CHAPTER XII 



RAMBLES IN THE UPPER FOREST 



THERE are a number of paths in the forest which may be 

 followed from the sanatorium, north, east and south, 

 and with a considerable variety of scene. But it is 

 easy to get lost in them, for I remember one day when a party 

 of us set out for a morning's walk, but could not find our way 

 back, although we often caught sight of the house ; and it was 

 late in the afternoon before we at length got home, very tired 

 and very hungry. Two of our friends, who were well acquainted 

 with the neighbourhood, were lost in paths not very far from 

 the sanatorium, and had to spend the night in the woods, 

 making as comfortable a resting-place as they could with 

 leaves and bracken, but getting no sleep from the multitude 

 of mosquitoes. And a curious circumstance was, that the 

 Malagasy from the house, who came out to seek for them, were 

 afraid either to shout out loud to them, or to show the lights 

 they carried, for fear of offending the lolo, or spirits, which they 

 think haunt the woods. Had they done either of these things, 

 our friends would probably have escaped being benighted. 

 Happily, the time of this adventure was in the dry season, or 

 it might have had serious consequences. 



From what has been said in Chapters IV. and V. about the 

 difficult paths through the chief forest, it is not strange that the 

 Malagasy have considerable dread of it and do not share in our 

 admiration of its beauties. So one of their proverbs says : 

 " Roa laky miditra ala : ka izy tokiko, ary izaho tokiny " that is, 

 " Two men entering the forest : it's ' He's my confidence, and 

 I am his ' " ; the fact is that both are afraid. It is to them the 

 " dark forest," full of mystery and fear, and it may easily be 

 imagined that before any practicable roads were made through 

 it, it had much to inspire dread. One of the native hymns, 

 often sung when the natives have friends going away to a 

 distance, prays for protection for them in the forest and also in 



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