MADAGASCAR (I!) 177 
teaching godliness to people whose superstitious beliefs are so 
deep-rooted as to be ineradicable, whereas the advantages of clean- 
liness and of kindness to animals are ignored. How much more 
would be achieved, and what an incalculable amount of suffering 
would be avoided, if these two latter virtues came into the fore- 
front of the picture! There seems to be some misguidance of senti- 
ment where the inhabitants of a village have been taught to gather 
together to sing hymns, yet where the starving dogs will follow 
one into the bush and, driven by hunger, await the chance of 
devouring human excrement. 
Betsimisaraka myths are not confined to strange creatures that 
wander at large at night—they even extend to snakes. There is an 
arboreal species (Ithycyphus) that is reputed to wait in the 
branches overhanging forest paths; when a bullock or some wild 
animal passes underneath, it stiffens itself, then drops, using its 
tail as a spear and piercing the animal to the heart—with what 
purpose I was never able to ascertain. 
Besides boa constrictors and Sganzin’s Tree Boas I was able to 
collect a number of the handsome Sharp-nosed Snakes, which are 
fairly large and dangerous-looking though not at all aggressive. 
They are nevertheless back-fanged and therefore mildly veno- 
mous. It is generally stated that Madagascar is devoid of venomous 
snakes, but it is more correct to say that it possesses no dangerous 
snakes. The only thing in the whole country that man has cause 
to fear is the crocodile, which is particularly numerous in the 
warm waters of the west-coast rivers. 
Among our large and varied collection we had a few specimens 
of the Tailless Tenrec, or tandraka, as it is known to all the 
natives. This is the largest of the tenrecs—a family that comprises 
a variety of forms, some spiny and hedgehog-like, down to the 
smooth-haired animals that resemble shrews. The Tailless Tenrec 
is a thick-set creature about the size of a small rabbit and is fur- 
nished with longish spines on the head and upper back which 
graduate into stiff hairs on the lower back. It lives mainly on 
earthworms, and towards the beginning of the dry season becomes 
very fat in readiness for hibernation, which usually commences in 
May. At this period it is considered a great delicacy by the natives, 
who hunt it with trained dogs. It comes out of hibernation when 
