MADAGASCAR (II) 175 
correctly balanced, it will come as a blow to learn that these 
people, who may be quite unused to carrying heavy loads, who 
may be old or sick and frail-looking, and who feed almost exclu- 
sively on rice, will pick up a forty-pound load and march all day 
with it, whereas the average scientifically nourished European 
would have the greatest difficulty in walking the same distance 
empty-handed. 
On my first trip by filanjana | felt quite sorry for the men carry- 
ing me up steep hills in the heat of the day, so I invariably got 
out and walked—a thing that seasoned Europeans of the country 
never do. On most subsequent marches, however long, I have 
dispensed with the bearers altogether and have gone on foot, ac- 
companying the porters. In tropical heat I thought I was doing 
well to march fifteen to twenty miles a day, but was always 
amazed at the stamina of the native porter, who carries a load that 
would defeat me after a quarter of a mile. 
Speaking of balanced diets, the Malagasy, being of Eastern 
origin, are mostly rice-eaters, though in some districts they live 
largely on maize and cassava, whereas the coastal peoples of the 
dry south and southeast live almost entirely on fish. In the towns 
and the fertile districts of the east and west coasts the diet is much 
more varied. 
My entry into the eastern forests brought me in contact with the 
Betsimisaraka tribe, who inhabit a considerable portion of eastern 
Madagascar from the coast to the western limits of the rain-forests. 
Although the coastal villages are, on the whole, moderately clean, 
all the small hamlets that I came across in the forests were filthy. 
In spite of the fact that space is unlimited and that the only 
building material they need—such as poles, grass, and reeds—cost 
nothing, they build tiny one-roomed huts almost touching one 
another. This is another of the native customs governed by super- 
stition and custom. 
A space about eight feet square serves as a living-room, bed- 
room, and storeroom for their rice, etc., and at one end of the hut 
there is an open fireplace but no chimney. The smoke finds its 
way out through the low thatched roof or the door. On the filthy 
floor the children squat with their elders, with a multitude of flies 
sucking the moisture from their mouths and eyes, and in odd 
