174 VISITS TO MADAGASCAE. chap. vii. 



gascar, the Urania speciosa, or Traveller's Tree. It is not 

 easy to imagine, still less to describe, the appearance of a 

 somewhat distant, and oval-shaped mountain crested along 

 its summit, as it appeared to us on one part of the way, by 

 these stately trees, looking like a long line of gigantic Indian 

 sachems, with their helmets of radiated feathers, shown in 

 strongly-marked outline against the western sky. 



It was dark before we reached Eangazava, a small village 

 by the sea-side, where we halted for the night. One room, 

 about twenty or twenty-five feet square, the whole inside of a 

 native house, served the purposes of sitting-room, sleeping- 

 room, and kitchen. Here I developed the pictures I had 

 taken on my way, and found them come out tolerably well. 

 In the meantime a fire was kindled between stones fixed on a 

 heap of sand, the edges of which were kept up by pieces of 

 wood. A large, shallow, round earthen pot was then put on 

 to boil rice in, and a piece of beef, which we had brought 

 with us, spitted on a stick, was fixed by the side of the fire 

 to roast or broil. As soon as the rice was cooked the tea- 

 kettle was put on, and by the time it boiled the meat was 

 cooked. I was amused to see the interest and aptitude with 

 which my friend, a portly chief more than six feet high, over- 

 looked and directed the cooking of the evening meal. 



After supper the chief gave me a clean mat, and taking off 

 my shoes and using my carpet-bag for a pillow I lay doAvn to 

 rest, and though for a time the smoke affected my eyes I ob- 

 tained a few hours' sleep. 



By five o'clock the next morning we were stirring, and on 

 our journey again before six. Our road this morning con- 

 tinued for the first eight or ten miles along the edge of the 

 sea. Travelling here appeared exceedingly fatiguing. The 

 men's feet sank deep into the sand at every step, except when 

 they walked close to the water, where the footing was firmer ; 

 but here they were sometimes above their knees in water 



