314 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. cuap. xii. 



over, formed a perfectly circular arch. I also saw a bam- 

 boo growing as a creeper, with small short joints feathered 

 with slender leafy branches at every joint, and stretching in 

 festoons from tree to tree along the side of the road, or 

 hanging suspended in single lines from a projecting branch, 

 and swinging gently with the passing breeze. The appear- 

 ance of the bamboo when growing is exceedingly graceful. 

 Sometimes the canes, as thick as a man's arm at the base, 

 rise forty or fifty feet high, fringed at the joints, which are 

 two or three feet apart, with short branches of long, lance- 

 shaped leaves. The smaller kinds, which abound most in 

 this region, are still more elegant; and the waving of the 

 canes, with their attenuated, but feathery-looking points, 

 bending down like a plume, and the tremulous quivering, 

 even in the slightest breeze, of their long, slender leaves, 

 present ever- varying aspects of beauty; and, combined with 

 the bright green colour of the bamboo cane and leaf, impart 

 an indescribable charm to the entire landscape. 



I had seen in South Africa patches of bamboo, which were 

 said to yield considerable profit to their owners, by furnishing 

 handles for the whips with which the African waggon-driver 

 keeps his long team of oxen in order. But handles for the 

 whips of all the waggon-drivers upon earth, and rods for all 

 the anglers in the world, might be taken from the regions 

 through which we were passing without being missed. The 

 fences in this part of the country are formed with the bamboo, 

 and the walls, and even the floors, of the generality of houses 

 are of the same material. The roofs of these houses are 

 covered with grass. 



Our road was now steep, rugged, slippery, and more diffi- 

 cult than any we had before passed over, and it was noon 

 before we reached Marozivongy, a small village situated in a 

 hollow, where we halted for breakfast. The people were 

 hospitable. The mistress of the house at which we stopped 



