Then there was the elaborate system of rice cultivation, far surpassing anything that can be seen in Imèrina. This was noticeable after four days’ journey, but it appeared to be carried to the highest point of perfection in the wide valley south of Ambòsitra. Not only are the valleys and hollows terraced, as in Imèrina—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 for a great height. It was a pleasant sight to see, speaking of industry and skill and practical knowledge of hydrostatics; for how water could be brought to some of the lower elevations surrounded by lower ground was more than we could discover. Many of these were terraced up to their highest point, the narrow lines of rice-plot running round them in concentric circles, so that there was not a square yard of ground left unproductive. [Sidenote: ORNAMENTAL TOMBS] The third particular in which the Bétsiléo country differs—although the _past_ tense would be now more appropriate—from Imèrina is in the variety and ornamental character of the tombs and other memorials of the dead. Leaving out of consideration the modern stone tombs erected in the vicinity of the capital, it is a remarkable fact that there is no native Hova style of carving or ornamentation. Neither in their dwellings nor their tombs, neither in their household utensils nor their weapons, does there ever seem to have existed among the natives of Imèrina anything like indigenous art. But in Bétsiléo there is carving both in the houses and the tombs; the central posts of the former are elaborately ornamented, and also portions of the exterior woodwork; and the curious massive timber posts, with framework for holding the skulls and horns of bullocks killed at funerals, have a variety of decoration which is well worthy of study. [Illustration: HIDE-BEARERS RESTING BY THE ROADSIDE Ambàtovòry rock and wood are in the distance] [Illustration: BÉTSILÉO TOMBS WITH THE HORNS OF OXEN KILLED AT THE FUNERAL]