302 A FIERCE ANIMAL 



pandanus giving them ample protection, as it is at night when 

 they leave this shelter, and go in search of food. l 



Although we saw no villages during this day's voyage, there 

 was evidence of some population, in people fishing along the 

 river bank, canoes moored by the shore, and women drawing 

 water, carefully avoiding going into the stream, and filling 

 their vessels with a small gourd fastened to a long bamboo. 

 The scenery also was more varied, there being lines of low hills, 

 partly covered with wood, and the banks of the river lined with 

 large trees. 



Our third day's voyage took us again along a very beautiful 

 extent of park-like scenery. All yesterday afternoon we were 

 gradually approaching a long line of blue hills running north - 

 north-west and south-south-east, and this morning we got 

 nearer to them. They appeared to be about a thousand feet 

 high, and almost covered with dense forest, with patches of 

 rock and red clay showing here and there. Landing at noon 

 for lunch among magnificent trees, I noticed that these were 

 swarming with ants, which covered the trunks and devoured 

 every fruit as soon as it became ripe. 



During this journey to the north-west, we saw no mammals 

 except herds of oxen ; but as there are a few others, it will be 

 fitting here to say something about the largest carnivorous 

 animal found in the island, especially as this district is its 

 special habitat. This creature is called by the people, Fbsa 

 (Cryptoprocta ferox), and although small is very ferocious, as its 

 specific name denotes. The fosa differs from most of the 

 felidae by the greater elongation of the body, including the 

 head, and it is plantigrade, like the bears, and not digitigrade, 

 like the majority of the cats. In its structure it resembles the 

 jaguar, and in its colouring the puma, indeed it is very like a 

 small jaguar, as it has thick glossy fur of a tawny-brown, which 

 becomes somewhat darker under the body. Its total length 

 is four feet eight inches, but of this the tail occupies two feet 

 two inches, and it stands about one foot three inches high. For 

 its size, the animal is powerful, but it is not dangerous to man, 

 except when it is wounded, or at the breeding season. It is 

 destructive to poultry and small animals, and it is able to emit 

 a very fetid odour from an anal pouch, with which fowls are 

 said to be killed. Examples of the f6sa have been seen in the 



