HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
45 
voromjago, vorompotsy—a white bird about the size of 
a pigeon or sea-gull; supposed to be a great favourite with 
the cattle, from the circumstance of its following the herds, 
and feeding on the insects found on the bodies of the 
oxen: vorompamo, voronakondro, (lit.) bird of the banana, 
being a blue and brown bird, the size of a pigeon : voron- 
drano, (lit.) of water: voronandro, (lit.)—of day: vorondolo, 
the abhorred owl: vorondoza, vorondreo—a blue bird of the 
desert, the size of a pigeon: vorondriaka—of the flood: 
vorondry, vorongo, voronkahaka — like a crow, with a 
white neck: voronkohy, voronosy-—of the goat: vorontiada, 
vorontiaka, vorontianomby—beloved by cattle: vorontsiloza 
—not dangerous or dreadful, a turkey. 
Although the quadrupeds of Madagascar extend to 
but few varieties, they comprehend the kinds most use¬ 
ful and essential to a nation in the early stages of its 
civilization. Horned cattle are numerous, both tame and 
wild. Many of the latter resemble, in shape and size, 
the cattle of Europe. The former are of the zebu, or 
buffalo kind, and have a large hump or bunch on the back 
between the shoulders. Herds of cattle constitute the 
principal wealth of a number of the chiefs or nobles of the 
island, and not only furnish a large portion of their means 
of subsistence, but are exported in great numbers to the 
Islands of Bourbon and Mauritius, and furnished to ship¬ 
ping visiting the coast for supplies. 
Individuals residing in the capital, who possess large 
herds of cattle, generally send them under the care of 
their slaves into some unenclosed part of the country, 
fifty or a hundred miles distant, where they are kept till 
required for the home market, or sent to the coast for 
sale or exportation. Many that are kept up and fed, 
resemble the prize animals of the English market, and 
