6 PREFACE 



can promise that there is in Madagascar enough and to spare 

 to delight the eye and to charm the imagination. 



I confess that I am one of those who take much more delight 

 in silently watching the birds and their pretty ways in some 

 quiet nook in the woods, than in shooting them to add a speci- 

 men to a museum ; andthat I feel somewhat of a pang in catching 

 even a butterfly, and would much rather observe its lovely 

 colours in life, as it unfolds them to the sunshine, than study it 

 impaled on a pin in a cabinet. No doubt collections are 

 necessary, but I have never cared to make them myself. 



Nothing is here recorded but facts which have come under 

 my own observation or as related by friends and others whose 

 authority is unquestionable. And while my main object is to 

 convey a vivid and true impression of the animal and vegetable 

 life of Madagascar, I have also given many sketches of what is 

 curious and interesting in the habits and customs of the Mala- 

 gasy people, among whom I have travelled repeatedly, and 

 with whom I have lived for many years. I have no pretensions 

 to be a scientific naturalist or botanist, I have only been a careful 

 observer of the beautiful and wonderful things that I have seen 

 and I have constantly noted down what many others have 

 observed, and have here included information which they have 

 given in the following pages. 



I have long wished that someone far more competent than 

 myself would write a popular book upon the natural history 

 and botany of this great island ; but as I have not yet heard 

 of any such, I venture with some diffidence to add this book 

 to the large amount of literature already existing about Mada- 

 gascar, but none of it exactly filling this place. For many 

 years I edited, together with my late friend and colleague, 

 the Rev. R. Baron, the numbers of The Antananarivo Annual, 

 a publication which was " a record of information on the topo- 

 graphy and natural productions of Madagascar, and the cus- 

 toms, traditions, language and religious beliefs of its people," 

 and for which I was always on the lookout for facts of all kinds 



