POPULOUS DISTRICTS. 143 



■many people in the Bara province as in Imerina. I feel 

 confident that there are far more people there than in the 

 Bi5tsildo ; and I think that half a million is the lowest figure 

 at which the population of the Bara could be estimated. It 

 may be more." 



Of four of the Sakalava tribes occupying the south and 

 south-west of the island, M. Grandidier reckons their 

 numbers unitedly as 150,000. This district is, however, 

 one of the least fertile portions of the western coast, and 

 therefore probably thinly peopled compared with the pro- 

 vinces to the north of them. The small province of 

 Angontsy (north-east coast) is given by another French 

 authority as having a population of 9000. 



The most populous districts in Madagascar are doubtless 

 the central province of Imerina — especially within a circle 

 of about twelve miles round the capital — and some portions 

 of the Betsileo province to the south. In these parts of the 

 country the extensive and fertile rice-plains provide food for 

 the large number of populous villages, as well as for the 

 chief towns of the two provinces. 



There are few large towns in Madagascar. The capital, 

 Antananarivo, is by far the most important place in the 

 country, and has a population of above 100,000 people. 



Fianarantsoa, the capital of the Betsileo, has about 5000 

 people. Then comes Tamatave, the chief port of the eastern 

 coast, with 6000 or 7000 inhabitants ; and then Mojang&, 

 holding the same position on the north-west coast, with about 

 1 4,000 people. There are very few towns besides with a popu- 

 lation of as many as 5000, and the majority of the villages 

 are small. Taking the places we saw in Antsihanaka, and 

 omitting the two chief towns, we found that they averaged 

 about forty-four houses each, but in many parts of the 

 country the number is much smaller than this. In the 

 Betsileo province great numbers of the houses are not 

 gathered together into villages, but are scattered over the 

 plains in groups of from three to six, and forming numberless 

 little homesteads near the rice-fields. 



