For several days we had had in sight the great granite mountains of the Vava Vato, which we had skirted on their eastern side, on our journey to the Betsileo province. The lofty serrated crest of these mountains had furnished us with conspicuous points for our survey. On the west centre were the noble peaks of Iávohaikia and Ivohitány; in the south bend was the peak of Máhasóa; and on the northern curve were two rounded hills, exceedingly like elephants; one very large, with a small elephant standing in front of him. These points occur repeatedly in our survey lists. We had long been approaching these granite mountains: the single line first seen on the horizon had broken up into masses, showing different ridges: and at Antoby we not only found ourselves close to them, but Mr. Clemes assured us that there was no difficulty in making the ascent and returning the same day. Our men, fortified for extra toil by an extra day’s pay, entered into the scheme with spirit, and we devoted Monday to the expedition.
We started at half-past seven and returned by half-past five: and with lovely weather and a clear sky, had a successful day. We penetrated into the very heart of the Váva Vato range: and climbed to the summit of Iávohaikia (7100 feet), the highest peak of all. We found that, counting from the west, the mass contains three ranges and on the third in its centre is Iávoháikia. Behind is a fourth range, which bends to the south-east: on this is Ivóhitány. The first three ranges run south for three miles, then curve and end with a western front in the mass of Máhasóa. To the north these ranges bend to the eastward, and on the curve of the third and highest range are the two elephants. From them and from the fourth range, two lofty ridges run to the east and south-east: with fine grassy alleys between them.
This mass of mountains is piled up upon the grandest scale. Each ridge is lofty and impresses one with its greatness. Who can adequately describe the combination of the whole? It is impossible to enter into details; to picture the thousands of fallen rocks; to tell the size and vastness of individual rocks, bigger than palaces and temples; here piled upon one another, there scattered in profusion over a vast space. We walked beneath them, looking like pigmies: we climbed and climbed and stood upon them, looking like flies. Their shapes were wonderfully fair: their combinations and massings were strangely picturesque. Here a broad grassy level lay between two ranges: there a dark narrow way passed between giant rocks which towered high into the air. At the foot of huge square pillars which might be formed into an Egyptian temple, we took our refreshment on a granite table: the water everywhere was bright and pure. No finer rocks, no masses of such surpassing grandeur, have I seen in any of the countries which I have visited.
The granite of these mountains is of pink felspar, of fine grain and delicate tint. It is in a very rotten condition. Is this the result of weather only: or does it come of the fierce heats of the volcanic region by which it is entirely surrounded?
The district in which we were now travelling, from the Kitsamby south and from the Vava Váto mountains to the sea is called Menabe, the “great red” land. It deserves the name, for the red clay is most conspicuous on all its western side. The population continues for only one day’s journey to the west. It is worthy of note that while on the eastern edge of Imerina the first descent is covered with thick forest along the entire line of country, the first descent on the west, both in the Mándridráno and Ménabé, is quite bare of wood: the terrace below for at least fifteen miles westward is bare also. There is brushwood in the hollows; but there is no forest properly so called. Farther south on the western edge of the Betsileo, M. Grandidier’s map indicates that there is forest.
We now looked forward to a visit to the Norwegian Mission Stations, which were not far away; and the first of which, Ambohimasina, is only six miles south of Antoby. We had already obtained three bearings of both the village and the Mission-house from various points. Taking farewell of our kind hosts, we left Antoby on Tuesday, April 28th, and had a pleasant run of two hours and a half, over the clay hills, and across the Ikokomy river, to Ambohimasina; where we were most kindly welcomed by Mr. Eganes of the Norwegian Mission: and joined him in a late breakfast. Mr. Eganes has lived a lonely life for two or three years at this distant station: but he has gathered round him the apparatus for Christian work: has built a simple, comfortable dwelling-house, and school: has been learning Malagasy; and now joined by a good wife, who was at the time of our visit on her voyage, he is prepared to devote all his strength and time to the instruction of the people around him.
At one o’clock we set out for the station of Betafo, distant about fifteen miles. The journey was somewhat long and the road rough and unknown: but the bearers were as anxious as ourselves to arrive before dark, and they stepped well forward. Mr. Sewell and I brought in the rear of the party just before six o’clock and we were soon comfortably housed under the hospitable roof of Mr. and Mrs. Eng. I will not describe the details of our journey: but the ground over which we had travelled is in many respects remarkable, as illustrating the manner in which the present surface of Madagascar has been formed.
Our course from Ambohimasina was south-east, right up the valley of Betafo. This valley is in shape like an inverted funnel: at the western mouth it is five miles across: at the higher and eastern end it is a mile and a half wide. It is enclosed by high ridges through its entire length. A fine gneiss ridge overhangs it on the south. On the north the granite mountains of Mahasoa and the inner ridges of the Vava Vato, hang above it for ten miles: then follows a low gneiss ridge which extends to Betafo. The floor of the valley is of the sedimentary clay: it belongs to the upper plateau of Imerina and would, if undisturbed have descended to the west by three broad stairs, each five miles wide. It is the disturbances from which this enclosed valley has suffered, that give it its peculiar features and make its physical geography a subject of so much interest. Like many sections of Ankay it illustrates in miniature the process by which whole continents have been formed. First, at its upper corner on the south side, there meet two rivers, the Andrasáy from the east and the Lóalámbo from the north: the latter brings down a strong body of water from high ground: and both streams under the name of Loalómbo, have cleared the clay down to the gneiss rock, through the entire length of the valley along its south side, and carried the soil into the western plains. Five miles below their junction a strong stream comes out from the Vava Vato, called the Tsi-tánymaláma, “not a slippery land;” a sensible name, given by some Malagasy traveller with bare feet, when he was passing over its sharp granite pebbles: this stream cuts the great valley clean across with a valley of its own, and through the deep gulley flows into the Lóalámbo. Below this again, small streams from the granite have made numerous minor cuttings: and five miles below, a second river, the Sakóva, shallow at present but strong in the rainy season, does the same; cutting the clay with beautiful curves and leaving a high bank and ridge overhanging the water on the east side. All the ledges at the foot of these ridges are studded with villages, and hamlets, and in the centre of the valley, below the Sakova, is the village and Mission-house of Soávina, another station of the Norwegian Mission. On the north side of the valley is a series of clay terraces, beautifully formed; and numerous hamlets in a cluster combine to make up the town of Ambáranákóho. There is considerable population in this part of the valley and more than one chapel is conspicuous on the hill-side. Near the broad mouth of the valley, though the clay hills are numerous, the general level that has been reached by all this cutting and washing of the streams, is that of the lower terrace in Menabe. At the south-west corner of the valley, the Lóalámbo having gathered all the streams into itself, flows full and strong across the plains, south of the great peak of Ivohibe, to join the river Mania.
Our visit to Betafo was made most pleasant by the great kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Eng. Mr. Eng has now been several years in Madagascar and knows the district well. He has suffered greatly from the local fevers, which re-appear in his system again and again, and keep him an invalid. But his earnest zeal and his longing desire for the welfare of his people render him a valuable member of the Mission. His position is one of great usefulness. The mission-house stands on a little hill in the midst of a vast amphitheatre, cut out of the great valley, at its upper end, by the rivers above named; and while the waters run free in the deep beds which they have made, the sloping banks around the vast enclosure, have been shaped into hundreds of terraces upon which rice is grown. Villages have been placed on all the best parts of the higher ground: and within sight of the mission-house, there must be in these villages some twenty thousand people.
A few miles to the east, on the way to Sirabe, is a broad plain, also rich in rice fields. Sirabe itself is full of rice grounds. So also is the Mánandóna valley to the south, which we had already traversed: and so is the Lávadráno plain to the east. There is no lack of villages and people throughout this region. The district lies south-west and south of the Ankárat mountains: and among the Malagasy is known by the technical name of Vákin’ Ankárat, “cut off by Ankárat.” It contains altogether ten thousand hetra or holdings, and these are believed to represent a population of one hundred thousand people. Betafo itself was the head of an independent kingdom, the fortress of which was on the top of a conical hill, on the south of the amphitheatre. It was summoned to surrender by Radáma; and yielded itself without trouble. The district has since formed an integral portion of the Hova dominions. And on her journey home from the Betsileo province, the Queen, with her camp, turned aside to Sirabé, that she might meet with her people. As at Fianáran, so also at Sirabe, she addressed to them all wise and stirring words upon the subject of educating their children.