70 THE HOVAS 



to be difficult of access, though the nest itself may be quite easy 

 to approach. From this conspicuous nest, and the sedate way 

 in which the takatra marches about seeking for its food, many 

 native superstitions have gathered about the bird, one of which 

 is that those who destroy its nest will become lepers. If the 

 sovereign's path was crossed by a takatra, it was considered 

 unlucky to proceed, and the royal procession had to retrace its 

 steps. Many native proverbs also refer to this bird. There are 

 also two other species of stork, one of which is always found 

 together with other shore birds ; it lives in companies of from 

 six to twelve individuals at river-mouths, feeding on Crustacea 

 and mulluscs, from which habit comes its name of Famdkiakora 

 or " shell-breaker.*' 



We were now nearing the country of the Hovas, and could see 

 an evident difference in the appearance of the inhabitants. 

 They were lighter in colour and had longer and straighter hair 

 than the coast tribes. But owing to the fashion, at that time, 

 of both sexes wearing their hair done up in a number of knots, 

 and from the apparent absence of whisker or beard, I was 

 sometimes puzzled to know at first sight whether the people we 

 passed were men or women ; and there was little difference in 

 dress, the Idmba being worn by both. Not only were the people 

 different in appearance to those we had mostly seen, but the 

 dwellings also had a much more civilised look. Several of the 

 houses at Amb6dinangavo were of the true Hova type, with 

 high-pitched roofs, made of strong timber framing and filled in, 

 for the walls, with thick upright planking, instead of the slight 

 bamboos and leaves of the coast and forest houses. Some had 

 boarded floors and had a room in the roof; and the crossed 

 rafters at the gables were carried up for two or three feet above 

 the ridge. The house in which I stayed had a much more 

 comfortable appearance than any I had been in before, having 

 two rooms on the ground floor, the walls covered with matting, 

 and there were actually chairs ! a luxury I had not experienced 

 since leaving Tamatave. I felt that I was getting near civilisa- 

 tion again. 



While dinner was preparing I strolled out into a ravine near 

 the house and was struck with the beauty and variety of the 

 insects, as indeed I had been in many parts of the journey. 

 There were butterflies of gorgeous hues, dragonflies, crimson, 



