58 DR. C. MELLER'S JOURNAL 
accession, at 225 miles ; but as none of the gentlemen walked the 
distance, I am afraid they computed wrongly. We took the same 
number of days (17) from the one place to the other ; and I walked 
the whole distance, with the exception of the first and last five 
miles, over which we had to be carried for the sake of leaving and 
entering these towns in due form ; and I came to the conclusion 
that it is not more than 190' miles between these places, and that 
Antananarivo is not more than 180 miles from the sea at that 
part where, after walking south from Tamatave, we turn due west 
to penetrate the country. The first 60 miles of the road lie along 
the eoast, on a spit of sand separating the sea from a chain of 
lakes, and sometimes so narrow that the sea at high water com- 
municates with them. The first day's march was over a sandy 
plain, and across commons, on the short grass of which the herds 
of oxen collected near Tamatave for exportation were feeding. 
Skirting the sea, by Tamatave, is a dense wood or copse, with a 
few stout trees in it, used by the natives for making their smaller 
canoes, and which I believe to be a species of Znophyllum. There 
is abundance of wild coffee-shrubs in it, and of two species of 
Brexiads. Studding the plains about Tamatave, and more especi- 
ally along the sea-board, is a Logania, called by the natives Voan- 
taka—the same as that found by the Zambesi and Shiré. It yields 
an abundance of fruit, which is consumed (less the seeds) by the 
natives with avidity. With it, but much less frequently met with, 
is a Clusia (P) with edible fruit, and a Zizyphus, called Masaon 
by the Portuguese of the Zambesi, and Mason by the Mauritians. 
It is abundant in Mauritius, by the Zambesi, in Shiré, and 
Rovuma. There is not much of it on our road from Tamatave, 
and it was not seen after leaving the sea. Ornamenting the 
gardens of some of the merchants at Tamatave, and forming part 
of the sea-board bush, are two species of Barringtonia—one ap- 
parently the same as that found at Mohilla and Johanna (the 
fruit sent home in box No. 4), specimens of which were forwarded 
last February. The Copal gum-tree is very abundant along the 
sea, and for 70 miles of our way inland, being lost after this (the 
last tree seen being at about 800 to 1000 feet above the sea- 
level). It grows to a larger size than other trees I have seen; 
one found by the lakes about 29 miles from Tamatave measured 
28 feet in circumference, had an enormous spread, and was full of 
fruit. Very little gum is collected. The natives incise the bark, 
and fix bamboos to receive the gum: to procure india-rubber they 
are less careful, merely making incisions, and allowing the sap to 
