A Canoe Voyage—Crocodiles and their Ways—River Scenery—Traveller’s Tree—Which is also “The Builder’s Tree”—Maròmby—Coffee Plantation—Orange Grove—We stick in the Mud—Difficulties of Road—Rànomafàna and its Hot Springs—Lace-leaf Plant—Native Granaries—Endurance of Bearers—Native Traders—Appearance of the People—Native Music and Instruments—Bamboos—Ampàsimbé—Cloth Weaving—Native Looms—_Rofìa_-palms—“A Night with the Rats”—Hard Travelling —Béfòrona—The Two Forest Belts—The Highest Mountains—Forest of Alamazaotra—Villages on Route—The Blow-Gun CHAPTER V FROM COAST TO CAPITAL: ALAMAZAOTRA TO ANTANÀNARÌVO 63 “Weeping-place of Bullocks”—“Great Princess” Rock—Grandeur of the Vegetation—Scarcity of Flowers—Orchids, Bamboos, and Pendent Lichens—Apparent Paucity of Animal Life—Remarkable Fauna of Madagascar—Geological Theories thereon—Lemurs—The Ankay Plain—An Ancient Lake—Mòramànga—River Mangòro—Grand Prospect from Ifòdy—The Tàkatra and Its Nest—Hova Houses—Insect Life—Angàvo Rock—Upper Forest—Treeless Aspect of Imèrina—Granite Rocks—Ambàtomànga—And its big House—Grass Burning—First View of Capital—Its Size and Situation—Hova Villages—A Cloud of Locusts—Reach Antanànarìvo CHAPTER VI THE CHANGING MONTHS IN IMÈRINA: CLIMATE, VEGETATION AND LIVING CREATURES OF THE INTERIOR 75 The Seasons in Madagascar—Their Significant Names—Prospect from Summit of Antanànarìvo—Great Rice-plain—An Inundation of the Same—Springtime: September and October —Rice-planting and Rice-fields—Trees and Foliage—Common Fruits—“Burning the Downs”—Birds—Hawks and Kestrels—Summer: November to February—Thunderstorms and Tropical Rains—Lightning and its Freaks—Effects of Rain on Roads—Rainfall —Hail—Magnificent Lightning Effects—Malagasy New Year CHAPTER VII SPRING AND SUMMER 90 Native Calendar—Conspicuous Flowers—Aloes and Agaves—Uniformity of Length of Days—Native Words and Phrases for Divisions of Time—And for Natural Phenomena—Hova Houses—Wooden and Clay—Their Arrangement—And Furniture—“The Sacred Corner”—Solitary Wasps —Their Victims—The Cell-builders—The Burrowers—Wild Flowers CHAPTER VIII THE CHANGING MONTHS IN IMÈRINA: CLIMATE, VEGETATION, AND LIVING CREATURES OF THE INTERIOR 103 Autumn: March and April—Rice Harvest—The Cardinal-Bird—The Egret and the Crow—Harvest Thanksgiving Services—Rice, the Malagasy Staff of Life—Queer “Relishes to Rice”—Fish —Water-beetles—A Dangerous Adventure with One—Dragonflies—Useful Sedges and Rushes—Mist Effects on Winter Mornings—Spiders’ Webs—The “Fosse-Crosser” Spider—Silk from it—Silk-worm Moths—And Other Moths—The “King” Butterfly—Grasshoppers and Insect Life on the Grass—The Dog-Locust—Gigantic Earthworms—Winter: May to August—Winter the Dry Season CHAPTER IX