276 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR chap. xi. 



creased by the wives and relations of the soldiers, bearers, and 

 others who accompanied our party from Tamatave. A leg 

 and part of the rump, and the tongue, were appropriated to 

 myself and my immediate attendants. A steak of this, a fish 

 from the adjacent lake, with rice and vegetables, and a cup 

 of tea, supplied me with an acceptable supper. 



After dusk, and during the greater part of the evening, the 

 chopping of fuel, and blazing of fires, each surrounded by per- 

 haps half-a-dozen cooks, some boiling rice, others broiling, 

 baking, or roasting their meat in one direction, the laughter 

 and mirth of those who were sitting on the ground at their 

 evening meal as seen in other directions, presented an aspect 

 of social life that can be but rarely witnessed ; and it attracted 

 my attention the more forcibly from this being the first time 

 I had found myself surrounded by so numerous a company 

 under similar circumstances. 



We were stirring by daylight the next morning. The men 

 went forward with the packages ; my attendant prepared a 

 cup of tea, which I took with a biscuit before leaving my 

 lodgings. One of my bearers was missing, but Sodra, a fine 

 strong tall young man, who had, in a manner somewhat re- 

 markable, voluntarily attached himself to me ever since my 

 arrival, had followed me from Tamatave, and now readily 

 completed their number. After arranging with the aide-de- 

 camp of the prince about the forwarding of letters, I took 

 leave of the friends who intended to return to Tamatave. 

 About eight o'clock we embarked in canoes upon the Hivon- 

 dro, a broad river, said to be greatly infested with crocodiles. 

 After proceeding by water two or three miles, we landed, and 

 travelled about ten miles, reaching the small village of Am- 

 balatambaca at eleven o'clock. 



The rain had fallen heavily during great part of the way, 

 but the rofia cloth forming the cover of my palanquin, thick- 

 ening -with the wet, had kept the inside perfectly dry. -On 

 the way I saw some splendid angi-aecums. The finest plants 



