76 " THE HEART OF IMERINA " 



"time of bareness " when the grass becomes dry and withered, 

 from June to August. 



Taking therefore the seasons in order, from the beginning, not 

 of January, which gives no natural division of the year, but 

 from the early part of September, when the blossoms of the trees 

 speak of the " good time coming " of renewed verdure, I shall 

 note down, in their succession, the varying aspects of the 

 country, in climate, vegetation, and culture of the soil, as well 

 as the animal life, throughout the changing year. 



Before, however, proceeding to do this, it may give greater 

 distinctness to the mental picture I want to draw for those who 

 have never been in Madagascar, if I try to describe in a few 

 words the appearance of this central province of the island, 

 especially of that portion of it which is in the neighbourhood of 

 the capital. From the usually pure and clear air of this elevated 

 region, which is not defiled by the smoke of chimneys, nor often 

 thickened by the mists of the lowlands, one can see for extra- 

 ordinary distances, and hills and rocks twenty or thirty miles 

 away stand out more sharp and distinct than they would usually 

 do in England at only four or five miles' distance. 



Let us go up to the highest point of the long rocky ridge on 

 and around which Antananarivo is built, from which we can 

 " view the landscape o'er," and try and gain a clear notion of 

 this " heart of Imerina," as it is often called by the Malagasy. 

 The city hill reaches the greatest elevation at a point called 

 Ambohimitsimbina i.e. " Hill of regarding " which is seven 

 hundred feet above the general level of the rice-plains around it. 

 From this " coign of vantage " there is of course a very ex- 

 tensive view in every direction, and we see at once that the 

 surrounding country is very mountainous. East and south 

 there is little but hills of all shapes and sizes to be seen, except 

 along the valleys of the river Ik6pa and its tributaries, which 

 come from the edge of the upper forest, thirty miles or so away 

 to the east. To the north the country is more undulating, but 

 at ten or twelve miles away high hills and moors close in the 

 view, some of the hills rising into mountains. The country is 

 everywhere in these directions, except in the river valleys, 

 covered with red soil of various shades of colour, through which 

 the granite and gneiss foundations protrude at almost every 

 elevated point in huge boulder-like rocks, and form the 



