MADAGASCAR (III) 265 
people who have from time immemorial led a stable communal 
existence at the lowest possible level, giving nothing and expect- 
ing nothing. He fails to see why the spending of vast sums of 
money in trying to change them to his way of life brings no 
response of gratitude but rather suspicion and distrust. 
An educated Malagasy once told me of a significant native 
proverb—“If the tree went on growing, the rats would eat the 
skies.” He explained that, to primitive people, the skies are the 
beginning and end of life. From them come the sun and the 
rain, and they harbor the spirits of their ancestors. The growing 
tree refers to what we consider progress. It is interesting from 
the European angle that the evolution of time, which has brought 
about the tribal system, has ingrained into primitive peoples the 
fact that while they remain primitive the tribe will remain in- 
destructible but that progress will mean its ultimate disintegra- 
tion. This is all too evident where tribal barriers have vanished 
and intermarriage has changed the peoples into a mongrel com- 
munity. 
From the high mountain forests of the Ihosy district I went 
some eighty miles to the east to visit the low-lying coastal forests. 
On the way one descends the steep escarpment to the coastal plains 
where the picturesque Traveler’s Palm is a feature of the land- 
scape. I reached the coast at the pleasant town of Farafangana, 
about three hundred miles south of the port of Tamatave. There 
is no hotel, so my few days’ stay was not much of a change from 
life in the bush as I had to do my own catering. 
From Farafangana I went twenty miles south to the village of 
Manombo, where the inhabitants are of the Antaifasy tribe. The 
forest here is very luxuriant and is only four miles from the sea. 
Here again superstition ruled the roost. I asked why, in view of 
the proximity of the sea, there was no fish available, and was told 
that on a certain date (determined by a phase of the moon) there 
would be plenty of fish, and that it would be dangerous to fish 
before this time. It was evident that there were fixed lucky and 
unlucky periods for fishing, and that no one dare make the at- 
tempt when custom decreed that it was taboo. 
The native fishing craft are outrigger canoes which are very safe 
