CHAP. XI. BEAUTIFUL LAKE SCENERY. 285 



the side towards the interior were often rocky and steep, pre- 

 senting in some places marks upon the rocks high above the 

 water, which appeared to indicate the level of the water at 

 some former period. The rocks themselves appeared to be 

 sandstone, but above these in several places along the shore, 

 and in the neighbourhood, the upper parts of the high ground 

 seemed to consist of loose sand, resembling that spread along 

 the edge of the lake, which consisted chiefly of pulverised 

 quartz. 



The vegetation on the borders of the lake presented greater 

 variety than I had previously witnessed. Mangroves, mag- 

 nolias, palmistes, two or three species of pandanus, one of 

 them trifoliated and exceedingly graceful in its habit, with the 

 broad-leaved traveller's tree, were all gro-wdng together. The 

 whole was enlivened by the frequent appearance of the plant 

 with a petunia shaped flower, which I had met with on the 

 previous day, and which, with its scarlet and pink flowers, 

 looked not unlike a large species of azalea covered with blos- 

 soms. The angrsBCum was abundant, and this in full flower, 

 as well as the large bird's nest ferns, might sometimes be seen 

 at the end of the trunk of a dead tree that stretched its 

 crooked length twenty or thirty feet over the w^ater. 



Towards noon we reached the end of the lake Imoasa, and 

 landed at a place bearing the not very inviting name of An- 

 davaka-menarana, hole of serpents. The rain had now 

 ceased, and while the men were preparing the breakfast I 

 could not resist the temptation to explore the adjacent wood. 

 A cluster of long, jointed, slender stalked shrubs growing by 

 the side of a stream, and bearing clusters of pendulous flowers 

 beautifully white, and larger and longer in the tube than 

 the Stejphanotus fioribunda, first attracted my attention ; but 

 I searched in vain for seeds. The chief rarity I met with 

 was a climbing plant with leaf and stalk somewhat resemb- 

 ling vanilla, or Dendrobium chrysantheum ; but on closer 



