BEFORONA 61 



have been the beds of ancient lakes, now dried up, the highest 

 mountains do not rise to great altitudes. The massif of 

 Ankaratra, which forms the south-western boundary of 

 Imerina, the home of the Hova tribe, does not quite reach nine 

 thousand feet in height above the sea. Until quite recently 

 the summits of Ankaratra were always supposed to be the 

 highest points of the island, but it has lately been discovered 

 that there is a mountain called Amboro, about eighty miles from 

 the northernmost point, which is still higher, being nine thou- 

 sand four hundred feet above sea-level. On my return to the 

 coast in 1867 I found how much less difficult the journey from 

 Antananarivo to Andovoranto was than that in the opposite 

 direction, owing, of course, to our descending nearly five 

 thousand feet instead of ascending the same. 



Beforona is situated in an almost circular valley, with a river 

 running through it and surrounded by forest-covered hills. The 

 village, like most in this part of the country, has the houses 

 arranged in a square. Their floors are generally raised a foot 

 or two above the surface of the ground, and are formed of bark, 

 beaten out flat and laid on bamboos. The framing and roof 

 are made of poles or bamboo, filled in with the stalks of the 

 traveller's tree, and thatched with leaves of the same tree. In 

 the centre of these village squares was a flagstaff, and in others 

 a pole with the skulls and horns of bullocks fixed to it. These 

 are mostly memorials of the x festivities connected with the last 

 observance of the circumcision ceremonies, which are very 

 important events with all the Malagasy tribes. We had a visit 

 from the wife of the chief of the village, who brought us a 

 present of fowls and rice. 



After resting a while we strolled along one of the streams 

 with our guns, to try to obtain specimens of some of the birds 

 peculiar to the neighbourhood. On OUT way back we observed 

 some boys using an instrument called tslrika, with which they 

 were able to kill small birds. It consists of a long and straight 

 palm stem, taken from a small and beautiful palm with a stem 

 resembling a bamboo. A small arrow, tipped with an iron 

 point, is inserted and is discharged by blowing at the larger end. 

 About three inches of the end has wool to fill up the aperture 

 and prevent any windage. They use this blow-gun with great 

 precision and can strike a mark at a considerable distance. A 



