120 
MADAGASCAR. 
However difficult it may be to get bearers on 
the coast for journeys in other directions, and 
even for short distances, on account of the difficul¬ 
ties or the danger which attends, or is supposed 
to attend, the opening up of new tracks, along 
which the men have never before travelled, there 
is no such hindrance in the way of a visit to 
Antananarivo. The men are always delighted 
at the prospect of a journey up to Imerina, and 
as they are certain to have plenty of society on 
the well-known path, they start up the river 
from Andevoranto, where the road strikes inland 
from the coast, and where the actual journey to 
the capital commences, with an alacrity as 
amusing as it is often inconvenient. Utensils 
for cooking on the way; bedding, or, better still, 
a strong grass hammock ; spare clothing for a 
change after being drenched, as often happens 
during a sudden storm; and all the odds and 
ends which an explorer gradually gathers about 
him,—have to be packed securely in handy deal 
cases, and lashed firmly to stout bamboo poles, 
for portage upon men’s shoulders. Stores have 
to be overhauled, necessaries replenished, and 
the bars, bolts, and straps of the Jilanjdna have 
to be thoroughly overhauled at the first halting- 
place, Maromby,—as, once on the way, there is 
little possibility of renewing anything wffiich may 
be exhausted, or of supplying anything which 
