The rice-fields in this flat swampy district have a very different appearance to those in Imèrina or Bétsiléo; they are like immense pits, in some places dug out to some depth in the sides of the low elevations. The people do not transplant their rice, as do those of the central provinces, but reap it where it has been sown. We continually came across traces of volcanic action; ancient streams of lava, conical-shaped hills and, on the coast, reefs of basalt rock, gradually being broken up by the action of the waves. All this showed that the great groups of extinct volcanoes in the central provinces had their counterpart in these southern regions of the island. Another interesting fact was, that we found unmistakable signs also of Secondary rocks here on the coast, in stratified sandstone tilted up at a very high angle. [Sidenote: A MILITARY ESCORT] A day and a half’s journey from Vangàindràno brought us to another Hova military post, a town called Ankàrana, which is situated on a ridge about four hundred feet above the general level of the surrounding country, forming a striking feature in the landscape. Ascending a slippery and steep road in the red clay, I found myself at one o’clock on the top of the ridge and close to the stockaded _ròva_, or Hova fort, a much larger place than I had expected to see, as hardly anything of the town could be seen from below. Mr Street, being ill with fever, had gone on before, while I brought up the rear. Coming to the gate of the stockade, my men were about to take me in at once, but the people near requested me to stop, as the officers were coming out to escort me in. This I rather unwillingly did, as a very heavy shower came on just then. Presently the rolling of drums announced their approach. First came a file of soldiers, then a number of officers, then the lieutenant-governor in palanquin, and then the governor in ditto, a little active old man in regimental red coat and cocked hat. They all came forward and shook hands, and evidently it was intended that the queen should be saluted and polite speeches made; but the rain pelted down so furiously just then that they thought better of it, and we made our way through the double stockade into the Hova town with its lines of houses, and then into an inner stockade enclosing the government house and flagstaff and several large houses. We took shelter under the raised verandah of one of these, while a dozen unfortunate individuals, soldiers and petty officers, had to stand out in the pouring rain and “present arms,” “support arms,” etc., and then, of course, came inquiries after the queen and the great people at their capital.