Anyone who walks through the forest will notice at points where the paths branch off a pile of bracken, branches of trees, moss, etc. These heaps, as well as those of stones in similar positions in the open country, are known as fànataovana. These have been formed by passers-by throwing a stick or stone on the heap, for luck, expressing the hope that, if on a journey, they may have a safe return, as well as success in their undertakings. A similar custom prevails in the eastern parts of Africa, and also in Sumatra and Timor, and probably in other countries as well.
NATIVE FOUNDRIES
A walk along the upper edge of the forest, although at some distance from Ankèramadìnika, will bring us to one of the native smelting and forging stations, where iron is obtained and made into pigs for the use of blacksmiths, as well as into various implements. Iron is very abundant in the interior of Madagascar, indeed the whole soil over an immense extent of it is reddened by iron oxide, and in some places there is so much magnetite that a compass is seriously deflected and is quite unreliable. At such a foundry one may see in use the “feather-bellows,” which the Malagasy brought with them from their far-off Malayan home, and which I believe is nowhere to be found but in Madagascar and Malaysia. This consists of two cylinders, about five feet long and six inches to eight inches wide, made from the trunks of trees hollowed out. These are made air-tight at the lower end and fixed in the earth in a vertical position, about eighteen inches to two feet apart. In each cylinder a hole is made a few inches from the ground, and in these a bamboo cane or an old musket-barrel is inserted, the other end being fixed into the stone or clay wall of the furnace. A piston with feather valves is fitted into each cylinder, and the shafts or piston-rods are worked up and down alternately by a boy or man seated on a board uniting the cylinders. In this way a continuous blast is produced in the furnace. (Such bellows are also used by blacksmiths.)
These foundries are always situated near a running stream of water, so that the ore may be washed and cleared as much as possible from earth and sand. The furnace itself is a hole about six feet in diameter and one or two feet deep; its walls are of rough stonework, built up three or four feet, and thickly plastered outside with clay. Charcoal is used in smelting and, notwithstanding these rude appliances and methods, the iron produced has been pronounced by competent judges to be of excellent quality. Spade-blades, knives, nails, bolts and many other articles are produced by the native smiths; and in the construction of the Memorial Churches, more than forty years ago, I had ornamental hinges, railings, finial crosses, and other requisite ironwork all excellently made and finished by Malagasy blacksmiths.
Memorial Carved Posts and Ox Horns, Bétsiléo Province
Generally the horns are of oxen killed at the funeral
Blacksmith at Work
Note the feather-piston bellows, and the man playing a single-stringed gourd guitar
Several of the paths in the forest lead down into ravines of considerable depth and also of great beauty; the combinations of luxuriant foliage, rushing water and lichen-embroidered rocks, ferns and mosses are very varied, and one valley especially reminds one of the celebrated “Fairy Glen” in North Wales. But there are occasionally certain drawbacks even in this natural loveliness, for if you are not very careful you may find yourself attacked by the small leeches which lie in wait on the grass and bushes, and transfer themselves to you as you brush by them. Before you feel any annoyance, you may find yourself streaming with blood from the punctures made by these little pests, which have got under your clothing and are feeding at your expense. Happily, they do not cause any pain worth speaking of, nor are there any unpleasant after-effects, the only discomfort is the blood you lose and having it outside instead of inside your skin.