A JUNGLE OF BAMBOO

At one point on our route we passed through a dense jungle of bamboo, requiring a bright look-out on the part of the bearers—and the borne as well—to avoid damage from the sharp-edged stumps underfoot, and the stems and tendrils overhead. But the effect of the numberless thickly set, smooth, jointed stems, like slender columns below, and the feathery canopy of delicate green above, was both curious and beautiful. At one little stream we passed some fine specimens of the hòfa, a screw-pine or pandanus, with the aerial roots in a cone-shaped mass, rising five or six feet above the ground. A very common tree about here is one with clusters of large leaves like those of a horse-chestnut, and with a hard mottled green fruit as big as a lemon, from which gum is made.

In a small open space among the trees we passed by almost the only sign we had yet seen of anything like religious observances in the Tanàla country. This was an upright stake in the ground with a number of bamboos arranged round it, forming a cone-shaped erection; in front of this several stones were fixed. At this rude altar the heads of cattle, fowls, etc., are thrown as expiatory offerings; and here also the people come to pray for blessings which they desire, especially for children. We also passed on another day a long flat stone supported by several smaller ones, forming a sort of altar, and used for the same kind of offerings as those just described.

Following in the main the course of the river Màtitànana, we had frequently to cross its tributaries, and found we were advancing in civilisation as we proceeded. First, we had a single zàhitra to ferry us over; then two zàhitra and a small canoe; then we got good-sized canoes. A little after leaving the ferry we passed through a large clump of immense banana-trees. They were at least forty feet high, and with their smooth green stems—almost trunks—and grand broad leaves, and great clusters of fruit, presented a magnificent appearance. The fruit is called òntsy; these are about a foot long and a couple of inches thick, and so a single one makes a fair meal.

CROCODILES

For several miles the river makes a great bend to the north, and on following its banks again we saw crocodiles for the first time on this journey. These were basking in the sunshine, perfectly motionless, on a group of rocks just showing above the water. At the distance we were I should not have noticed them but for my men pointing them out; but with the glass every scale could be seen, and very unpleasant-looking creatures they are in their slimy length, with serrated back and tail, and rather small heads. Near them were several large wading-birds, some white and others dark brown, and called àrondòvy (i.e. “protector of the enemy”). These birds are constant attendants on the crocodiles, performing some service for them; and where the birds are seen, the reptiles are never far distant. We afterwards noticed that near all the villages on the river banks a small space in the water was enclosed with stakes, so that the women and children coming to draw water could do so without fear of being seized by a crocodile, or swept off into the stream by his tail.

From a remote period the Malagasy have been accustomed to resort to ordeals for the detection of crime, and the ordeal by the tangèna poison has already been referred to in these pages (see [Chapter III.]). But among the Tanàla tribes an ordeal of another kind was commonly employed to find out a guilty person; for anyone suspected of wrong-doing was taken to the bank of the Màtitànana, or one of its tributaries, where crocodiles abound. The people having assembled, a man stood near the accused, and striking the water thrice, addressed a long speech to the reptiles, adjuring them to punish the guilty, but to spare the innocent. The accused was then made to swim across the river and back again; and if he successfully accomplished this, and was not hurt by the crocodiles, he was considered innocent, and his accuser was fined four oxen. If, on the contrary, he was seized and killed, he was supposed to have justly merited his fate. This ordeal was termed tangèm-voày (voày = crocodile).

Coiffures
Various styles of hairdressing among the Hova Malagasy women. The upper figure on the right is in mourning with her hair dishevelled