Some way down the river flowing from the north-western arm of the lake is a very beautiful waterfall. The river, broken into three streams, falls in foaming white masses over a ledge of black lava, some fifty feet deep. The whole bed of the river for a mile above is of the same black character, the lava broken into innumerable blocks and setting off the vivid colour of the verdure on the river banks. The people say that Itàsy was once only a huge swamp, and its becoming a clear lake is within the memory, or perhaps the traditions, of the inhabitants. Other legends relate that the lake was formed by a Vazìmba chieftain, named Rapèto, damming up the river flowing from the swamp; and so the rice-fields of a neighbouring chief, with whom he was at variance, were flooded and have ever since remained under water. There is doubtless an element of truth in this latter account; but the chieftain, also supposed to be a giant, was not a human being, but a volcano, which broke out at the north-western corner and dammed up the river for a long period, as shown by the lava in its bed, as just described. The river has now cut its way several feet through the barrier which was thus thrown across its course.
FLAMINGOES
I spent several hours one day in a canoe on the lake with a friend, shooting wild duck (my first and my last exploit in this line). We found birds very abundant on the water, and in the swamps and rank vegetation along the shores. Flamingoes, with their white plumage and pink tinge pervading the whole under part of the wings, are fairly common here, and are said to be extremely good eating. The native name for this bird, Sàmaka, is appropriate and descriptive, as it means “disjointed,” “split,” referring to its immensely long legs. It is also called Amjòmbona, from its trumpeting cry, this being also the native name for a large species of triton shell used as a trumpet. An adult male bird stands more than four feet high; and when on the defensive these birds make quite a loud noise by sharply opening and closing their beaks, which are long and powerful. When on the wing, they fly exceedingly high.
RAIL
Among the many birds frequenting this lake and the neighbourhood are the purple water-hens, of which three species are found in Madagascar. They are of a rich bluish-purple colour, and have a very powerful beak, with which they easily root up the Hèrana sedge, when growing on the edge of the lake in shallow water. They do this for the sake of the tender rootlets, and perhaps also for insects. Of the jacanas, two species are found here; with their extremely long toes they walk easily upon the large leaves of aquatic plants, seeking for the water-insects which form their food. They dive with great ease and are therefore very difficult to shoot. Six or seven species of rail have been observed in the island; the most common one (Rallus gularis) is regarded with great respect, as it is believed to bring rain in dry weather. Its loud whistling and tremulous cry is heard chiefly towards evening. These birds are said to be so careful of their eggs and young that they may easily be taken by the hand from the nest. M. Pollen says: “I once saw a hen-bird who would not quit the space near her nest, but kept walking around it, ruffling her feathers, and dragging her wings on the ground, in the same way as our domestic hen does when defending her young. Other birds common to the marshy districts are crested coots, curlews, snipe and plovers. Two species of birds peculiar to Madagascar, for whom a special family had to be formed, can only be spoken of by their scientific name of Mesites; they are very curious and specialised birds, taking their place between the rails and the herons.” According to the native accounts, when the nests of these mesites, which are mostly placed on a low situation, are flooded, the parent birds drag them to where they will be free from injury by the water. If anyone takes their young, they follow them into the village; and on account of this love for their offspring they are considered sacred (fàdy), because, say the natives, they are in this like human beings.
HOT MINERAL WATERS
Not very far to the east of the second group of old volcanoes mentioned above is the large village of Antsìrabé (“much salt”), which is about seventy-five miles south-west of Antanànarìvo, and is now on the automobile road to the Bétsiléo province. At this place one of the chief springs is largely charged with lime, which has formed an extensive deposit all over a small level valley sunk some twenty feet below the general level of the plain around the village. For a long time this place furnished almost all the lime used for building in the capital and in the central province of Imèrina. Besides the deposit over the floor of the valley, there was also a compact ridge-shaped mass of lime accretion, seventy feet long by eighteen to twenty feet wide, and about fifteen or sixteen feet high. This had all been deposited by the spring, which kept open a passage through the lime to the top. Some years ago, however, the spring was tapped by a shaft, of no great depth, a few yards to the north, over which a large and commodious bath-house was erected by the Norwegian Lutheran Mission; and here many visitors came to bathe in the hot mineral water, which has been found very beneficial in rheumatic and other complaints.[21] A little distance to the south-west is another spring, not, however, hot, but only milk-warm, the water of which is drunk by those who bathe in the other spring. This water has been shown to be, in chemical constituents, almost identical with the famous Vichy water of France. All over the valley the water oozes up in various places; and about half-a-mile farther north are several other springs, somewhat hotter than that just described, to which the natives largely resort for curative bathing.
EXTINCT HIPPOPOTAMI
During the excavations for the foundations of the bath-house, the skeletons of several examples of an extinct species of hippopotamus were discovered, the crania and tusks being in very perfect preservation. Some of these are now in the museum at Berlin; the finest specimen was sent to the museum of the University of Christiania in Norway. This Madagascar hippopotamus was a smaller species than that now living in Africa, and is probably nearly allied to, if not identical with, another hippopotamus (H. Lemerlei), of which remains were found in 1868 by M. Grandidier, in the plains of the south-west coast. I was informed by the people that, wherever in these valleys the black mud is dug into for a depth of three or four feet, bones are sure to be met with. From the internal structure of the teeth and bones of the hippopotami discovered at Antsìrabé, traces of the gelatine being still visible, it is evident that the animals had been living at a comparatively recent period. There have been occasional vague reports of the existence of some large animal in the southern parts of the island; and perhaps the half-mythical stories of the Sòngòmby, Tòkandìa, Làlomèna, and other strange creatures current among the Malagasy, are traditions of the period when these pachyderms were still to be seen in the lakes and streams and marshes of Madagascar.