As with the map of Imerina the key of the map is the position of the Capital: so in the Betsileo, the key of the whole is the town of Fianárantsoa. By several observations, Mr. Cameron fixed the latitude of the town at 21° 27′ 10″ S. Judging from his map, M. Grandidier, who crossed the Betsileo at this point, makes the latitude the same. Mr. Cameron was foiled in his attempt to determine the longitude by independent observations of Jupiter’s satellites and moon culminating stars: the rolling mists obscuring both moon and planet at the moment when they were needed to be clear. But both Mr. Cameron and M. Grandidier agree in placing Fianáran on a meridian 30′ to the west of the meridian of Antanánarivo. Having both taken and worked out the series of observations myself, I concur with Mr. Cameron in his conclusions: and would fix the longitude of Fianáran at 47° 11′ 30″ E. of Greenwich, at a distance of seventy-five miles from the Indian Ocean.
The following is a brief list of the principal heights in this part of the island:—
| Feet. | |
| Ambositra | 4320 |
| Angávo-ridge | 5680 |
| Nandihizana | 4780 |
| Long ridge, south | 4900 |
| Ambohinamboárina | 3600 |
| Ikala valley | 3920 |
| River Matsiatra | 3700 |
| Fianárantsoa | 4200 |
| Ivatoavo | 4660 |
| Ambohimandroso | 3260 |
| Imahazony hill | 3660 |
| Iody, peak | 6450 |
| Tsimaitsohasoa | 4650 |
| Ifanjakana | 4630 |
| Moromania | 4300 |
| Ambodifiakárana | 4620 |
| Great moor | 6200 |
The Betsileo Province is a continuation southward of the province of Imerina: and embraces the entire width of the plateau lying along the backbone of the island. On its northern boundary, the river Mania, the province has a breadth of fifty miles: it narrows as it goes southward; at Imahazony, on the line of lat. 22″ S., it has a breadth of only thirty miles: and from the peak of Kinanga, we were in sight of the three ridges which close the province in. The cultivable area within the Province is but a limited portion of the whole: and that which is under cultivation, owing to the scantiness of the population, is smaller still. The province is full of mountains. It seems to be free of volcanic influences: but it is crossed by long ridges of gneiss and clay, strewn with boulders of enormous size. South of Fianárantsoa the rocky ridges lie close together and the massing of the mountains is very grand. Several of its ridges and detached mountains, like Ilalanza and Ipáno, Iódy and Indraimbáki, Kipaséha and Ambóndrombé, I have already named. The cultivated spots of any great size are the basin and valleys of Ambositra; the amphitheatre of Nandihízana; the valleys of Ambóhinamboárina and Ifánjakána; the basins of Ikála and Natao; the valley of the Matsiatra and its offshoots; the valleys of Fianáran; and the broad basin of Ambohimandroso. I have said that the province contains five districts. Two of these, Ambositra and Nándihízana, lie north of the chief river the Matsiatra; and three others, forming the Betsileo proper, lie south of that river, viz.—the Isandra to the west: Ilalangina near Fianárantsoa; and to the south, the Iárindráno, abounding with fertilizing streams.
The province is almost entirely agricultural. Manufactures have made little progress and are at present in a primitive stage. Fine herds of cattle are abundant: one chief duty of the Hova dependents who live down south is to watch over the herds, belonging to Imerina nobles, which are fed on the unoccupied hills and wastes. But the chief staple of the Betsileo is rice, and of this great harvests are reaped, which supply the people with abundance of their favourite food. Give to the Malagasy rice and gravy, gravy and rice, and they desire little more. The ingenuity with which the Betsileo secure their crops is deserving of high praise. I do not mean the unhallowed ingenuity with which, after digging up their rice fields and flooding them, they turn a herd of cattle in and drive them round and round, over and over, the soil to mash and pound and tread it into soft mud, until the poor beasts are utterly wearied and are splashed from head to foot with the filth, which in due time the young rice plants will clothe with their tenderest green. I mean the ingenuity with which they terrace the hills; tap the streams at their highest sources, and lead them down step by step over the terraced fields; or by long channels bring them from one basin to another, making the water do duty many times over and securing abundant fruitfulness. Very pleasant to the eye are these bright terraces when the rice is young. Rich in rice are the valleys of Ambohimandroso and the broad fields of Ikala; but nothing can exceed the skill and care expended on the amphitheatre of Nandihízana, in which the terraces descend step by step from a great height, and a lavish supply of water from three streams, covers them year by year with a golden harvest.
It was in the weekly market of Nandihízana, that we saw as good an illustration of the products of the Betsileo, as in any part of the province. The chief articles exposed for sale were rice, manioc, Indian corn; in meat, pork, beef and fowls; and a little honey, on the purchase of which there was reserved to the buyer the right of clearing the spoon. The manufactures were very simple: lambas made of rofia fibre; a little coarse silk; coarse but strong iron spades; spade handles, timber rafters, thick clumsy window shutters, with the hinge-pin projecting above and below; wooden spoons; leaf plates; grass baskets and earthen plates.
We were surprised and disappointed as to the population. We had always heard that the Betsileo were a million and a half in number. As we traversed the country and saw how painfully empty it is, we asked ourselves again and again: Where are the people? In a few broad basins, in a few rich valleys, are built a small number of towns, having from a hundred to three hundred, houses. Only Fianáran has five thousand people, including the Hova garrison. Enjoying complete security, the peasantry scatter themselves over the open country, not building their houses in large clusters or in villages containing from a hundred to five hundred people; but in válás; with two or three houses each; and in the absence of wood, which will not grow in the hard, foggy climate and the keen east winds, the eye looks with pleasure on the multitude of green rings, the cactus hedges of these little hamlets, which stud the hill-sides, or the terraces above the levels where the rice-plant grows.
The government reckon in all the Betsileo and Tanála provinces fifty thousand hetra or holdings, great and small. This number will indicate as many families; even allowing for changes since the arrangement was made. And that calculation would give for the entire Betsileo a population not exceeding three hundred thousand souls.
In their religious knowledge and character the Betsileo people generally are behind their Hova friends in Imerina. The latter have been under direct missionary instruction for many years: and it was from some of the faithful members of the Hova Churches, living in Fianárantsoa on duty, that the province first received the gospel. It has now fairly got in among the Betsileo proper: the former royal family, many Betsileo nobles and judges, are professed Christians: the majority of the scholars examined by the Queen were Betsileo. The Directors had long planned to send English missionaries to the country districts of the province, as well as to Fianáran, and had sent out men: but until the time of our visit only Fianáran had really been occupied. That town has three churches: and here Mr. Shaw presides over the Normal School: and Dr. Parker conducts the Medical Mission. It was arranged during our stay, that we should occupy as central stations in the country, the towns of Ambositra, Ifánjakána and Ambohimandroso: and before we left Madagascar, English missionaries were occupying the first and last. There will be for the future seven missionaries in the province, with Normal and Theological Institutions; and a good staff of schools.
These important questions all arranged and our personal visits all paid, we commenced our return to the Capital. The season was advancing and the rains might be expected before many days. We left Fianáran on Wednesday, Oct. 15th, taking the road through the centre of the province by which we had come. We spent the Sunday at Ambositra travelled direct to the Mania by Isándrandáhy: saw the strange hills of Kiririoka: climbed the Pass of Ambódifiakárana; and traversed the great granite moor above it to the foot of Vótovórona, one of the finest hills in South Imerina. Keeping to the east road, we rested at Ambatomainty, celebrated for its rats; avoided Be-goáika, still more renowned for its fleas: obtained a fine view of Ankárat and its peaks from Ankazoláva; slept at the foot of the fine boulder hill of Iháranandrían; and reached the Capital, tired out and ill, on Friday, October 24th. We had had a rough journey: but it was worth all the weariness five times repeated, to see what we had seen and to learn what we had learned.