Mr. E. Newton's Second Visit to Madagascar. 335 



called Chasmanna, where there were three or four tumble-down 

 houses on the verge of a forest. 



The country through which we had passed was much the 

 same as that through which the right fork flows, the hills only 

 being on a larger scale. The channel of the river just above 

 Ampasimaventy becomes wider and more rocky; occasionally 

 its width is from one to two hundred yards, through which the 

 stream runs in separate courses, as it is the dry season, making 

 several very pretty waterfalls. In the rainy season, when the 

 whole bed of the river is full, forming one grand torrent of foam, it 

 must be magnificent. It struck me as singular what can become 

 of the mass of water which even in the dry season flows down. 

 I presume it must be absorbed or evaporated in the vast marshes 

 and lakes on the immediate line of the coast; for the width of 

 the river at its mouth is certainly not half as great as at Am- 

 pasimaventy, perhaps twenty miles ofi", and not much deeper. 

 At Chasmanna I was sorry to see the destruction of the forest 

 still going on. Several large tracts were being cut down, and 

 the fine timber was burnt as it lay on the ground, though there 

 were thousands upon thousands of acres of ground apparently 

 available and already cleared. We remained here three nights, 

 when we were obliged to return to Tamatave, the arrival from 

 Antananarivo of the Mauritian embassy being every day expected ; 

 and eventually I returned to Mauritius on the 12th October. 

 During this trip I was able to ascertain the native names of 

 most of the birds I observed. Each species nearly always has a 

 separate one, and sometimes even more than one (for instance, 

 Ardea bubulcus, the most conspicuous and characteristic bird of 

 the east coast of Madagascar, has three), and I met with very 

 few people who could not give at once the name of any species 

 shown to them. The Marmites, who chiefly obtain their livelihood 

 by carrying persons or goods from place to place, and conse- 

 quently travel over various parts of the island, are generally 

 acquainted with every synonym a bird may have ; and I am led 

 to believe that there are but few species which are known by the 

 residents in the different districts by the same name. To 

 Mr. Fiche I am indebted for the orthography of most of the 

 local names. 



