MADAGASCAR (III) 267 
side of the island to carry out a survey of the nocturnal mammals. 
I had no illusions as to the difficulties of getting there. It became 
more and more evident that having one’s own car is the only satis- 
factory way of exploring Madagascar. In this case I had to rely on 
whatever transport was available on different parts of the route. 
The journey, which took a fortnight, was more tiring than I 
had ever imagined owing to numerous breakdowns and punc- 
tures. Once when we were about a hundred miles from any town, 
one of the back wheels of our lorry fell to pieces, leaving the body 
resting in the road. With characteristic lack of foresight the driver 
had forgotten to bring a spare wheel. Eventually I managed to 
get another lorry, but as we were nearing Morondava the driver, 
by going too fast, lost control and we crashed into the forest at 
full speed. Fortunately no one was killed although some of the 
native passengers were badly knocked about. 
On the route across the central plateau there is no hotel, and no 
provision whatsoever is made for European travelers. I had to 
sleep in the back of the lorry on top of sacks of merchandise and 
machinery. After the heat and dust coupled with the lack of food 
and water, it was a great relief to be comfortably installed in the 
hotel at Morondava. 
Here I had the good fortune to meet the owner of a timber 
concession at Beroboka, the village near which I had previously 
collected specimens of the Giant Rat, and as his house in the 
forest was temporarily vacant he put it at my disposal. I was very 
glad of the opportunity to reside in the heart of this forest in order 
to explore it thoroughly, and so after a few days in Morondava I 
made the forty-mile trip north to take up my new abode. 
This deciduous forest is a great contrast to the evergreen rain- 
forests of the east. In it there are practically no epiphytes or any 
other vegetation that favors moist or shady conditions. Leeches 
are also absent, but this blessing is more than counterbalanced 
by the lack of shade in the dry season, and by the bloodthirsty 
diurnal mosquitoes. 
I made a systematic search for small rodents and my first im- 
pression, as I trudged mile after mile through this flat forest 
carpeted with dead leaves, was that I should be extremely unlikely 
