ANCIENT TOWNS 113 



The aspect of vegetation, except in the rice-fields, can hardly 

 be said to change much during the autumn months. A plant 

 with pale yellow flowers may be noticed by thousands in marshy 

 grounds, giving quite a mass of colour in many places. A 

 significant name given to autumn is Menahitra i.e. " the 

 grass is red " that is, turning brown. 



WINTER : MAY, JUNE, JULY AND AUGUST. As already 

 mentioned in the introductory sentences of the previous chapter, 

 winter in central Madagascar is very different from winter in 

 England. We have no snow, nor is there any native word for 

 it, for even the highest peaks of Ankaratra are too low for snow 

 to fall on them ; we never see ice (although adventurous 

 foreigners have once or twice seen a thin film of it on pools on 

 the highest hillsides) ; hoar-frost, however, is not uncommon, 

 and occasionally the leaves of some species of vegetables, as well 

 as those of the banana, turn black with the keen night air. And 

 since there is no rain during our Imerina winter, the paths are 

 dry, and it is the best time for making long journeys, especially 

 as there is little to be feared from fever when going about at this 

 season of the year. Winter is therefore a pleasant tune ; the 

 skies are generally clear, the air is fresh and invigorating, and to 

 the cool and bracing temperature of the winter months is 

 doubtless largely due the health and strength which many 

 Europeans enjoy for years together in the central provinces of 

 Madagascar. 



The long period without rain at this season naturally dries 

 up the grass, and the hills and downs become parched and 

 brown. Maintdny i.e. " the earth is dry " is one of the native 

 names for this season, and it is very appropriate to the condition 

 of things in general. The rice-fields lie fallow, affording a scanty 

 supply of grass for the cattle ; and many short cuts can be 

 made across them in various directions, for the beaten track over 

 embankments, great and small, may be safely left for the dry 

 and level plain. 



In travelling about Imerina, and indeed in the southern 

 central provinces as well, one cannot help noticing the evidences 

 of ancient towns and villages on the summits of a large number 

 of the high hills. These are not picturesque ruins, or remains 

 of buildings, but are the deep fosses cut in the hard red soil, 

 often three or four, one within the other, by which these old 

 H 



