE IX. CURIOUS AND NOTEWORTHY CUSTOMS AMONG THE DIFFERENT TRIBES. EOADS AND TRAVELLING — CANOES AND BOATS — SLAVERY — RANKS OF SOCIETY — HOVAS OR COMMONERS — ANDRIANS OR NOBLES — ROYALTY — OATHS OF ALLEGIANCE — ROYAL PROPERTY — A MALAGASY KABARY — NATIVE ORATORY — OCCUPATIONS AND MODES OF LIVING — HANDICRAFTS. Roads and Travelling. — One of the first things which strikes a stranger upon arriving in Madagascar is the absence of anything like a carriage or wheeled vehicle, and the con- sequent necessity for using nun as bearers of passengers and goods, instead of employing horses or other animals. This arises in part from the conservative feeling of the Mala- gasy, who dislike innovation upon long-established usages, but still more from there being no roads, in our sense of the word, in the island ; so that any wheeled vehicle would be almost useless except for very short distances on the level plains of the coast. The Malagasy, therefore, except people of the upper and wealtliier classes, are accustomed to travel long distances on foot ; and the men who are employed by the Government to take letters and despatches to distant places have wonderful powers of speed and endurance. Some of these have been known to travel from the capital to Tamatave on the east coast, a distance of about 200 miles, in four days ; this journey, it must be remembered, being performed not over a smooth and level road like an English turnpike, but over rough and rocky hills, long descents slippery with mud, rapid streams without bridges, dense forest, and deep sloughs through which it is impossible to move rapidly. The endurance of most of the bearers also is no less remarkable. These are mostly young men who THE FILANJANA. 175 tegin to carry their master's cliildren while they are still mere lads. Thus they get inured to such work almost from childhood, and although there are few middle-aged men who can keep up the 'pace necessary for carrying people, yet many retain strength and endurance enough for carrying burdens until they are quite old and grey-headed. The national carriage of Madagascar is the filanjdna, 01 iakon, as it is called on some parts of the coast. This con- sists of a couple of light poles of tough wood about seven feet long, and kept together by iron rods with nuts and screws ; on the hindmost of these and from the poles is fixed an iron-framed seat, covered with leather and stufied, having a back against which one can lean. To this many add a piece of wood suspended by strajDS as a foot-rest, and leather pockets at the side and back for carrying small articles. There is no cover, but a stout sun-shade is strapped to one pole and a piece of waterproof sheeting, as an apron for wet weather, to the other; and thus equipped, one is prepared to explore Madagascar from north to south and from east to west ; and in such a conveyance has the writer travelled many, many hundreds of miles, either in the regular visitation of his district or in making extensive journeys in various direc- tions from the central province. The filanjdna just described is a gentleman's palanquin ; the one used by ladies is usually a kind of oblong basket made of platted sheep-skin, and borne on poles of the light and strong mid-rib of the extremely long leaf of the rofia palm. For long journeys these are usually fitted with a covering of strong cloth on a light iron framework, often with mosquito netting to keep out the various insect plagues which are occasionally met with. Both kinds of ]Dalanquiu are carried in the same way, by four stout bearers, or, as they are called, mdromita, a word which means " many fordings." Every few minutes they change the pole from one shoulder to the other, keeping up a short trot at a pace, on tolerably level ground, of about six miles an hour ; and when the men are properly trained, the motion is much more smooth and pleasant than might be supposed possible. If taking a journey beyond an hour's duration, it is usual to have six 176 PALANQUIN BEARERS. men, tlie extra two relieving the others every few minutes ; but if out for a longer time, or for a day's journey, eight men are employed, so as to have a double set, who relieve each other at frequent intervals. This they do without stopping, the " leaders " running under the poles, and taking them from their companions while going at full speed. From six to seven hours is an ordinary day's journey, although the bearers will frequently go eight or nine hours without much apparent inconvenience ; and a good set of men will continue at such work pretty nearly every day throughout a journey which may take two or three or four months. The pay for each man is about 6d. a day, with 2d. for food ; but although this seems small for each bearer, one is obliged to take so many men in addition to carry necessary articles that one cannot undertake a long journey without at least eight to a dozen men in addition to the personal bearers. There are no hotels in Madagascar, and so bed and beddinsc must be taken ; in many parts of the country there are no inhabitants, so a tent must be carried ; and although rice and fowls are generally to be obtained everywhere, yet tea and coffee, bread and flour, preserved meats, and other pro- visions are a very desirable addition to the produce of the country. And of course, in addition to all these, plates and dishes and cooldng apparatus, necessary change of clothes, books for distribution, &c., all help to swell the list of articles to be carried about with one on a journey of any extent. The bearers of lufTf^aire have no change with others. Light packages are borne by a man on a pole, the weight at each end balancing the other; while boxes and heavier articles are borne by two men, or more, according to their bulk and weight. And so, with a company of a score of men, more or less, long journeys of several weeks in duration are continually being made ; and, as a rule, these Malagasy bearers are good tempered and wUling, easily managed by a little tact and kindness, and made happy after any extraordinary exertion by a gift of some beef, over which they make iierry as they surround their cooking fires in the evening, and soon forget the toils of the day's march in feasting and jollity. The PEGU PONIES. 177 luggage bearers are looked upon as somewhat inferior to those who carry people, for these latter have to be more agile and active, to go at a greater speed, and the whole set must be able to keep step and pace well with each other. In many of the luggage bearers, especially those belonging to the tribe called Bcz^nozano, who are constantly carrying burdens to and from the coast, a curious bunch or callosity may be observed on the shoulders, a provision of nature by which a sort of natural cushion is gradually formed, protect- ing the collar-bone from any concussion, and the skin from abrasion. Animals are, however, used to some extent for riding by the Malagasy. Oxen are often saddled and bridled, and having had their horns and tails cut short, are ridden at a short shuffling pace often as fast as a horse can canter. And during the last few years a considerable number of horses have been imported into the country. Many of these are Pegu ponies, which are hardy and sure-footed, soon adapting themselves to the rough paths and rocky ascents, up and down which they must often climb, more like a goat than a horse. Many of the natives are bold and daring riders, and about three years ago the Queen gave orders that all officers above a certain rank must be on horseback when escorting her in public, so that a great impetus was given to the practice of horse-riding. Only twice have I seen a wheeled vehicle in Madagascar; one of these was a small carriage belonging to the Queen, but which was carried by men, instead of being drawn by horses ; and the other was an English cart, drawn by a yoke of oxen, one of a small num- ber lately introduced by foreign traders, and used to convey produce along the grassy plains of the eastern coast. Canoes and Boats. — One of ,the Hova kings of the old time, Andriaman^lo, has, according to tradition, the credit of having introduced the use of canoes. Those employed in the rivers and lakes of Madagascar are hollowed out of the trunk of a tree, a kind called varongy {Calophyllum inophyllum) being chiefly employed. The largest are about forty feet long, with a breadth and depth of nearly three feet. They are propelled with paddles, either of a spade shape or in that of M 178 CANOES AND BOATS. a spoon. These are dug into the water, the paddler sitting with his face to the head of the canoe. With three or four paddles and on smooth water these long canoes can be urged through the water with great speed, but as they have no keel they require careful ballasting. Very small canoes are used in the narrow channels along the sides of the rice-fields to convey the sheaves to the threshing-floors on the neighbouring hi. i6. SACRED OX. 271 made about the latter animals, ordering their removal to a distance of several miles from the capital city, and some tribes and families will not eat their flesh, considering it imclean. The most valuable and plentiful of all the animals found in Madagascar, the large-humped hvffalo, has some curious legendary history connected with it. A king called Ealambo, the eleventh on the list of Hova sovereigns, is held in memory as the first who ventured to use it as food. It is said that before his time it was called ya?n.o^(a!, a word which is still in use as an adjective, meaning " gentle, easy, not harsh." But since then it has been called oniby. This name is said in the story to be derived from the circumstance that Ealambo said, " Oriiby, omhy ! " (" Enough, enough ! "), when the folds were filled with cattle. But it looks very much as if the story were invented to account for the word, wliich is most likely the same as the Swahili njomM. It has been conjectured that before Ealambo's time the ox had retained (in that part of Madagascar, at least) the semi-sacred character which it still bears among many nations, as with certain Himalayan tribes, the Veddahs of Ceylon, the Kaffirs, and some peoples in the valley of the White Nile. The correctness of this supposition is confirmed by the fact that amongst several Malagasy tribes the office of killing an ox is one which belongs only to the chief, who was, it must be remembered, a sort of high priest among his people. Thus, Drury says, " Few in this part of the island [south-west provinces] will eat any beef unless it is killed by one descended from a race of kings. My master and his brother, to execute these high ofiices were sometimes obliged to go five or six miles to kill an ox." Among the Taimoro people, on the south-east coast, the writer found the same custom to prevail. At a large village called Ambotaka we were told that no bird or animal must be killed for food except by some one belonging to the family of the king. A relic of this custom still remains among the Hovas, for at the Fandroana, or New Year's festival, the fattened oxen to be killed are driven into the royal courtyard to be blessed by the sovereign. An ox without blemish is killed, and the hump being cut off is brought to the sovereign to be tasted, as a 272 SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS. sort of first-fruits. After this the people take their cattle home and kill them. Connected with this doubtless is the fact that in many Malagasy tribes they do not kill oxen, although they have them in great abundance, unless at funerals or other very important occasions. The Sakalavas of Menab^ never kill a red bullock for food except in case of absolute necessity, and then it is not slaughtered in the ordinary manner, but Trith all the forms made use of when sacrificing animals. A tribe in the Angtivo valley are said to eat none of the flesh, but only the blood, of the oxen they kill. In former times the Betsileo killed oxen only at reaping times, while the Tanala kill chiefly at planting time ; but on these occasions there is evidently some religious significance in this bullock killing. The Tanala offer a great deal of the flesh upon altars in their fields. Another noteworthy circumstance connected with the ox is that the rump is the royal share of every ox killed. As Dr. Davidson has pointed out, " The very name anatomists give to this part is suggestive. It is called the sacrum, or sacred part — the part devoted to the gods in Greece and Eome. But tracing tliis up to a higher source, we find that in the Levitical law, this part was specially directed to be offered " (Lev. iii. 6-i i) ; see Sunday Magazine, 1873, p. 674. It is also worth notice that the same part of a fowl {vbdi- ahbho) is the proper portion to be given by children or in- feriors to their parents or superiors ; while the same portion of a sheep is what is given by a man to the father and mother of the girl whom he marries. This is now always a money present, but it retains the original name, vbdi-bndry, and makes a marriage legal and binding. These three animals, it may also be observed, are those esteemed by the Malagasy as proper to be sacrificed. These sacrifices were sometimes holocausts, but more frequently what are called meat-offerings in the Mosaic law, being feasted upon by the offerers ; while the blood and fat, as representing the life and the best part of the animal, were alone offered. These portions of the victim were smeared upon the upright stones of the tombs as offerings to the ancestors, and also upon other sacred stones and places. BUFFALO TYPICAL OF MAJESTY. 273 Mr. Eichardson says that the following curious notion in connection with oxen exists in some parts of the country : — " The top of a large ant-hill is frequently taken off and thrown at the rump of an ox that persists in returning to the town where it has been bought, and it is a belief firmly held by the cattle dealers that the animal will never return to its former owner after the operation." The buffalo, being by far the largest and most powerful land animal known to the Malagasy, is continually used in their poetical and figurative language as the emblem and embodiment of strength and majesty, much as the bull was employed by the ancient Assyrians, and the lion by Western Asiatic and European nations. Thus, the kings were saluted as Omhelahy, " bulls ; " and the same expression frequently occurs in forms of benediction at the circumcision and other festivities. In some tribes the chief is saluted as £ih7/, a word usually meaning " animal " or " living creature," but probably intended as a figurative way of saying that he possesses all the power of the noblest animal forms. Bull-fighting was formerly a favourite Malagasy amusement, and numerous charms were used to make a favourite animal victorious.""" In the rejoicings connected with the ceremonies at the circumcision the ox has a prominent place. In the songs which are sung the animal is called by a special name, Vbrihangy, instead of the common name, bniby. And every portion of the animal is apportioned to a particular person ; every one taking part in the slaughter of the ox having his proper share, as well as the old, the newly-delivered, the visitors, &c. This song is a kind of chant, with a chorus which is repeated at the end of every line, while the name of the ox (vbrihctngy) is also repeated in every stanza. Thus, leaving out the repetitions, the 'horns, the hoofs, the tongue, the ears and eyes of the animal, are each celebrated as having their special office ; while the brain is the share of the newly-delivered, the head to the beater of the drum, the neck to the owner of the axe, the hump to the children * In digging out the foundations for a new palace gateway, a few years ago, the remains of one of the former Queen's fij^hting bulls were discovered, cai-e- f ully wrapped up iu a red Ikinba. 274 BIRDS. undergoing the ceremony, the shoulder to the fetchers of the sacred water employed, the sirloin to the circumcisers, the breast to the visitors, the ribs to make bodkins for parting the hair, the dewlap to the blowers of the conch shells, and so on, until every part of the creature has been appropriated, and all concerned in the ceremonies or the killing have had their proper share of the meat. Another ancient saying as to the uses of the ox thus apportions the different parts of the animal : " Its horns to the maker of spoons, its teeth to the plaiters of straw, its ears to make medicine for a rash, its hump to make fat, its rump to the sovereign, its feet to the oil-maker, its spleen to the old men, its liver to the old women, its lights to fathers and mothers-in-law, its tripe to the owner of the rope, its neck to the owner of the axe, its haunch to the herald, its tail to the weaver, its suet to the soap-maker, its hide to the drum-maker, its head to the chief orator, its eyes to make beads, its hoofs to the gun-maker," &c. Birds. — Turning from the quadrupeds to the hirds, it has already been remarked that owls were considered of ill-omen ; and no one who has heard the unearthly screech of some of the Madagascar owls can wonder that they should be held in disfavour by a superstitious people. Their name, vbrondblo, means "spirit-bird," and they are popularly supposed to be embodiments of the departed spirits of evil men. But there is another bird which is also looked upon with dread should it fly across the path a person is taking. This is the Tiikatra, a bird which builds a very large nest resembling an immense heap of hay or grass when viewed from below. No business of importance would be undertaken by a Hova in former times were his path crossed by one of these birds ; and if it crossed the path before the chief idols these were obliged to return to their houses. It was also believed that any one destroying the nest of the takatra would be seized with leprosy. Among the Tan^la people the diviners foretell events " by means of good and bad birds, according to their notes, or the way they take in flying, and they profess to know whether they bring good or evil. They look upon the kite as being a FABULOUS ANIMALS. 275 bird of miicli evil omen. Should its droppings fall upon the head of any one, he is watched as sure to die ; the people mourn for him and kill oxen to ward off the impending death." ^'" Then again, the laying by a fowl of an unusually large ^g^ is regarded as ominous either of some extraordinary good or evil, while an unusually small ^g