148 CYCLONES 



brothers in the forest. These were found, and surrounded by 

 a search-party one night, but easily eluded their pursuers, 

 jumping from tree to tree and running on all-fours. The 

 captured man died five months after being taken (see Proc. 

 Roy. Geogr. Soc., May 1889). 



The central part of the Indian Ocean is well known as the 

 region of cyclones, and these dreaded storms often include in 

 their revolving course the islands of Mauritius and Reunion, and 

 occasionally touch the eastern shores of Madagascar. A notable 

 example of this was the cyclone of November 1912, which 

 stranded the s.s. Salazie, and wrecked Diego-Suarez and many 

 villages in the north of the island. It is very seldom, however, 

 that these storms reach the interior ; but in the month of 

 February 1876 a cyclone did ascend to the upper region 

 of the island and did considerable damage. With my wife and 

 children I was staying for a holiday at that time at Andranga- 

 loaka, a small village on the edge of the upper forest, but five or 

 six miles south of Ankeramadinika, where our good friend, Dr 

 A. Davidson, had a country house, which he often placed at the 

 disposal of ourselves and other friends ; and never shall we 

 forget the experiences of that night of peril. 



It was a Sunday evening and the sun set with a radiance which 

 covered the whole sky with a crimson glow, in a very remarkable 

 manner. We settled down after our evening meal for a little 

 reading aloud, but the wind rose rapidly, and after a time the 

 roar was so great that we could not go on. We found that its 

 violence increased, and at length we perceived that it was 

 slowly changing in its direction. We went to bed, but not to 

 sleep, for the rain poured in from the roof, and the howl of the 

 wind made sleep impossible. We lay trembling on our beds, 

 fearing every now and then, as a more violent burst shook the 

 house, that it would be blown down over us, and we buried in 

 its ruins. Such would have been the case, I believe, had not 

 the gables been built of burnt brick and strengthened by the 

 chimney-stacks. During the night the metal roofing of the 

 verandah was torn off with a fearful clatter, and soon after 

 dawn and how long that dawn seemed in coming ! the outer 

 roof of the house, which was of grass, fixed over the tiled roof, 

 was bodily seized by the wind and carried off altogether with 

 its timbers, with a great crash, and then we thought the house 



