But to return to our journey, we landed at the foot of the hill on which Ambòhitsòa, a village of about eighty houses, is built, and mounted to the top by a steep pathway. Here a most extensive and lovely view presented itself, I think _the_ most beautiful of its kind I had ever seen in Madagascar. The lake lay before us, stretching far away to the southward in a great rounded curve, and with its indented bays and island fastness to the northward. The changing shades of purple and blue of the water; the green of the plain beyond; and the varied outline of hills and mountains in the far background to west and north—all lit up by bright sunshine—made as charming a picture as an artist could desire to transfer to canvas. But we had little time to spare, and so after hastily taking bearings we went to Màrosalàzana, the next village to the south, which we could see on a high hill at three or four miles’ distance. On entering the village, a place with about sixty houses, we found a crowd of about four hundred people waiting to receive us. These were not all inhabitants of the place, for many of them had come from Ambòhitsòa to meet us. After a formal reception by the authorities we found the school-children assembled on an open raised space in the centre of the village, a group of nearly a hundred altogether, dressed in their best. Many of the girls had a peculiar kind of collar to their dress, consisting of seven or eight massive silver chains of different patterns; they also wore armlets of silver. Many of these children and young people had most intelligent and pleasant faces. We heard them read, and then I was delighted to find they knew the smaller catechism well. I talked to them a little about it, and then addressed a few words to the numbers of people crowded round the children, speaking to them of the great love of God in sending His Son. It was an interesting scene, and one we did not soon forget: the bright intelligent group of children in the centre; the crowd of wondering Sihànaka on each side; the little knots of women in their dark blue dresses and silver ornaments; and the lovely scene around us—all made a picture attractive in its outward aspects, but still more interesting when one thought of these people as seemingly prepared to welcome a fuller teaching than they had yet received.