MARKET DAY 181 



quantity of provisions brought for us and our bearers ; baskets 

 of rice, geese, fowls, yams, and a large fat pig (a most unwilling 

 offering he was, and loudly protested against the whole business). 

 In a formal speech, as soon as silence could be obtained, the 

 Governor offered these things to us, saying that the provisions 

 presented were not theirs, but the Queen's, the Prime Minister's, 

 etc., etc., while they only took charge of it all (a polite and loyal 

 fiction, by the way, meaning nothing). We found a comfort- 

 able (if somewhat airy) bedroom in the spacious chapel, which 

 formed a pleasant contrast to the confinement of our little tent 

 of eleven feet square. 



The next day, Thursday, was market-day, and a number of 

 people from the country were collected together buying and 

 selling on an open piece of rising ground to the south of the 

 town. The morning we devoted to inspecting the place, 

 ascertaining the number of houses, and taking bearings, obser- 

 vations and photographs from a point half-a-mile to the east of 

 the market. Our proceedings caused intense interest, as the 

 camera, theodolite, etc., were carried past ; business came to a 

 standstill for some time, and a glance at the crowd through the 

 field-glass showed rows of dark faces all turned in our direction, 

 intently watching our mysterious proceedings. We afterwards 

 walked through the market, hoping -to find some articles of 

 food or manufacture new to us ; but there was not much that 

 differed from what may be seen every day in Imerina. In fruit 

 I fancied I had found something new viz. what appeared like 

 a kind of small banana with black skin ; but more minute 

 inspection showed that the supposed fruits were small fish from 

 the lake, smoke-dried, strung on a strong reed. Some large 

 wooden spoons with tin ornaments on the handles reminded me 

 of those made by the Betsileo. Bananas, very large and fine, 

 seemed the most plentiful fruit ; sugar-cane grows to a great 

 size, ten to twelve feet high ; and from what we saw all round 

 Antsihanaka it appeared a most fertile district, with rich 

 alluvial soil ; were the whole marsh drained and brought under 

 cultivation, as the marshy plain to the west and north-west of 

 the capital has been, it would support a population many times 

 greater than that which inhabits Imerina. All round Am- 

 batondrazaka many hundred acres of the level are occupied by 

 rice-fields, and it is the same in the neighbourhood of all the 



