28 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
Tiie temperature of the province of Ankova, in which 
the capital is situated, is agreeable to a European, the 
greatest heat being about 85°, and the lowest 40°; and 
though during the chief part of the day, viz. from nine in 
the morning to four in the afternoon, it is often sultry, the 
mornings and evenings are always pleasant. In the winter 
months, or from May to October, when the ground is occa¬ 
sionally covered with hoar-frost, the thermometer frequently 
does not rise above 44° for several days in succession. At 
other seasons, the fluctuations in the heat of the atmo¬ 
sphere are extreme and sudden. Often in the morning 
the thermometer is at 40°, or even at 38°, and rises to 
75° or 80° between two and three o’clock in the afternoon 
of the same day. The difference in the temperature, how¬ 
ever, is much less than that which is experienced in the 
salubrity of the climate in different portions of Madagascar. 
The inhospitality of the whole coast, with but few excep¬ 
tions, is extremely prejudicial to health, and affects the 
natives not born in those parts, and foreigners, in nearly 
an equal degree. 
The miasma pervading the atmosphere over the greater 
part of the coast, during the whole of the summer months, 
has proved so fatal to the colonists or settlers from 
France, who have at different times attempted to establish 
themselves in the country, and to the Dutch, who have 
visited it for traffic, as to render the not inappropriate 
designation of the Isle of St. Mary’s. “ the grave of the 
French,” “ the churchyard ” or “ dead island ” of the 
Dutch, applicable to the coast of the greater part of the 
island. 
The malaria which engenders the destructive fever, is 
supposed to arise from the decomposition of vegetable 
substances in contact with stagnant water. The mouths of 
