In the narrow lanes near the village we passed great numbers and many varieties of butterflies in a few minutes’ ride. Judging from what we saw, an entomologist would find a rich harvest in the Taimòro country. Dr Vinson, a French naturalist who came up to the capital in 1862, says: “The habits of the lepidoptera are much affected in Madagascar by atmospheric changes. In the misty mornings everything sleeps or hides itself under the damp foliage, but as soon as the sun shines out, the forest, the footpath, the beds of the torrents, are peopled with bright-coloured and light-flying butterflies. They give themselves up to all kinds of frolic with a wanton joy; they court, they pursue, they fly, interlacing and eddying in their flight in the air like the brilliant flakes of a coloured snow.” In travelling up through this eastern forest a few years later, but in the hotter season of the year, I was struck by the number and variety of the butterflies which crossed our path. There was the rather common one of greyish-green with dark markings, the blackish-brown one with two large blue spots, the widely distributed warm brown one with black-edged wings, the pure white one, the white with orange edges, the white with black edges, the white with small black spots near the edge of the wings, the small yellow species, the small buff one, the white with crimped edges, the minute brown and blue, and many others. In damp places, a cloud of the smaller yellow and buff kinds may be often seen sipping the moisture.
While staying near the forest I was several times struck by the curious formation of the wings of one of the smaller species of butterfly. The insect in question is of plain inconspicuous colouring, chiefly shades of brown, and when at rest sits with the wings erect. The noticeable point is that there are several strongly marked and dark-tinted processes from the hinder part of the wings, which resemble the head, eyes and antennæ of a butterfly, so that when at rest it is very difficult to say which is the head and which is the tail of the insect. The tail markings and points are so much more strongly emphasised than the actual head and antennæ, that it is only when the wings slightly open that one is undeceived. Mimicry of one insect by another, and mimicry of leaves, grass, etc., by insects, are of course well-known facts, but I do not remember to have seen any similar instances noticed of resemblance between the different parts of the same insect; but may not the reason of this mimicry of the head by the tail be of some service in directing the attention of birds and other enemies to the less vital part of the butterfly’s structure? It is evident that the hinder portion of the wings might be snapped at and broken off, and yet no serious injury be done to the vital parts of the insect. However this may be, the point appears to me to be worth noting down as a curious fact.
ARAB INFLUENCE
Talking with the people in the evening, we found we were in one of the districts where the Arab influence must have been very strong in former times. They are called Zafin Ibrahim (descendants of Abraham), and told us they were connected with the Jews. There is no doubt, however, that the Arabs had anciently an important settlement here, and to some extent taught the use of Arabic letters and literature; but being isolated from their fellow-countrymen and co-religionists, they gradually became absorbed in the native population. It is probable that many of the chiefs of the south-east tribes are of Arab descent, and so are often lighter in colour than the mass of the people. An intelligent young man gave me a paper containing all the Arabic characters and many of the syllabic sounds, with their equivalents in Malagasy. He had, about six years previously, copied out for M. A. Grandidier, who was then exploring the coasts of Madagascar, a number of extracts from native Arabic books of prayers, genealogies, and sorcery. This young man’s father, then dead, was one of the ombiàsy or diviners, and his books of charms and incantations, being supposed to be connected with idolatry, were destroyed at the time of the burning of the idols in 1869. A few years after our journey, two of the Bétsiléo missionaries, when making an evangelistic tour among the south-east tribes, obtained some pages of manuscript from this neighbourhood. These were apparently written in Arabic; and on being submitted to an expert in that language, were pronounced to be extracts from the Koran, evidently copied by someone who did not know Arabic, and so were full of errors; these quotations were no doubt used as charms and invocations. (I may here notice that, very recently, copies of the Malagasy scriptures have been boiled by the native diviners, and the water sold as a very powerful charm!)
SEA-BIRDS
Being near the sea, we had opportunities of seeing many birds which are oceanic in their distribution, among which are the frigate-birds (one species), and the tropic-birds (two species). The former are true pirates, living almost in dependence upon other fishing birds, whom they force, when these are weaker than themselves, to give up the fish they have taken. But they do also fish for themselves, darting down upon the surface of the water. The white tropic-bird is also an expert fisher, plunging sometimes to a great depth after its prey. They remain all night on their nest, leaving it at sunrise to fish in the open sea. After heavy storms the frigate-bird is occasionally seen quite in the interior, being apparently driven inwards by the violence of the wind.
Of the sea-birds proper, there are about a score kinds frequenting the coasts of Madagascar, including those widely spread and powerful-winged species belonging to the terns, the noddies, the gulls, and the petrels. Very little, however, has been noted here as to their habits, and they probably differ little, if anything, from their fellows which are found all over the world. One of the terns comes up into the interior, and has been shot in Imèrina, and so also has one of the gulls; another is common on the Alaotra lake in Antsihànaka.
[29] I am glad to say that our visit was a means of calling attention to the needs of the forest tribes; and that evangelists have been stationed for many years past among these people, who are becoming enlightened and Christianised.