Sihànaka Men with Meat Baskets
Note how the làmba is worn
A Forest Village
Note the baskets for carrying fowls against the doorway of the house
THE DRINK EVIL
This indeed is one of the flagrant evils common among the Sihànaka, as it is also of many of the outlying tribes. My friend, Mr Stribling, who lived among these people for several years, gives the following incident illustrating the power which rum has over them:—
“Calling at a village one day for shelter from a sudden storm, we were most graciously received by a native, who was decidedly ‘the worse’ for drink. Wishing to be sociable, however, I said to my host, ‘Well, my friend, how many horns of rum can you drink before becoming drunk?’ (The Sihànaka use the horns of oxen instead of glasses, for drinking.) In a most friendly manner the man replied, ‘Well, I can drink three hornfuls at least’ (about one and a half quarts). ‘How much water would you mix with it?’ ‘Water! why, we never put water into the rum, that would make it insipid.’ Thereupon, turning to a little girl about six years old, the man said, ‘This is my daughter, a scholar in your mission school at Ambàndrika.’ ‘And does she also drink rum?’ ‘Of course, why not?’ He then told me that the baby, a year old, who was also present, was a son of his. ‘And does he also drink rum?’ ‘O dear, no! he is still only a fool.’ ‘Then he will drink it when he becomes wise?’ ‘Of course he will; we all drink it when we come to understand what is good.’”
We encamped again in the open grassy plain, near two or three houses and a cattle-fold; and the following morning proceeded on our journey to the north-north-east. An hour and a half’s ride brought us to two considerable villages near an extensive rice-valley. Here we were surprised to see the fields dotted over with round stacks of rice with conical heads, much like those in an English farmyard. And we also found that here and all through Antsihànaka the rice is not transplanted, as in Imèrina, but after the ground has been trampled over by oxen the seed is sown broadcast, and the rice grows there until it is fit for cutting. After leaving these villages we began to mount a line of hills which forms the eastern boundary of the more level portion of the Ankay valley; and on reaching its summit we saw before us the vast green plain of Antsihànaka stretching away to the northward, level as a lake, with long lines of promontory jutting out into it from the north-west and south-east, and a few low rounded hills rising out of it like islands from a sea. In the far north-east the waters of the lake Alaotra gleamed in the sunshine. To the south and east of the plain we could see several large villages, but the chief town, Ambàtondrazàka, was hidden from view by an intervening line of hill. We crossed ridge after ridge and valley after valley, hoping each would prove the last. The path over one of these valleys, a mile and a half wide, was especially difficult; a narrow winding track amongst swamp, prickly bamboo, enormous papyrus and rushes, with here and there deep running streams, whose only bridge was a slippery round pole partly under water; so that we afterwards spoke of it as “the great dismal swamp!” But we met with others equally bad, if not worse, on our subsequent journeys round the plain, and the passage seemed not nearly so formidable on our return.
GRASSES
I was struck here, as well as in many other parts of the district, by the remarkable and varied fragrance of the wild plants growing among the grass. The scents appeared to me as equally a convincing proof as the sights and sounds that one was really in a tropical country. And here, as we have been travelling for several days over country that is chiefly bare moor (except the narrow belt of forest at the “Stone Gateway”), I may appropriately say something about the grasses of Madagascar, which must attract the attention of every observant traveller. They are of great variety and beauty, and prominent among them are different species of Véro. Of these the one called simply Véro rises to a height of eight or ten feet, and has a head of flowers somewhat like oats, but much longer. This tall grass presents a varied appearance at different stages of its growth. When in full flower, the heads contain a large number of oat-like seeds with long awns, but later on the seeds fall off, and at the head of each little branchlet there appears a minute tuft of feathery plumes, like little stars, giving the grass quite a different aspect from its first one. Another species, called Vérontsànjy, has a still more beautiful floral crown, and is as tall as the first-named one, but not so common. These two grasses, when seen in a mass, give a warm brown tint to the spots where they grow. In some parts, however, a much shorter grass, of a pale buff colour, is the prevailing growth. In other places, another very tall grass called Famòa flourishes; this is a light graceful grass, with fine branchlets from its head, and the seeds showing prominently; and the whole is of a delicate pea-green colour. Then there are other grasses, which are richly marked with shades of dark red or purple, displaying masses of these tints when seen from a little distance. The shorter grasses are not less beautiful than the taller species just mentioned; but without coloured drawings it is impossible to give any adequate idea of their charm and variety.
THEIR HEIGHT