206 BEAUTY OF THE GRASS 



We got in at ten o'clock, all very wet with the heavy drizzle, 

 but we were soon comfortably settled in the chapel, and got 

 our things dried in the sun. We were again most kindly 

 received by the officers and the congregation there, but we were 

 obliged to leave soon, so as to get back to Antananarivo for some 

 important engagements. On consultation with our bearers, we 

 found that they were willing to make a long journey for a day 

 or two (encouraged also thereto by promises of an extra day's 

 pay), so that we might get quickly over the uninhabited country, 

 and reach Anjozorobe by Saturday afternoon. So we left Am- 

 batondrazaka at midday and arrived at Mangantany by sunset. 

 Again were we charmed with the varied scenery of the route, 

 and especially by the grasses, about which I have already spoken 

 in this chapter, and which Dr Mullens graphically describes in 

 a passage which may well conclude this account of our Antsi- 

 hanaka journey. He says : 



" I received the impression, afterwards repeatedly con- 

 firmed, that one of the most beautiful things to be 

 found in Madagascar is its grass. It is beautiful in the 

 sheltered valleys, where the tender blades, enriched by the 

 dew and the rain, are refreshing to the eye, and yield like 

 velvet to the foot. But here the grass is in its glory on the 

 great hills. Burnt year after year by long sweeping fires, it 

 springs up again with a profusion which clasps huge rocks within 

 its soft embrace. Here it is short but strong ; there it rises in 

 vast tufts, each of which contains many thousand blades and 

 covers many feet of ground ; and yet again it spreads over vast 

 patches of country in thick, tall masses, which tower above 

 men's heads, open their tinted blades to the warm sun, and 

 wave their myriads of golden feathers in the summer winds. 

 And it is when we contemplate this rich but simple provision of 

 the divine bounty, when we watch these masses of slender 

 blades, each tuft a forest in itself, clothing with beauty what 

 man has neglected, laying up store for man and beast, opening 

 their golden hair to the dews by night and the warm winds by 

 day, and joyously revelling in the life given them from above, 

 that then we can, with Mr Ruskin, appreciate and share the 

 admiration and the praise given by the Psalmist to Him ' Who 

 maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains.' " 3 



