CHAPTER XVIII 



SOUTHWARDS TO BETSILEO AND THE SOUTH-EAST COAST 



A FEW years ago I was invited by the Friends' Foreign 

 Missionary Association to accompany one of their 

 missionaries, Mr Louis Street, on a journey to some 

 of the southern portions of Madagascar. The object of this 

 journey was twofold : firstly, to visit the scattered Christian 

 congregations connected with the London Missionary Society, 

 and to preach to and teach the people ; and secondly, to gain 

 some more accurate information as to the geography and 

 physical features of the south-eastern provinces, and the 

 dialects and customs of the different tribes inhabiting those 

 parts of the great island. At that period (in the seventies) 

 Madagascar was still unmapped and only very partially 

 explored. A very large proportion of the country was still 

 a terra incognita ; so that missionary journeys away from the 

 neighbourhood of the capital had all the charm of novelty 

 and exploration. Its physical geography, its geology, and its 

 botany and natural history were all practically unknown ; so 

 I looked forward with intense interest to seeing new provinces 

 and new people ; nor was I disappointed in this expectation. 



Like all journeys in Madagascar until about twelve years ago, 

 this one was made by the native conveyance, the filanjdna or 

 light palanquin (see Chapters II. and III.), and also, as will be 

 seen, by frequent voyages in canoes. And although filanjdna 

 travelling, like all sublunary things, had its drawbacks, I 

 always enjoyed that mode of getting over the ground. But in 

 setting off on a journey which was to last for several weeks, it 

 was not always easy to get started. You might engage your 

 men for two or three weeks beforehand ; you might advance 

 money to keep a hold on them ; you might even induce them 

 to deposit a small sum with you as security ; but one was 

 never quite sure that every man had arrived, and was going 

 along with you, until one had got clear away at least half-a- 



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