We have just seen the interior of a Sihànaka house, and we ought to have noticed the fine and strong mats with which they are furnished. From the immense extent of marsh, the material for making these is very abundant, and all women can make them; so no Sihànaka buys a mat, for they think that a disgrace. Of the zozòro outer peel, or skin, the very long mats called the Queen’s are made, which are from eighteen feet to twenty-four feet long. The houses of many people here are clean and neat from the abundance of such mats. The largest kind of zozòro, called tèry, is as strong as wood, and the firm triangular stems are used for the walls of the houses.
We were off early on Saturday morning, for, as we wished to get to the second town in size, Ampàrafàravòla, for Sunday, we had a long day’s journey northward of nine or ten hours before us. We were now skirting the western edge of the great level, now and then crossing patches of swamp, and then following the windings of a small river, which we had at last to cross by canoes. The whole country appeared to abound with wild birds of different kinds—herons, black and white storks, wild geese, wild ducks, partridges and many others. The fen country of the eastern midland counties of England, before the great drainage works were carried out and the waters led off to the sea, must have been very much like this Antsihànaka plain, which is certainly a paradise for sportsmen. There are said to be no fewer than thirty-four species of aquatic birds found on the Alaotra lake and in the surrounding marshy country. In the little museum at the L.M.S. College at Antanànarìvo we have, among other Malagasy birds’ eggs, a number from Antsihànaka, chiefly of water-fowl; most of these are white, showing probably that they are well protected and so have no need of imitative colouring.
WATER-BIRDS
Of these numerous ducks and geese, perhaps the whistling teal is the most common, not only in this province, but also in other marshy regions. In the western part of Imèrina the Tsirìry, as it is called, may be seen in flocks of five hundred together, so that a certain district probably gets its name of “Bé (many) tsiriry” from their numbers. At evening this bird and a tree duck (Tahìa) settle down in such numbers along the shore of the lake that one cannot walk by the waterside, for the ground is black with them. The tsiriry builds its nest on hillocks among the grass, and the young birds are taken to the water as soon as hatched. Another bird, the humped duck (Aròsy), lays its eggs in the crevices of rocks. Many of the native names of these wild fowl are imitative of their screaming cry; others are descriptive, as “white-wings,” “handsome-bird,” “white-eyes,” “many-shields,” etc. Besides the above-mentioned birds, there are also coots, water-hens, herons, ibises, grebes, snipes and curlews in the lake and the marshes. Of the white-backed duck (Tafiòtra) the natives say that the female bird experiences some difficulty in the laying of her eggs, which are very large in proportion to the size of her body; this is said to make her faint and become unconscious, so that she may be taken off her nest with the hand. On account this of peculiarity, the duck is fàdy, or tabooed, by the native women, who think that they would experience a similar difficulty in child-birth were they to eat the bird.
From the abundance of water-birds in this province, the keeping of ducks and geese is an important occupation of the Sihànaka. Geese are greatly esteemed, and alive or killed are always presented as a mark of respect to strangers. On account of their abundance, goose quills for pens, as well as chillies and fine long mats, formed the tribute formerly paid by the people to the queen at Antanànarìvo. Guinea-fowls are also plentiful and are found in flocks of from twenty to thirty together, but chiefly in unfrequented places.
AMBÒHITRÒMBY
After about two hours and a half’s journey we arrived at Ambòhitròmby, a large village of nearly a hundred houses, situated on a rounded hill which rose like an island from the plain. We were formally received by an old man in a red làmba, the chief of the village, in the presence of a large number of people, and the accustomed speech-making had to be gone through. We then went into the chapel, a long, narrow and low rush building, where the scholars and most of the women were assembled. On going out of the chapel we were asked to meet the chief people again to receive beef, rice, etc. This was done with a formality and respect exceeding that shown on any previous occasion. A mat was spread on an open space, on this three chairs were placed for us, and in front of this, on another mat, were arranged the provisions. Speech-making, compliments and replies then followed as usual.
After tiffin, and taking some compass observations, we left Ambòhitròmby soon after twelve o’clock, keeping still along the western shore of the plain, and several times crossing bays which run westward between the hills. Here we had much floundering about in the bog, and crossing of cranky wooden bridges of the primitive single round-pole construction. We passed Mòraràno and Moraféno, good-sized villages, but were unable to stop at either place, as they were both a little way out of the direct road, and we were pressed for time. The population appeared considerable about this part of the plain, for there were many other villages at no great distance, and a very large extent of its margin was cultivated, the stacks of rice dotting over the level surface for two or three miles to the eastward, and for a long way north and south. After three or four hours’ walking and riding we turned to the north-east, crossing a great bay formed by one of the long promontories which stretch into the level from the north-west as well as from the south-east shores of the plain. These have evidently in an earlier (geological) period formed continuous lines of hills, for they do not run in the same direction as the main valley or depression of the country, but cut it at an angle of about forty-five degrees—that is to say, while the general direction of the Antsihànaka valley is north-north-east and south-south-west, the lines of hills on either side have a bearing of north-north-west and south-south-east. This is seen very distinctly in the map of the district made on my return home: for many of the ridges seem to be broken off more or less abruptly by the level ground, and then to be continued on the other side of the plain. It seemed impossible to avoid the conclusion that by some great convulsion in long-past geologic ages a vast rent and depression had been made across the lines of hills in a diagonal direction; while the water-worn and wasted remains of some few of these towards the south, forming a line of low detached hills, suggested that probably the action of water, either as an arm of the sea running up the Ankay valley, or a great river, had completed what was commenced by more violent agencies. The unmistakable evidence of former volcanic action, in the presence of extinct craters and lava streams to the west, north and north-east of the plain, seems to show what was the agency which caused this great depression of the surface.
A NATURAL EMBANKMENT