78 BAOBABS AND TAMARINDS. 



being pointed with sharp needle-like prickles, it is no pleasant 

 task for the bare-legged bearers to pass through a thicket of 

 these canes. They grow profusely along the banks of the 

 Ikiopa and Bt5tsiboka rivers, the long, feathery, grey heads of 

 flower giving a distinct character to the scenery of this part 

 of the country. Divested of their prickly leaves, these small 

 bamboos are very largely used for building purposes. 



One of the most common and striking plants seen along 

 the rivers of the eastern coast is the via, a gigantic arum 

 {A. costatum or A. colocasia), growing in dense masses along 

 the bank in the water. On the shores of the river Matita- 

 nana I found this arum seven or eight feet high, and it has 

 been seen as high as ten or twelve feet. It has thick fleshy 

 stems and leaf-stalks, and lily-like leaves two or three feet 

 long. The fruit and root are edible when cooked. 



On the western side of Madagascar the baobab tree 

 (Adansonia) is somewhat plentiful. It is called bontona, and 

 also mofom-bdrika, or " monkey's bread," from its small fruit 

 being eaten by the lemurs. This tree is immediately dis- 

 tinguished from others by its enormous bulk of trunk and 

 small spread of branches, which are bare of foliage during 

 several months of the year, and also by its shining dark- 

 brown bark. It is frequently seen from twenty to thirty feet 

 in diameter. 



On the same side of Madagascar, the tamarind tree is one 

 of the finest and most plentiful of the many beautiful trees 

 found in that wooded region. It attains a great size on the 

 banks of the chief rivers. During a canoe voyage down the 

 Ikiopa we encamped one day under the shadow of a magni- 

 ficent tamarind tree, one of a grove of these trees. The 

 branches, which swept the ground, covered a circle of nearly 

 ioo feet; but the foliage was very thin, as it consisted of 

 minute mimosa-like leaves, millions of which strewed the 

 ground, as well as hundreds of the dried fruits. These con- 

 sist of a long pod, containing several shining black seeds, 

 imbedded in a reddish-brown acid pulp. 



Mosses, Lianas, and Ferns. — In travelling through the 

 forests on the eastern side of Madagascar, I was struck with 

 the venerable aspect given to the trees in many places by 



