208 
MADAGASCAR. 
seized by the Sakalava, stripped to the skin, and 
placed out in the broiling tropical sun upon the 
sea-shore, where his father found him on his re¬ 
turn in a state of terrible suffering. 
This coast has been imperfectly surveyed as 
yet, and the navigation is therefore very dan¬ 
gerous ; whilst the natives are by no means well 
disposed or to be trusted in cases of shipwreck, 
as they are unscrupulous and cruel, and cowardly 
and treacherous in the extreme. It is very pleas¬ 
ing to have to explain that this is by no means 
the character of the Malagasy generally. They 
are mild, inoffensive, affectionate, and faithful,— 
a little suspicious, perhaps, of strangers at first, 
but ever sensible of kindness, and ready to re¬ 
ciprocate all good services rendered them by 
others. I can only say that, as far as my per¬ 
sonal experience goes, I never met with greater 
attention or kinder treatment than that which I 
was fortunate enough to experience during my 
sojourn amongst this people as “ a stranger in a 
strange land.” 
The most striking mountain range in the Bara 
land is that of Menarahaka, which, rising into pro¬ 
minence in 22° lat., runs southward as far as 22° 
30'. These mountains are unlike any other that I 
have ever seen on the central plateau. They pre¬ 
sent nothing of the rounded forms which charac¬ 
terise the mountains of Betsileo and Imerina, with 
