196 CATCHING FISH 



reckon it by the number of these volovdry, of which the richer 

 Sihanaka have seven or eight or more. 



Catching fish in the lake and in the numerous streams and 

 pieces of water is the business of both men and women. The 

 men angle for eels, the women dredge for small fish in the 

 shallow water (using a kind of basket like a large sieve), and 

 the little children fish with bait. All the children have a tiny 

 canoe, in which they go fishing in the early morning from six 

 to nine o'clock, when they return home, for their small canoes 

 would be upset by the wind and waves as the day advances. 

 The women catch, by dredging, small fish called toho and also 

 shrimps. These they dry in the sun, sew up in baskets, and take 

 for sale to the markets, many people becoming wealthy by their 

 sale. Until a few years ago all sales were done by barter, for 

 little money was employed. And it is the custom for the men 

 not to bring home what they have caught, but to leave it by 

 the waterside for the women to fetch. 



There is abundance of tbaka (rum) made in Antsihanaka, and 

 its manufacture is the work of poor old men and women and 

 (formerly) of slaves. In every house it is to be found, for they 

 think it shows a want of respect to visitors if they have not 

 plenty of toaka to give them. Whatever be the business in 

 hand, whether funerals or rejoicings, nothing can be done with- 

 out drinking tbaka (see an earlier paragraph). 



We left Ambohijanahary on Tuesday morning and turned 

 eastward. Our road lay through low swampy ground, often 

 wading through water and floundering through bog. But there 

 was also a large extent of land covered with rice-fields, and we 

 passed several villages. We left the lines of hills, which come 

 down and terminate abruptly at the edge of the plain. Rain 

 fell during the last half of the journey and a thick mist shut 

 out everything from view ; there was water above and around, 

 and water and bog below, so it was the most uncomfortable of 

 all our journeys. The only objects to interest were the clouds 

 of birds, which flew over our heads in immense numbers in 

 every direction. Soon after ten o'clock we got to a village of 

 seventy or eighty houses, called very inappropriately, Am- 

 bohitsara (" good town "), for it was quite hi the swamp, 

 raised only a few inches above the level, and surrounded by 

 water, most of it stagnant. Here the people of the village, in 



