HINTS TO TRAVELLERS. 
305 
cumulating store of useful knowledge as to tlie 
physical conformation of the country, and the 
manners and habits of the people, by taking 
notes, and preserving a record of his observations. 
The maps which are at present available are in 
most cases unreliable; and, in fact, till a care¬ 
fully constructed chart was put out at the capital 
in 1877 by Mr Johnson, based upon the excel¬ 
lent map of M. Grandidier, the explorer was 
without any really trustworthy guide to the 
various districts and points of interest up and 
down the country. A cursory examination of 
some of the earlier maps of Madagascar reveals 
an amusing disregard, on the part of the first 
delineators of the physical features of the island, 
of distances, or facts. Provinces are marked out 
with the greatest precision, rivers are drawn, 
hills are noted, and mountain-ranges with strik¬ 
ing regularity intersect the country in all direc¬ 
tions. One can only at first wonder at and ad¬ 
mire the marvellous energy and detailed know¬ 
ledge of the island which such maps seemed to 
imply on the part of their constructors. But 
should any unfortunate traveller have followed 
the guidance of any of these remarkable charts, 
he has soon found, to his cost, that they are rather 
imaginative than true. The Antsihanaka (north¬ 
east central) would be found on the north-west 
coast, near Mojanga, the chief port on the channel 
u 
