— 68 — 



the western side of this volcano ; there was apparently 

 no outflow of lava. 



After seeing these interesting volcanic pheno- 

 mena, Mr. Baron was led to examine more closely the 

 stones lying about in the neighbourhood, at a distance 

 of four or five miles from the craters, and he found 

 that a large fragment of apparently detached lava and 

 scoriae were to be seen in every direction, and that at 

 Ambohidratrimo itself the ejected matter was lying 

 about on the ground, though no where was it so 

 abundant as it is in some part of Vakin, Ankaratra. 

 More over, in taking a careful view of the hill round 

 about, Mr. Baron saw numerous oval and circular 

 depression with the sides completely worn down as is 

 frequently the case with volcanoes. But it is dangerous 

 to make positive assertions without closer inspect- 

 ion into the character of such depressions. As for the 

 state and the sinter, a further search among these 

 deposits would doubtless unearth the fossil remains 

 or impression of other organisms, which might throw 

 some light on the past geological history of Imerina, 

 of which as yet so little is known. 



The six craters described above, though of much 

 smaller dimensions than those in Vakin, Ankaratra, 

 are situated on apparently ordinary tanety. Probably 

 they are what Dr. Geikie calls " explosion craters " 

 and sir Charles Lyell " lake craters," At least the 

 description which the latter gives of the Pliocene 

 Volcanoes of the Eifel might to a great extent be 



