CHAP. XI. GENERAL ASPECT OF THE HILLY COUNTRY. 295 



ground were enclosed, and planted. Under cultivation it 

 scarcely was, for, in the rich black earth, the weeds and 

 brushwood grew with such rapidity and strength, as almost 

 to dispute with the crops possession of the soil ; and, but for 

 the clusters of banana trees, with their large bunches of 

 fruit, or the rows of sugar-cane, fifteen or eighteen feet high, 

 and occasional patches of strong, rank tobacco plants, the 

 whole was so overgrown with bushes and creepers, as to re- 

 semble an uncleared waste more than a garden. Here were 

 a number of large erythrina trees in full blossom. I also 

 saw the Aleurites triloba, or candle-nut tree, as well as other 

 old South-Sea Island acquaintances, but most of the trees and 

 flowers were new to me. 



When the weather was fine I usually walked during the 

 early part of the day, both for the sake of relieving the 

 bearers, and of observing the coimtry and its productions. 

 The road, however, had been too wet and slippery to allow 

 me to do so this morning, and we reached JNIanamboninahitra, 

 where we halted for breakfast at eleven o'clock, having tra- 

 velled about twelve miles. At noon we set out again, our 

 route continuing, according to the compass, a little to the 

 northward of west. 



The aspect of the country before us was now changed. 

 Lines of hills, with occasional breaks, stretched from north to 

 south, as far as the eye could reach. Few portions of these 

 lines rose to any great elevation above the rest, and no high 

 single moimtains were seen, but each succeeding range of 

 hills or mountains increased in elevation as well as distance : 

 the whole appearing like a series of serrated lines, one ex- 

 tending above the other, from the ridge we were crossing to 

 the last faint line of mountain tops which marked the far 

 distant horizon. The valleys were generally filled \\'ith luxu- 

 riant vegetation, and the hills covered with gi'ass, or cro^vned 

 'with forests. 



V 4 



