260 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
narive, who informed me that he was not in touch with the new 
Governor-General and therefore did not know what the position 
was regarding British subjects. I suggested that it was his duty 
to find out, but he insisted that I should make direct application 
to the Governor-General. 
With no alternative I wrote to him asking permission to leave 
the country. In doing so I explained that I had come to Mada- 
gascar on a zoological mission by permission of the Ministry of 
Colonies in Paris, and that I had only limited funds which would 
shortly be exhausted, and I would then not even be in a position 
to pay my fare. 
In his reply he said that he regretted that, under the existing 
circumstances, he was unable to grant me permission to leave 
the island. 
I thereupon approached the British Consul once again, who in- 
formed me that communications with the British Government 
were cut, and that he could not help me in any way. 
I was thus a prisoner of war at large, with the disadvantage that 
I was obliged somehow to keep myself. 
The position, at least, was clarified, and I was determined not 
to waste time and money by staying in Tananarive. It was cheaper 
and much more interesting to do some exploring, so with plenty 
of time on my hands IJ set off again for Ihosy to do some further 
researches on Macrotarsomys—the Madagascar Gerbil. Although 
having obtained a few odd specimens, I felt that the information 
I had gathered about the animal was very meager and that I had 
only found the fringe of its real habitat. 
Two days’ march from Thosy brought me to the scene of my 
former hunting ground, but this time I pushed on for about an- 
other six miles and settled in the Bara village of Ataratra. From 
there I set out daily to the distant range of hills in the east. 
During the first fortnight I captured three more specimens of 
Macrotarsomys, found to be inhabiting similar situations to those 
caught previously. By this time I had worked out the whole range 
of hills to the most northerly point where it merges into the 
plains, and judging by the result obtained it seemed that Macro- 
tarsomys must be on the verge of extinction, for I had thoroughly 
inspected every likely dwelling-place. Up to the present there was 
