MADAGASCAR (III) ey 
for hours on end in a lorry along hot dusty roads, and then having 
to do all one’s own catering, is not the sort of thing one would 
normally choose to do while in a feverish condition, but to accom- 
plish anything in Madagascar it is necessary to regard such trials 
in a light-hearted manner. 
In 1941, apart from the scarcity of motor transport due to petrol 
shortages and lack of spare parts, travel in the island, especially 
for foreigners, became an ordeal because of the political situation. 
The newspapers maintained a flow of anti-British propaganda, 
and many officials and civilians who were formerly friendly to- 
wards British subjects became aloof or openly hostile, either 
through conviction or through fear of the consequences of being 
otherwise. 
In this unpleasant atmosphere I went to Tulear in the south- 
west, little knowing that in the coastal regions the police were in 
a state of nerves owing to the supposed imminence of a British at- 
tack. At the time of my visit, there were no English people in 
Tulear, so my arrival caused a slight sensation. I was questioned 
at great length by the police, and all my movements were 
watched. 
Apart from this, the shops were empty, and so the supplies most 
needed for a long stay in the bush, such as tinned milk, tinned 
vegetables, and dried fruits, etc., were unobtainable. Also I had 
received no money from England for over twelve months owing 
to restrictions in force. 
My idea of going to the southwest was to try to discover some- 
thing further of the distribution of Macrotarsomys. Having found 
it in one dry forest of the west, I thought it probable that it might 
extend to all the deciduous forests of the west and southwest. 
At this time Tulear was far more accessible than most places 
on the west as it was linked with Tananarive by a weekly motor- 
bus service. It had the additional advantage of being over two 
hundred and fifty miles from my previous collecting places in the 
west, with several intervening natural barriers in the way of large 
rivers, thus offering an interesting locality in which to study dis- 
tribution, and variation brought about by isolation over a long 
period. 
