MADAGASCAR 181 



one of them, however, it was already too late; internal inflam- 

 mation had set it, and he died after a week's illness. This was 

 my No. 1, a full-folded Rambouillet, bought from the French 

 jMational 'Bergerie. ' 



"I had, however, already looked round and found that between 

 the Mountains of Ambia, where I had settled, and the sea there' 

 was a region of beautiful pastures, covered with voln'ny ondry, 

 and my arrangements were complete to transfer the flock there. 



"This transfer was no small matter. What with two cart-loads 

 of purebreds, that were too lazy to walk and too valuable to 

 risk on the road, a load or two of lambs which were too young 

 to walk, and some three hundred ewes, most of them in lamb 

 or with young, the comparatively short trip — only about sixty 

 miles — took the best part of a week. The crossing of the 

 Mananare and of the Mandrare Rivers were the chief events. 

 The Mandrare is a broad but not very deep river, where the 

 native ewes had the opportunity of showing off their swimming 

 abilities, while the purebreds were passed in a native 'lakana,' 

 or pirogue, cut out of the trunk of a single tree. 



"This part of the country appears to be all that can be desired 

 for sheep. The grass is good, there is enough of bush to pro- 

 vide shade and shelter — very little or none of the thorny species 

 described above. There is practically no running water, but 

 a fair supply of good water can be secured underground by dig- 

 ging to a depth of from 20 to 40 ft. As the natives will under- 

 take to dig such a well for you at the contract price of three 

 young bullocks, and you can secure those for 30/- to £2 each, 

 the undertaking is not ruinous. Well water is, however, only 

 used here for domestic purposes, and sheep and cattle — except 

 cart oxen — are never given water. The fact is that the abun- 

 dant dew which they get on the grass in the morning is quite 

 sufficient for them. An abstemious breed has thus been evolved 

 under the special circumstances obtaining here, and this remark 

 applies to man as well as to animals. Many villagers have to 

 walk three hours or more to the nearest water, and yet they 

 remain on the hill or in the bush when they might, if they cared, 

 move nearer to a. well or a river. 



"The rainfall here is irregular, and the land being light and 

 sandy, T must provide for periods of drought. This I am 

 doing by sowang some of the various forage seeds which during 

 the last drought have proved so helpful in South Africa to the 

 few farmers who had sown them — phalaris bulbosa, paspalum 

 dilatatum, festuca elatior. I am also trying saltbush, teosinte, 

 cowpeas, and velvet beans. 



