176 ANT-HILLS 



two belts of forest which run down the eastern side of Madagascar. 

 Far to the north in the dim distance we could just see the 

 southern portion of the Antsihanaka plain. A very steep 

 descent, first down an exceedingly rugged kind of stone staircase, 

 and then through dense wood, hardly allowing passage for the 

 palanquin in several places, brought us down to a charming 

 valley between two great spurs of the hills. After about an 

 hour more we came to a little village, where we were glad to get 

 some rest and food after six or seven hours' hard travelling. 

 The aneroid informed us that we had descended more than 

 one thousand two hundred feet from the summit of the hill, and 

 about seven hundred feet from the upper plateau of Imerina. 

 We had to pitch the tent in the open plain that night, for a 

 village of which we had heard, and had expected to be a good- 

 sized place, proved to be only a collection of eight or nine 

 miserable huts, scattered about in twos and threes. 



The following day our journey northward was over a pleasant 

 undulating country, but almost entirely uninhabited ; here and 

 there were solitary houses far apart from each other, but no 

 villages. On the bare downs we frequently came across ant- 

 hills, about two feet high and formed of the greyish soil. It is 

 said by the people all over the island that a serpent called 

 Renivitsika (i.e. " mother of ants ") is enticed by these ants 

 into its nest, and is then fattened, killed and eaten by them. 

 The Hova in the centre of the island, the Betsileo in the south, 

 the Sakalava in the west, and Sihanaka in the north-east, all 

 affirm that this is a fact ; and it seems difficult to doubt their 

 united testimony. After a long ride of six hours we at last 

 came to a group of six or seven houses called Andranokobaka, 

 where we rested for a time and had tiffin. This place appeared 

 to be the first of the Sihanaka villages from the south. There 

 was an evident difference in the appearance of the people ; the 

 women reminded me of the Be tsimisaraka on the east coast, and 

 both men and women had their hair plaited in a great number 

 of little ropes ending in a knot, and hanging loosely all round 

 the head. The women and children, even those who had no 

 kind of clothing, all had some kind of ornament : necklaces^ of 

 red beads or silver chains, and armlets of silver, a sErilmig con- 

 trast to the lower class of Hovas, who only put on ornaments 

 on extraordinary occasions. The village smelt strongly of 



