250 A JUNGLE OF BAMBOO 



what looks like coarsely cut tobacco. The former owner tells 

 us that this charm has such virtue that a musket ball is turned 

 aside from the fortunate wearer. Many of the people carry 

 shields, .which are made of a circular piece of tough wood, about \ 

 eighteen inches in diameter and covered with undressed 

 bullocks' hide. A handle is cut out of the solid wood at the 

 back. The women in this Matitanana valley carry a broad 

 knife or chopper stuck in their girdles, and resembling in shape 

 a butcher's cleaver, with a short round handle ; this is used for 

 cutting up manioc and other roots. 



At one point on our route we passed through a dense jungle 

 of bamboo, requiring a bright look-out on the part of the 

 bearers and the borne as well to avoid damage from the 

 sharp-edged stumps underfoot, and the stems and tendrils over- 

 head. But the effect of the numberless thickly set, smooth, 

 jointed stems, like slender columns below, and the feathery 

 canopy of delicate green above, was both curious and beautiful. 

 At one little stream we passed some fine specimens of the hofa, 

 a screw-pine or pandanus, with the aerial roots in a cone-shaped 

 mass, rising five or six feet above the ground. A very common 

 tree about here is one with clusters of large leaves like those of 

 a horse-chestnut, and with a hard mottled green fruit as big as 

 a lemon, from which gum is made. 



In a small open space among the trees we passed by almost the 

 only sign we had yet seen of anything like religious observances 

 in the Tanala country. This was an upright stake in the 

 ground with a number of bamboos arranged round it, forming 

 a cone-shaped erection ; in front of this several stones were 

 fixed. At this rude altar the heads of cattle, fowls, etc., are 

 thrown as expiatory offerings ; and here also the people come 

 to pray for blessings which they desire, especially for children. 

 We also passed on another day a long flat stone supported by 

 several smaller ones, forming a sort of altar, and used for the 

 same kind of offerings as those just described. 



Following in the main the course of the river Matitanana, 

 we had frequently to cross its tributaries, and found we were 

 advancing in civilisation as we proceeded. First, we had a 

 single zdhitra to ferry us over ; then two zdhitra and a small 

 canoe ; then we got good-sized canoes. A little after leaving 

 the ferry we passed through a large clump of immense banana- 



