From Imahazony we returned to Fianárantsoa by the eastern route, under the long buttresses of Ambondrombe and up the great rice valley lying to the east of Ambohimandroso. We rested at Itsimaítsohasóa, the former capital of this district; and were pleased to find a most efficient school and a goodly band of scholars. This district, the fifth and most southern of the Betsileo provinces, is called Iárindráno, “abounding in water,” and it thoroughly justifies its name. From Fianáran southward the great gneiss hills are full of springs, and the little streams are abundant on every side. But off the main road of the province the villages are few. We traversed with ease the long valley south of Midongy; passed beneath the lofty peaks of Sánga-sanga and Vohimánitra; crossed the narrow col of Maneva; and skirting the great boulders of Ieranány, late in the day, reached Fianárantsoa once more in safety. Our rough journeyings were beginning to tell upon our health: and in Fianáran I was laid up for several days with a severe cold. At this time my colleague and Mr. Cousins paid a visit to the important town of IFANJAKANA, which it was proposed to make the centre of a Mission district and the residence of an English Missionary. Ifánjakána is now the chief town in the Sandra province: (4630 feet above the sea); and is the principal residence of the Sandra family, which, before the days of Radáma, ruled the Betsileo people, south of the Matsiatra. This province lies almost entirely west of the road which we had travelled from the capital: it extends westward to the edge of the hills and the line of forest: and it contains several important towns. My colleagues reached Ifánjakána in eight hours. They travelled to the north and west along the Ranofotsy; then crossed various ridges and narrow valleys to the north-west of the river: passed the village of Itomboana; with many hamlets in fertile valleys: and reached the high ground, scored with long clefts and valleys on which Ifánjakána stands. Beyond it to the west the plateau is high and so continues for ten miles, when it falls away towards the lower plains. They found the town to contain nearly three hundred houses, with fifteen hundred people. On a high ridge facing it to the eastward is the township of Ivohitromby, containing as many more, and giving the same number of people to Government service. The valley east of the town swells into uplands which go off in the direction of Ambohinamboarina. All these valleys contain a scattered population, which has Ifánjakána on its western edge. But a little to the south-east is a fine cluster of villages. Near the ruined town of Mahazarivo are the tombs of the Sandra Kings, surrounded by gigantic trees, planted at the time of their burial. Of the town of Nasandratony the sister of the present prince, granddaughter of the last King, is the head.