PREFACE. vii 



I have also to express my tlianks to H. W. Bates, Esq., 

 Assistant Secretary of the Eoyal Geographical Society, and 

 to the Council of that Society, for their readily-accorded 

 permission to use the physical sketch-map of Madagascar 

 from their Proceedings. I must also add that this map has 

 been slightly altered from the original sketch I supplied, 

 and in one or two points is not perfectly correct, particularly 

 in the cross-section. 



Three or four of the chapters of the book have already 

 appeared as separate papers in the Proceedings and Transac- 

 tions of various societies, the Eoyal Geographical Society, 

 The Anthropological Institute, The Folk-lore Society, as 

 •well as in Nature. 



Eemembering with gratitude the kindly reception given to 

 my former work, Madagascar and its People (E. T. S., 1870), 

 I trust that much of the information given in this second 

 book will not be without interest to many in this and in 

 other countries. 



J. S. Jr. 

 Forest Hill, November 1879. 



