440 Visits to Madagascar. chap. xti. 



The rain increased, and the path became so slippery that I 

 more than once requested the men to let me get down and 

 walk, even in the rain. But they said my weight was small, 

 and I could never get on on foot. Light as the weight was, 

 it required the whole eight bearers great part of the way, not 

 so much to sustain the load as to keep the palanquin upright, 

 and to pilot it up and down the steep and sometimes intricate 

 paths. A young chief kept before the palanquin great part 

 of the way, striking a spear into the high, steep loam or clayey 

 sides of the path, and causing the loose soil to fall and spread 

 like sand or fine gravel over the smooth, slippery path, and 

 thus to prevent the feet of the bearers from sliding from under 

 them. The rain continued, and the low or level parts of the 

 way were overflowed ; but we were still able to keep on. I 

 admired the skill, address, and care of the bearers, while I 

 could not help feeling some anxiety for their safety as well as 

 my own. 



When a short space of comparatively level or easy path 

 allowed me to look round, I was somewhat tantalised to see 

 fine patches of novel-looking ferns, or other new kinds of plants, 

 some of which I had noticed on my way up, requesting my 

 attendants to mark the spots where they grew. And there 

 they were looking as fresh and attractive as ever ; but I was 

 obliged to leave them, with the hope that some future 

 traveller might pass through the forest in more favourable 

 weather, and secure what I was compelled to relinquish ; for 

 I had not the heart to ask the men to stop in the heavy rain, 

 for the sake of allowing me to obtain what to them would 

 seem but a common weed, or perhaps a useless bunch of 

 berries. ^ 



After seven hours' toilsome travelling, we reached a few 

 woodcutters' huts, where we stopped to prepare breakfast. 

 The rain still fell heavily; but after resting a little more than 

 an hour, we travelled on to a few huts at a place called 



