60 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
fell a victim to the Malagasy fever, and died at the 
capital. 
Among the reptiles of the island are lizards, scorpions, 
centipedes, and several kinds of spiders, called hala. 
Serpents abound in the woods, and other places in which 
this reptile is usually found; and though few, if any of 
them, are venomous, some are large, probably of the boa 
constrictor kind, and have been known to destroy wild 
cattle. 
The serpents, as well as the hawks and other birds, feed 
on the crocodile’s eggs, which are exceedingly numerous; 
and the ravages which these commit among the eggs, as 
well as the diminution of number occasioned by the croco¬ 
diles themselves, who, as already stated, devour, with a 
voracity unusual even amongst the lowest orders of animal 
creation, their own young, prevent their becoming so numer¬ 
ous as to destroy almost every other living creature in the 
vicinity of the regions to which they resort. Among the 
several varieties of lizards which prevail in the island, the 
chameleon is found; and the insect tribes of Madagascar 
comprehend the valuable silkworm and the brilliant firefly. 
In a general description of the island of Madagascar, it 
would have been improper to have omitted altogether its 
natural history; but our means have been such as to allow 
us only to notice, with great brevity, some of the most pro¬ 
minent and general or useful objects in its several depart¬ 
ments. 
