Amongst the magnificent mango-trees in the park are many specimens of the baobab-tree (_Adansonia madagascariensis_); one of these must be from seventy to eighty feet in girth. The trunks of these trees are of enormous size compared with the small expanse of the branches; and their glossy dark brown bark, their rapid tapering upwards, and their bareness of foliage for the greater part of the year, mark them very distinctly from all others. They are curious in appearance, but not at all beautiful. The bark is used to make rope, and the sap is said to be potable and tasteless; the wood, however, is so soft that it can be pulled away by the fingers. Many trees affording beautiful and valuable timber are found in these western woods; among these is one yielding the kind called by cabinet-makers “zebra-wood,” while ebony is obtained from one or more of the twenty-two species of _Diospyros_ known in the island. We have seen the mangrove (_Rhizophora mucronata_) on the shores of Bèmbatòka Bay, and this tree is found at the mouths of almost all the rivers and inlets on the north-western coast, where it is the most prominent feature in the extensive swamps, probably also helping to extend the land. [Sidenote: FISHING EAGLES] We had no opportunity of seeing the largest of the Madagascar birds, the _Ankoày_, or fishing eagle (_Haliaetus vociferoides_), although it is found all along the western coast. It is a large and handsome bird, and is said to keep watch on a tree or cliff at the edge of the water, swooping down like lightning into the sea after its finny prey, and being able to arrest instantaneously its downward flight. M. Grandidier says that a single pair of these eagles is found in very many of the innumerable small bays of the north-western coast, and of this they take exclusive possession, allowing no other eagle to encroach on their own preserves. They feed principally on fish, catching adroitly those which appear near the surface. The name of _Ankoày_ applied to this bird appears to be an imitative one derived from its cry of _hoai, hoai_. It is doubtful whether there is another eagle really indigenous to Madagascar, although a harrier-eagle (_Eutriorchis_) was once shot in the Mangòro valley; if this was not a chance immigrant, it must be extremely rare. This one example was remarkable for the extreme shortness of its wings, and immoderate length of tail. [Sidenote: TURTLES]