A MAGNIFICENT VIEW 219 



north of the mountain. I noticed a white line a foot or two 

 above the surface of the water all round the foot of the cliffs, 

 showing a probably higher level than at the time of our visit. 

 It was popularly supposed to be unfathomable, but some years 

 after my visit the Rev. Johannes Johnson, of the Norwegian 

 Mission, sounded the lake in three places. The deepest portion 

 was found to be at the northern end, where it proved to be 

 four hundred and seventy-four feet in depth. 



Walking round to the southern end of the crater edge, the 

 lake, here foreshortened, has a somewhat close resemblance in 

 outline to that of the lake of Galilee, as seen on maps ; but 

 I must confess that the first sight of it in its deep chasm made 

 me think much more of the other lake of Palestine, the Dead 

 Sea, in its profound gorge between the Judean hills and the 

 highlands of Moab. After making a slight pencil sketch or two, 

 I proceeded up the far higher saddle-back ridge on the western 

 side. Here the lake seems much diminished in size and lying 

 far down at an awful depth. But a magnificent and extensive 

 view is gained of the surrounding country : the long flat- 

 topped lines of hill to the east running many miles north and 

 south, and surmounted directly east by the two perfect cones 

 of old volcanoes ; the peaked and jagged range of Vdlom- 

 bdrona to the south-east ; the enormous mass of Ibity to the 

 south, and then west, a flat region broken by abrupt hills. 

 To the north-west are the thickly populated valleys towards 

 Betafo, with many a cup-shaped hill and mountain marking 

 old volcanic vents ; and beyond this a high mass of country 

 with serrated outline against the sky, showing the district of 

 Vavavato ; and finally, coming to due north, is the varied 

 grouping of the hills, which form the southern termination of 

 the central mountain mass of Ankaratra. Between us and 

 these again is the extensive plain of Antsirab, with the white 

 walls and gables of the church and the mission buildings plainly 

 visible in the bright sunhsine, although ten or twelve miles 

 distant altogether, a panorama long to be remembered. 

 From this point also the significance and appropriateness of the 

 name given to the old volcano is clearly seen ; for Tritriva is 

 apparently a combination of the words tritry, a word used to 

 describe the ridge on the back of a chameleon or a fish, and 

 iva, low, deep ; so that the name very happily describes the 



