1894.] MR. J. T. LAST ON THE BONES OF .EPYORNIS. 125 



shells of more than one species, with a few fragments of iEpyornis- 

 bones and a variety of vertebral bones, some of which must have 

 belonged to other animals than those named above. All these 

 were found between the grey marl and the limestone. The place 

 abounds with fossils ; but one would be led to judge that the 

 creatures had not died where the fossil remains are now found, 

 but rather that they had died at a distance, and that the bones, 

 being set free by decomposition of the body, had been carried 

 dowm to their present positions by heavy rainfalls or other means. 

 If this was really the case, it would account for the jumbled-up 

 manner in which the fossils are found, and would also give a 

 reason why we did not find a skeleton intact. 



For nearly a year I made Manansua my head-quarters, journey- 

 ing into the country in different directions as opportunity occurred. 

 By this means, and from native report, I was able to learn a great 

 deal about the nature of the surrounding country. It seems, 

 from what I saw, that a great deal of the country to the south 

 and east of Manansua was formerly covered with a number of 

 small lakes. These slowly became dry, from two causes — first by 

 being gradually silted up from the surrounding higher ground, and 

 also by the water, when the lakes were full, cutting its way out 

 through the soft sandstone rocks, until a passage was formed 

 which allowed the whole of it to escape. Crocodiles abounded in 

 these lakes, as their descendants do in the lakes which remain. 

 A small kind of Hippopotamus and a large Tortoise lived about 

 the lakes and near country ; these have left nothing but their 

 fossilized bones to show that they once existed. 



By talking -with the king and people about these fossil remains, I 

 learnt that they were in no way confined to the Manansua district, 

 but were to be found all over the country to the N.E. along the 

 Sakamare Biver — at Ilunti, more north, and beyond in the Bara 

 country, still farther north. In times of peace the Antinosi and 

 Bara tribes interchange visits. Some men who had been there were 

 working for me, and told me they had seen the same kind of bones 

 in the Bara country. The natives have no knowledge of the 

 creatures of which these fossils are the remains, and if asked, 

 generally say they are the bones of the Pang'ani, a mythical 

 creature, in whose existence most of the Malagasy tribes firmly 

 believe. 



From Befatiiri (an Antinosi king, living at Kiliarivo, to the 

 N.W., and whom I met several times) I learnt that there are 

 several bogs in his district, with fossil bones in them, and judging 

 from the manner in which he described some of the long bones, I 

 think it quite possible that some remains of the iEpyornis have been 

 turned out by the natives whilst working in their gardens. He 

 much wanted me to go and visit him at his town, but I could not 

 get the opportunity. 



Passing thence to the valley of the Taheza River one comes to 

 another piece of country where there are a number of silted-up 

 lakes, now dry and used as rice-gardens. Here again, undoubtedly, 



