246 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
of the moon. Before it was deforested it was inhabited by some 
queer creatures which are known today only by their sub-fossil 
remains, and of which, perhaps, the most remarkable were the 
Giant Lemurs. 
After lunch one day the hired car arrived at the Grand Hotel, 
Tananarive, and when the traveling boxes containing provisions 
and kit, and a camp bed, had been arranged, we set off south for 
Antsirabe to spend the night. From here it was a good day’s run, 
taking the road to the west, through Miandrivazo to Belo-sur- 
Tsiribihina—a small west-coast town supporting an hotel and a 
convenient base for excursions to the forest I wished to explore. 
At Belo I soon discovered that a Catholic priest, when driving 
through the forest at night, had sometimes seen a Giant Rat cross 
the road. He said it was well known to the Sakalava natives, living 
in the forest villages south of Belo, under the name of Voalavo 
Voutsotse. It was encouraging to get apparently authentic news, 
so soon after my arrival, of an animal thought to be extinct. How- 
ever, there remained the problem of catching an obviously rare 
forest-dwelling creature with nocturnal habits. 
My first piece of good fortune was being able to borrow a 
shotgun from one of the local missionaries. With this I planned 
to shoot through the open windscreen any Giant Rats that might 
cross our path while cruising along the forest road at night in 
the car. It was at best a wild gamble, but if it came off it would 
save me weeks of hunting and setting traps in the forest under- 
growth. 
The Tsiribihina River is wide near its mouth and Belo is situ- 
ated on the north bank, whereas the habitat of the Giant Rat is 
some twelve miles to the south. This meant resorting to the labori- 
ously slow ferry—a rather primitive raft-like construction sup- 
ported by three large dugout canoes, which was propelled by punt 
poles in shallow water and paddles in deep. The crossing was con- 
siderably lengthened as the difficult terrain had necessitated the 
approaches on opposite banks being constructed on a diagonal 
course. Added to this, the ferry-boat was usually on the opposite 
side, or had just left, when one arrived at the river, so an allow- 
ance of nearly an hour was often necessary for the crossing. 
We set off one night after an early dinner to get across by night- 
