250 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
three days’ march north of Ihosy on the path to Midongy-de- 
Ouest. It received the scientific name of Macrotarsomys bastardi 
in honor of its discoverer. 
It would have meant a long detour to the Bara town of Ihosy 
had I proceeded on foot northward to the type locality of this 
small rodent, so I decided for convenience to do some exploring 
from the northern end of the native path that links Midongy with 
Ihosy, a distance of about one hundred miles. Midongy lies a 
few miles south of the east-west route and is accessible by one 
route only. At the end of this one finds oneself in a quaint village 
perched many hundred feet above the surrounding country with 
precipitous rocky buttresses on three sides. It supports a small 
garrison of soldiers, a Norwegian Mission, a Chef de Canton, and 
a gite d’étape or rest-house, more sumptuous than most, having 
all the necessary furniture to make one feel comfortable. 
After two days at Midongy, all was ready for the departure 
south. Leaving my driver behind, I set off by palanquin with the 
usual eight bearers and two more carrying baggage. Seeing that 
the rate of pay, fixed by government, was then only the equivalent 
of sixpence a day per person, plus rice, it seemed a very cheap 
form of travel, in spite of being limited to fifteen to twenty miles 
a day. Indeed it was, so long as one was on the move, but in col- 
lecting off the beaten track one may spend weeks using the various 
villages as headquarters when one’s bearers are doing nothing, 
and this may easily treble the cost of transport. 
We left by the road zig-zagging rapidly downhill and then took 
the palanquin path that bends round the base of the great rocky 
massif that supports Midongy. After some hours we were well 
clear of this and began alternately rising to the crest of a hill and 
then descending to the valley below. 
The first night I spent in a village gite d’étape and soon learned 
that but for an occasional visit from the missionary at Midongy, 
it was rare for these people to see a white man. It was uneventful 
except that my sleep was disturbed so much by fleas that I was 
quite thankful to be up and off at daybreak. 
On the second day’s march I spent much of the time walking 
some distance on one side of the track looking for rodent holes 
as I went, and I also got my bearers to inquire at any hamlet we 
