[20] It is a significant fact that the Malagasy word for “glory,” “honour,” is _vòninàhitra_, which, literally translated, is “flower of the grass.” Did this expression arise from the native admiration of some of these beautiful grasses, similar to that which so excited Dr Mullens’ delight when travelling in this country. CHAPTER XVI LAKE ITÀSY Madagascar is not at present one of those regions of the earth where volcanic disturbances occur; but there is ample evidence, from the numerous extinct craters found in various parts of the island, that at a very recent period, geologically considered—possibly even within the occupation of the country by its present inhabitants—it was the theatre of very extensive outbursts of subterranean energy. The whole island has not yet been examined with sufficient minuteness to determine the exact extent of these old volcanoes, but they have been observed from near the south-east coast in South Latitude 28°, and in various parts of the centre of the island up to the north-west and extreme north, a distance of six hundred and eighty miles; and probably a more complete survey would reveal other links connecting more closely what is, as at present known, only a series of isolated groups of extinct craters. In the central provinces of Madagascar there are two large clusters of old volcanic cones and vents: one of them in about the same latitude as the capital (19° South), but from fifty to seventy miles away to the west of it, in the neighbourhood of Lake Itàsy; the other in the district called Vàkinankàratra, situated about eighty miles to the south-south-west of Antanànarìvo, and south-west of the great central mountain mass of Ankàratra. This second volcanic region stretches from twenty to thirty miles from Antsìrabé away west to Bétàfo and beyond it, and contains numerous and prominent extinct craters, some of which have been described by the graphic pen of the late Dr Mullens in his “Twelve Months in Madagascar” (pp. 214-219). The doctor says that he counted in this southern group about sixty cones and craters. [Sidenote: A MAGNIFICENT VIEW]