MADAGASCAR (III)—CONTD. 289 
are adept at exploiting the less educated Malagasy and have be- 
come highly money-conscious, ready to take part in any racket. 
Their bodies are sun-starved through wearing too many clothes 
and a large percentage are consumptive. 
Immediately after my return to the capital I decided to visit a 
region entirely different from the one I had just left, and set out 
for Maroantsetra at the north end of Antongil Bay on the north- 
east coast. This necessitated a journey by rail to the port of 
Tamatave and then over two hundred miles by coastal road. As 
this had not been completed at the time of my visit I was com- 
pelled to do three days on foot. My stay in Maroantsetra was 
made delightful by the hospitality of Monsieur and Madame 
Tinayre, who allowed me to use their house as my headquarters. 
The coastal scenery of the northeast is magnificent, and the 
climate and vegetation are so different from that of the south that 
it is difficult to believe one is still on the same island. I had come 
straight from a region where there had been practically no rain 
for three years to one where it rains almost every day, and 
where the minimum annual rainfall is around 160 inches. 
I made several excursions to the forests around Maroantsetra, 
staying with woodcutters and living in native villages. In all, this 
occupied about eight weeks, during which time I got a most 
interesting collection of the small nocturnal mammals. The big- 
gest surprise was finding the Mole-like Tenrec, which had never 
been reported from near the coast. 
At the end of Antongil Bay lies the uninhabited island of 
Mangabe, about four miles from Maroantsetra. The Tinayres took 
me there by motorboat for a picnic and I was so enamored of the 
place that I got permission from the District Commissioner to stay 
there for a month. From the local jail I was allotted one Malagasy 
prisoner to accompany me and to do the daily chores. He was my 
sole companion. 
Mangabe Island, which is about three miles long, is of volcanic 
origin and rises to a thousand feet. It is covered with primitive 
forest and its precipitous slopes are scored with numerous narrow 
gorges down which streams find their way over the many bould- 
