254 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
of one large village summoning the entire population, who 
squatted solemnly on the ground while he gave a long discourse 
on the object of my visit and a vivid description of the beast I was 
trying to track down. A tremendous discussion followed and it 
seemed that everyone was talking at once, but the outcome of it all 
was that no such animal had ever been seen in the district. This, 
of course, did not deter me from carrying out my plans, so I 
searched the plains systematically until we were some twenty-five 
miles north of Ihosy. As there was still nothing forthcoming I 
moved farther to the west to explore the range of high hills, and 
in order to be as near as possible I camped at the hamlet of 
Ambararatra, about four miles distant. 
One of the chief difficulties in exploring Madagascar is that the 
native porters hate to sleep away from a village. So great is their 
belief in spirits, witches, brigands, and the like, that without the 
feeling of security afforded by a hut they become quite terrified. 
They are very superstitious and have numbers of taboos. 
There is no doubt that my daily excursions to the hills, which 
I took alone, caused some uneasiness among the natives, for as 
soon as I had departed they uséd to squat on the outskirts of the 
village and watch me out of sight, and there they would sit for 
hours until I came into view again. 
The Bara people use these secluded hills as burial grounds. The 
tombs are situated sometimes miles apart, on any prominent point 
where there happen to be enough large stones with which to 
construct them. These are piled up in brick-like formation. Some- 
times natural cavities under large boulders of rock, sealed up with 
stones, serve the same purpose, but in most of these the skeleton 
is disclosed through subsidence caused by heavy rain. 
As I never once encountered any natives on these hills it is 
probably taboo for them to visit such places except during burial 
ceremonies. I felt very much alone in these eerie surroundings and 
not too comfortable at the thought that, in the minds of the 
natives, I was doubtless disturbing the spirits of their forefathers 
and would thus be blamed for any sickness or other misfortune 
befalling any of the local inhabitants. 
These grass-covered hills with their rocks, loose stones, and oc- 
casional huge boulders, remind one of the kopjes so typical of 
