That there was great need for enlightenment may be seen from what we heard from the people themselves—viz. that there are (or were) eight unlucky days in every month, and that children born on those days were killed by their being held with their faces immersed in water in the winnowing-fan. So that on an average, more than a quarter of the children born were destroyed! The Tanàla names for the months are all different from those used in Imèrina; they have no names for the weekdays, and indeed no division of time by sevens, but the days throughout each month (lunar) are known by twelve names, some applied to two days and others to three days consecutively, and these day names are nearly all identical with the Hova names for the months. Each of the days throughout the month has its _fàdy_, or food which must not be eaten when travelling on that day. After our four days’ stay at Ivòhitròsa, we managed to get on our way towards the coast, not, however, without having considerable difficulty with our bearers, who were afraid of any new and hitherto untried route, for we were the first Europeans to travel in this direction. By tact and firmness we managed to secure our point; and on the Thursday afternoon we came down to the river Màtitànana, which is at this point a very fine broad stream, with a rapid and deep current. It flows here through a nearly straight valley for four or five miles in a southerly direction, with low bamboo-covered hills on either side, and its channel much broken by rocky islands. To cross this stream, about a hundred yards wide at this place, no canoes were available, but there was a bamboo raft called a _zàhitra_. [Sidenote: THE ZÀHITRA]