92 DAYS AND NIGHTS 



the greater heat of the coast. M. Goudot says that the perfect 

 insect attains a length of an inch and a half, and that these also 

 emit small drops of clear and limpid water. 



Towards the beginning of December the earlier crop of rice 

 comes into ear ; and should the rains fall as usual during 

 November, the remaining portions of the great rice-plain will be 

 all planted out with the later crop, the whole of the level and its 

 branching valleys presenting an unbroken expanse of green. 

 Of this, the early rice shows distinctly as a darker shade of 

 colour, although it will soon begin to turn yellow, as the grain 

 ripens under the steady heat and the plentiful rainfall. Perhaps 

 this is the time when Betsimitatatra is seen in its most attractive 

 and beautiful aspect, for every part of it is covered with rice in 

 some stage or other of growth and cultivation. 



To anyone coming for the first time into a tropical country 

 from England, the comparative uniformity in the length of the 

 days and nights throughout the year seems very strange. In 

 Imerina there is only about two hours' difference in the length 

 of the longest day, about Christmas, and the shortest day, early 

 in July. It is dark at about seven o'clock on the first of 

 January, and at about six o'clock on the first of July. Thus 

 we have no long evenings, which are such a delight in the 

 summer months in England ; but, on the other hand, we escape 

 the long nights and the short gloomy days of the English winter. 

 We lose also the long twilights of the temperate zone, although 

 I have never seen the almost instantaneous darkness following 

 sunset which one sometimes reads about. There is a twilight 

 of from fifteen to twenty minutes' duration in this part of Mada- 

 gascar. While, therefore, we miss the much greater variety of 

 the seasons in England, we have many compensations, especi- 

 ally in the very much larger proportion of bright sunny days, 

 the clear skies, and the pure atmosphere of our Imerina climate. 

 Very seldom have we a wet morning in any part of the year ; and 

 the heat is not more oppressive than it is in hot summers in 

 England, while in the cold season the sharp keen air is bracing 

 and health-giving. We never see snow in Madagascar, but a 

 thin film of ice is very occasionally seen on the slopes of the 

 Ankaratra mountains in July and August. 



It may be interesting to notice at this point the numerous 

 words used by the Malagasy to indicate the different times of 



