102 
MADAGASCAR. 
of the Ivondrona river is wide and open to the 
winds, and it is often a task of considerable peril 
to cross it in the miserable native boats, which 
are simply the trunks of large trees hollowed out 
by burning, and are easily swamped, and sink 
like lead in a moment when the water gets into 
them. They possess no buoyancy, on account of 
the iron-like texture of the wood from which 
they are made, and having no bulwarks, the 
waves easily wash over their shallow sides and 
produce a catastrophe. It is very necessary that 
all the details of the passages of these rivers 
should be seen to by the traveller himself, as the 
maromita are careless and venturesome, and all 
as a rule good swimmers, and are therefore in¬ 
different to the dangers which surround them at 
these times. 
On the arrival of a traveller at the Ivondrona 
ferry, a noisy scene of animated confusion arises ; 
and amid the fierce gesticulations and deafening 
clamours of rival ferrymen, he selects the craft 
which seems most likely to bear him safely over, 
and then allows himself to be carried in the 
arms of his bearers, and placed gently in the 
bottom of the seatless boat. To the stranger 
on his first visit to Madagascar, the whole scene 
is a novel and very interesting one. The canoe 
is probably twenty or thirty feet long, and about 
three feet wide. Into this narrow vessel some 
