206 
MADAGASCAR. 
finds itself freed from about a sixth part of the 
load and downward pressure which it has sus¬ 
tained at the sea-level. Being freed from the 
pressure, it expands, and becomes intrinsically 
rarer, and, being rarer, it is incapable of support¬ 
ing its original burden of vapour. Accordingly, 
the vapour first gathers as mist, then thickens as 
cloud, and finally deposits as rain,—the deposit 
being accompanied by electrical disturbances and 
thunder. After a time this disturbance so drains 
the air of its superfluous moisture that the atmos¬ 
phere clears, and the sunshine resumes its fervent 
sway, when the same state of affairs is brought 
back, and the same course is again entered upon. 
Hence the conditions of the west and east coast 
are essentially different; and whilst the east 
coast is humid, exposed to storms, and always 
under the uncontrolled blasts and gusts of the 
Indian Ocean, the west coast is sheltered, dry, 
and more equable in temperature. 
Few Europeans have settled in the western 
division of the island, which is chiefly peopled 
by the Sakctlava, who have never really been 
brought within the softening influences of civil¬ 
isation. The French have always had consider¬ 
able influence with these people, with whom 
they have entered into treaties, and carried 
on commercial relations for a number of years 
past. The Sakalava are less kindly disposed 
