130 SIHANAKA. 



the rest is called hay, a word denoting that which is not 

 forest or marsh, but the low rising-grounds between the two 

 which are free from wood. There is some reason for suppos- 

 ing that these people are allied to the Betsimisaraka tribes 

 of the eastern coast, and that they advanced from the coast 

 to the interior up the valley of the river ]\Ianing6ry (by 

 which the Alaotra communicates with the sea), and then 

 settled on the edges of the plain, as their villages are most 

 numerous around the north-eastern bays of the lake, while 

 there is a large tract of fertile country to the south of them 

 which is almost entirely uninhabited. In the early part of 

 this century the Sihauaka were conquered by the Hovas, 

 after a severe struggle, but for many years they have quietly 

 submitted to Hova authority, and their two chief towns 

 are garrisoned by officers and soldiers from the central 

 province. 



As may be imagined from its marshy character and its 

 warm climate, Antsihanaka is a very unhealthy part of 

 Madagascar, but it is exceedingly fertile, and most kinds of 

 vegetable produce grow most luxuriantly, sugar-cane and the 

 papyrus {zozdrd) growing to double the height and size they 

 attain in Imerina. The people are largely employed in tend- 

 ing cattle, immense numbers of which find rich pasture in 

 the moist levels. Many of these herds belong to the wealthy 

 people of Antananarivo : one noble is said to have nearly 

 ten thousand cattle ; there are others who have five thou- 

 sand, many own a thousand, and the majority of th© people 

 liave at least one hundred. Many of the Sihanaka also get 

 wealth by catching and selling the abundant fish of the lake 

 and other waters of the district. Until very recently all 

 selling was done by barter, but now money is coming into 

 use. In their rice-culture they do not dig the soil or trans- 

 plant the young rice-plants, as do the other tribes, but drive 

 their oxen over ground upon which water has been allowed 

 to flow, and sow in the soft mud produced by the trampling 

 of the animals. The rice is not stored in pits, as in Imerina, 

 but in immense circular baskets, twenty to thirty feet in 

 diameter, and about eight feet high. These are kept in their 

 compounds or in the fields, and are roofed over. The people 



