[19] Trans. Linn. Soc., vol. v., pt. 2 (Botany, 2nd Ser.).

[20] It is a significant fact that the Malagasy word for “glory,” “honour,” is vòninàhitra, which, literally translated, is “flower of the grass.” Did this expression arise from the native admiration of some of these beautiful grasses, similar to that which so excited Dr Mullens’ delight when travelling in this country.

CHAPTER XVI
LAKE ITÀSY

MADAGASCAR is not at present one of those regions of the earth where volcanic disturbances occur; but there is ample evidence, from the numerous extinct craters found in various parts of the island, that at a very recent period, geologically considered—possibly even within the occupation of the country by its present inhabitants—it was the theatre of very extensive outbursts of subterranean energy. The whole island has not yet been examined with sufficient minuteness to determine the exact extent of these old volcanoes, but they have been observed from near the south-east coast in South Latitude 28°, and in various parts of the centre of the island up to the north-west and extreme north, a distance of six hundred and eighty miles; and probably a more complete survey would reveal other links connecting more closely what is, as at present known, only a series of isolated groups of extinct craters. In the central provinces of Madagascar there are two large clusters of old volcanic cones and vents: one of them in about the same latitude as the capital (19° South), but from fifty to seventy miles away to the west of it, in the neighbourhood of Lake Itàsy; the other in the district called Vàkinankàratra, situated about eighty miles to the south-south-west of Antanànarìvo, and south-west of the great central mountain mass of Ankàratra.

This second volcanic region stretches from twenty to thirty miles from Antsìrabé away west to Bétàfo and beyond it, and contains numerous and prominent extinct craters, some of which have been described by the graphic pen of the late Dr Mullens in his “Twelve Months in Madagascar” (pp. 214-219). The doctor says that he counted in this southern group about sixty cones and craters.

A MAGNIFICENT VIEW

The Itàsy just referred to is a lake situated about fifty-five miles west of Antanànarìvo, and is about five miles long from east to west, and three miles from north to south. It is irregularly square in outline, several small headlands breaking up its shores into little bays; while to the north, where the river Lilìa takes its overflow to the sea, is a long extension or arm of the lake, curving round a mountain, which proves to be an old volcano. Seen from the east, as I approached it from the capital, it appeared as if in a depression of the general surface, and its waters were of a lovely blue. A still finer view of it is obtained from a mountain called Ambòhimiangàra, which is about three miles distant from it to the north-east. This is by far the highest point for a long distance around the lake; and as we proceeded towards it during our two days’ journey from Antanànarìvo, its great rounded mass gradually rose and dominated the whole landscape.

A late friend of mine, who resided long in the district, wrote of Ambòhimiangàra as “a kingly hill, higher by head and shoulders than any other near it, its crown of white stones rising some eighteen hundred feet above the lake lying blue at its feet. The view from the summit was magnificent, the centre of the whole being the lovely Itàsy embosomed in its bright green hills, a pearl encircled with emeralds, with mountains upon mountains in every direction as far as eye could reach. Fierce thunderstorms were being marshalled hither and thither, and could be counted by the half-dozen wherever the eye turned. The whole mountain is a mass of quartz; where the rocks protrude it is toned down to silver-grey by lichens, but where the rain has washed it away, it appears as coarse sand and pebbles of the purest white, with an occasional speck of pink.... We had a good ride, after our descent, along the north-western arm of the lake. This end of Itàsy, forming, as it were, a little lake by itself, and reflecting the deep blue and white of the sky above it, lay calm in the bright sunshine, encircled by the green hills, while clusters of houses, embowered in peach and other trees, grouped themselves around its shores. Here and there a canoe’s dark line among the sedges showed where the fisher was at work with hook and line; and across the meadow to the right, a herd of cattle was slowly wending its way to fresh pastures. Altogether, it formed a most inviting subject for a picture.”