68 THE BED OF A GREAT LAKE 



leaving him at the village, which he was to make his head- 

 quarters for some time while collecting natural history specimens 

 in the forest. The road was not nearly so difficult as on the 

 previous day, so that I had no need to alight from the palanquin 

 all the way to Ampasimpotsy, ^where I stayed to breakfast. 

 The hills were much more moderate in height, with a good deal 

 of open clearing, although the forest still continued on either 

 hand, but not in those dense masses of wood through which we 

 had passed the last three or four days. Leaving our halting- 

 place at noon, we gradually got clear of the woods, and early hi 

 the afternoon ascended a very high hill, from which we could 

 see a great distance both westward and eastward. Behind us 

 were the hills and valleys covered with forest through which 

 we had travelled, while in front stretched a great undulating 

 plain, bare and almost without a tree, except hi a few places, 

 where there were large circular patches of wood. This was the 

 plain of Ankay, which separates the two belts of forest, and is 

 the home of the Bezanozano tribe. Beyond this again, ten or 

 twelve miles away, was the upper forest, clothing the slopes and 

 summits of the edge of the interior highland. Careful examina- 

 tion of this region has shown that it was formerly the bed of a 

 great lake, from two to three hundred miles long, extending 

 from the present Lake Alaotra, farther north, and is its gradu- 

 ally diminishing remnant. Subsequent action of water has, 

 however, so cut up its former level that it now presents a very 

 uneven surface. 



It was dull travelling alone after the pleasant companionship 

 of a fellow-traveller ; and in making arrangements for meals, 

 etc., I felt how perfectly helpless a man is when he cannot 

 speak so as to be understood. I was a barbarian to my men, 

 and they were barbarians to me ; for my stock of Malagasy 

 words was very limited, and probably almost unintelligible as to 

 pronunciation, so that I was at a complete standstill for nearly 

 everything I wanted to say. We reached Moramanga, a rather 

 large village, at the commencement of the plain, soon after three 

 in the afternoon and there halted for the rest of the day. This 

 place was a military post of the Hova government, and on pass- 

 ing through passports were examined by the officer in charge. 



Next morning we were stirring early and left Moramanga 

 while it was yet dusk. There was a thick mist, and my men 



