TAMARIND-TREES 295 



time of our journey. Among these are three species of fly- 

 catcher, one of which is called the " changeable," from the 

 remarkable changes of colour it undergoes according to its age 

 and sex. The female bird is entirely of reddish-brown, except 

 the cap and nape, which are dark green. The young male has 

 during the first month the same livery as the female, but its 

 plumage soon changes to a beautiful maroon red ; then very 

 soon the two middle tail feathers become greatly lengthened, 

 the quills being black with a white fringe ; the wing coverts 

 become partly black and partly white ; and the feathers of the 

 head change to dark green, with brilliant metallic reflections. 

 At the breeding-time the back and throat take the same tints 

 as the head, and the belly and breast become white. 



We stopped for lunch at a low rising ground, a few feet above 

 the water, at a grove of Madlro or tamarind-trees, and under 

 one of these we spread our meal. It was a magnificent tree, 

 shapely and rounded in outline like a great oak or chestnut, 

 the branches spreading over a circle of a hundred feet in dia- 

 meter and touching the ground. The foliage was then rather 

 thin, the leaves being minute, like those of a mimosa, and the 

 ground was strewed with them, as well as with the pods of the 

 fruit. Most of these were dry and worthless, but we got many 

 fresh enough to eat, and their acid dark red pulp was very 

 refreshing. Mr Baron believes the tamarind-tree to be truly 

 indigenous to Madagascar, but only in the western region, 

 which he thinks forms its original home. The seeds were, and 

 probably still are, employed in the sikldy, or divination ; and a 

 decoction from the leaves as a medicine. 



About an hour after leaving our stopping-place we came to the 

 junction with the Be"tsib6ka, the latter being strongly coloured 

 with red clay from North Imerina. What impressed us most 

 this afternoon was the total absence of population on the banks 

 of this large river, and it appeared strange that immense tracts 

 of such apparently fertile country should be uninhabited ; it 

 was different from the crowded villages along the Matitanana 

 and Mananara and other rivers in South-east Madagascar. 

 In the afternoon the beautiful fan-palm became very plentiful, 

 growing in extensive groves and mingled with the other 

 trees. Stopping for the night by a sand-bank, we made 

 the canoe fast to a stake and proceeded to put up the tents. 



