One of the most conspicuous trees on this coast, especially as seen from the sea, is the _Filào_ (_Casuarina equisetifolia_), a tall larch or fir-like tree, often called, from the colour of its wood, “the beefwood tree.” Like the firs, its leaves are fine filaments, and the wind passing through these produces a peculiar gentle sighing noise. Very plentiful, too, is a much smaller tree bearing a perfectly globular-shaped fruit as large as a good-sized orange, but having a hard shell which requires a smart blow to crack. It contains a greyish pulp, and a number of large black seeds; and although by no means equal to an orange in taste, its acid flavour was refreshing enough where one was thirsty and heated with the midday sun. A friend of mine remarks: “As they are rather more difficult to eat in a cleanly and dainty fashion than ripe mangoes, we smeared ourselves pretty considerably in the process.” While the pulp is edible, the seeds are poisonous, and we need not wonder at that when we find that the tree is closely allied to the _Strychnos nux-vomica_. Its native name is _Vòavòntaka_ (_Brehmia spinosa_); _vòa_ is the general word for “fruit,” and enters into the composition of more than two hundred Malagasy names of trees, plants and fruits. A species of _Hibiscus_ is widely spread along the coast, and yields a valuable fibre. The natives say that its flowers are yellow in the morning and red in the evening. Other noticeable flowering shrubs here are a species of _Stephanotis_, with lovely large white flowers, and an _Ipomæa_, which straggles far and wide on the sand of the seashore. Along the sides of the lagoons and marshes in scattered places may be found the curious pitcher-plant (_Nepenthes madagascariensis_); this is a shrub about four feet high, whose jug-shaped pitchers, four to five inches in length, contain abundant water and numerous insects. Gum-copal is obtained from a tree (_Trachylobium verrucosa_) growing on this coast; and india-rubber from several plants (_Landolphia madagascariensis_ and _L. gummifera_), creepers as well as trees. [Sidenote: MOSQUITOES]