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CHAPTER II. 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. 
Stretched along the south-east coast of Africa, 
and separated from it only by the narrow channel 
of the Mozambique, the island of Madagascar 
occupies a prominent position upon the map of 
the world; and the attention of the student of 
geography is at once drawn to it by its peculiar 
elongated form, its strange name, and its vast 
irregular surface, scored and marked from end 
to end by lofty mountain-ranges, deep and often 
inaccessible ravines, broad tidal rivers, dense 
forest tracts, and the unique chain of fresh¬ 
water lakes, which afford excellent means of 
communication and transit for more than two 
hundred miles upon its eastern seaboard. 
The proximity of Madagascar to our South 
African colonies and dependencies, and the in¬ 
fluence which it may one day exercise over our 
Eastern commerce, either in impeding or develop¬ 
ing it, and the unwearying and persistent efforts 
4 * 
