VEGETATION OF THE INTERIOR. 8r 



forests would reveal many others new to science. Of this 

 class of plants Dr. Meller also says : " In the shady and moist 

 parts of the woods I found several plants with variegated 

 leaves — a Coleus with bright pink markings along the mid-rib 

 and veins, and a Sonerila with silvery intra-marginal mark- 

 ings ; another with white spots in a row, another with pink 

 dotting and lines. There were four herbs in these wood 1 ! 

 with beautiful leaves of variegated tints." 



Species of the pitcher-plant (Nepenthes) are said to be 

 found in southern portions of the island ; and a story is 

 related of a naval officer who was saved, if not actually from 

 death by thirst, at least from extreme exhaustion, by finding a 

 number of the natural vessels filled with water. 



Vegetation of the Interior Upland Region. — But I must not 

 linger longer in these attractive woods, with their delightful 

 recollections, but proceed to say something about the vegeta- 

 tion of the upper portions of Madagascar. 



These extensive plateaux of elevated land are very bare 

 of wood, except in the sheltered hollows and valleys of the 

 rivers ; but the hills on which many of the ancient towns 

 are built are often crowned with a number of old trees, which 

 show out conspicuous amongst the red clay hills and the bare 

 granite and basalt-capped mountains of Imerina. The most 

 beautiful and picturesque of these old towns is the former 

 capital, Ambohimanga. This old city is about twelve miles 

 north of the present capital ; it is on a triangular hill, some 

 400 feet high, and covered with wood from base to summit, 

 so that from time immemorial " the woods of Ambohimanga, 

 bending down in their growth," have been celebrated in the 

 songs of the native poets. 



The trees which crown the ancient towns are chiefly 

 dvidvy, a species of Ficus. They have much the shape and 

 appearance of elms ; they shed their leaves in the cold season, 

 and bear a small insipid fig. A finer tree than the dvidvy is 

 the amdntana, a magnificent tree with wide-spread gnarled 

 branches like an oak, but with large glossy leaves like those 

 of the India-rubber tree now so common in English houses, 

 to which tree it is closely allied. Numbers of the villages 

 are marked out by a couple or more of these fine trees, which 



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