Let us go up to the highest point of the long rocky ridge on and around which Antanànarìvo is built, from which we can “view the landscape o’er,” and try and gain a clear notion of this “heart of Imèrina,” as it is often called by the Malagasy. The city hill reaches the greatest elevation at a point called Ambòhimitsímbina—_i.e._ “Hill of regarding”—which is seven hundred feet above the general level of the rice-plains around it. From this “coign of vantage” there is of course a very extensive view in every direction, and we see at once that the surrounding country is very mountainous. East and south there is little but hills of all shapes and sizes to be seen, except along the valleys of the river Ikòpa and its tributaries, which come from the edge of the upper forest, thirty miles or so away to the east. To the north the country is more undulating, but at ten or twelve miles away high hills and moors close in the view, some of the hills rising into mountains. The country is everywhere in these directions, except in the river valleys, covered with red soil of various shades of colour, through which the granite and gneiss foundations protrude at almost every elevated point in huge boulder-like rocks, and form the summits of every hill and mountain, often in dome-shaped or boss-like masses, and in some like titanic castles and towers. [Illustration: EARTHENWARE POTTERY Making cooking utensils and pitchers (_Sìny_)] [Illustration: DIGGING UP RICE-FIELDS Notice the long-handled and long-bladed native spade, the handle serving as a lever to turn over the clods] There is little foliage to be seen except on the top of some of the hills where the ancient towns and villages are built, and in such places a circle of old _àviàvy_ trees and an occasional _amòntana_ tree give a pleasant relief to the prevailing red and ochre tints of the soil, and, in the cold and dry season, to the russet and grey hues of the dry grass on the bare hills and downs. The largest mass of green is at the old capital, Ambòhimànga, eleven miles away to the north, where the steep sides of the hill are still covered with a remnant of the original forest, which formerly was doubtless much more extensive in this part of the central province. In the deep fosses which surround old villages there is also often a considerable amount of foliage, as well as in the hollows and along the streams. But it must be confessed that a large extent of Imèrina, in common with the rest of the interior, consists of bare rounded down-like hills, very uninteresting in character; although towards sunset, in the slanting rays, these hills have a softness of outline in their curves which has a decided element of beauty not to be ignored. [Sidenote: THE GRANARY OF ANTANÀNARÌVO]