310 VISITS TO MADAGASCAK. chap. xu. 



tiful. In some directions were seen the hollows of the nearest 

 valleys, with their grass or thatched houses, composing their 

 straggling villages, having the gardens and rice-grounds of 

 the natives around them. Beyond these the marshes or swamps 

 appeared in several places, together with cattle feeding on the 

 higher ground : the sides of the hills were clothed with wood, 

 and the tops of the mountains apparently composed of masses 

 of granite. In other directions, a dense white cloud, or 

 vapour, stretched across the valleys, concealing all they con- 

 tained, and only leaving visible the summits of the loftier 

 mountains. Vegetation was still abundant, though not so 

 luxuriant as in the region over which we had travelled. The 

 soil, as seen on the banks of the rivers, or by the steep and 

 freshly broken sides of the ravines, was of yellow or pink 

 clay, with fragments of quartz intermingled to a great depth. 

 About nine o'clock we reached Ampasimbe, one of the 

 government post stations. Before, I had finished my break- 

 fast, a good fat bullock was driven near the door. A chief 

 came, and, pointing to the animal, told me it was a present 

 which he had been directed to make to me, from Eainibehe- 

 vitra, the chief at Tamatave ; I gratefully acknowledged the 

 present, and then told Izaro to have it slaughtered for the 

 men. Off the men went, without needing another word, 

 surrounded the animal, and, after chasing and dodging for 

 some time, with one or two ineffectual attempts to hold it by 

 the horns and the tail, a number of them seized and threw it 

 down by main force, and then, fastening ropes to its horns 

 and legs, led it to the place of slaughter. It was soon killed 

 and cut up, each portion being distributed with the skin on ; 

 for, excepting at Tamatave, where the skin sells for a dollar 

 in the market, they never think of skinning their bullocks, 

 and frequently cook their beef with the skin on it. Pieces of 

 skin cut up, mixed with fat, and boiled till it forms a kind 

 of jelly, is said to be a favourite dish. A piece of the ribs. 



