FLORA OF MADAGASCAR. 277 
tion, and the rock, in many parts, has decayed to a depth of 
nearly 200 feet. The many rivers and streams, unceasingly at 
work, have wrought, in the course of ages, great changes; the 
river Kitsamby, to the west of Ankaratra, may perhaps be 
specially mentioned, for the enormous gap it has made in the 
surface of the country. 
I have long been convinced that the soil of Madagascar has 
been far too highly praised; probably in the western parts of 
the island, where the rocks are sedimentary, the soil, in many 
places, would be suitable for agriculture ; but in Central Mada- 
gascar especially, where the soil consists chiefly of decayed gneiss, 
it cannot be said to be, as a rule, fertile. 
The temperature of the Region varies of course with elevation 
and latitude. At Antananarivo (the Capital), Mr. Richardson, 
of the London Missionary Society, has taken observations for 
some years back, and from figures which he gives (* Antananarivo 
Annual,’ No. xi. pp. 394-396) we learn that, in the year 1887, 
the greatest heat registered in the shade by a self-registering 
barometer at a height of 4540 (4700 ?) feet above the sea was on 
the 6th of November, when it reached 85? Fahr. The coldest day 
seems to have been August 23rd, when the mercury, at its highest, 
reached 54°. "The next coldest day was June 15th, the mercury 
standing at 56°. The hottest nights were in January, when the 
mercury on several occasions did not fall below 70°. The coldest 
night was on June 16th, the temperature being 38°. 
The rainy season occupies the five months from N ovember to 
March, but during only about a hundred days is there any rain- 
fall, and on many of these the downpour is slight. As a rule 
the rain commences in the afternoon, about 3 o'clock, and lasts 
for two or three hours, though sometimes much longer. The 
time in which there is the greatest rainfall is from about the 
middle of December to the end of February. During the seven 
months of the dry season rain very rarely falls. In the year 
1887 only 837 inches fellin these months, and more than half 
of that was in September and October. Mr. Richardson, who 
has for a long time registered the rainfall at the Capital, tells us 
that the average for the seven years 1881-1887 was 53:46 
inches. 
The Central Region has been much more thoroughly explored 
botanically than either of the other two Regions, and it may be 
safely said that there are comparatively few novelties left to 
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