80 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
dresses. Their process is slow and tedious, but the cloth 
manufactured is firm and durable. The country, though 
large, is not populous, and is also far from being healthy; 
a Malagasy fever prevails extensively. The houses are 
mere huts, and generally excessively dirty. Very little has 
yet been attempted for the civilization or improvement of 
the inhabitants of this part of the island. 
The high road toTananarivo from Mahavelona, in which 
Foule Pointe is situated, lies through the province of 
Antsianaka. The province is intersected by a part of the 
great forest of Alamazaotra. There is also a beautiful lake 
in this province, called Anosy, having an island in its centre, 
and a village occupying the highest part of the island. 
The province of Ankay , the nineteenth, lies to the 
south of Antsianaka, and to the west of Ankova. It is 
a narrow strip of the interior of the country, and is 
sometimes called Antankay. Its inhabitants are called 
Bezanozano; a people of independent spirit, and formerly 
among the most turbulent and anarchical in the island; 
anarchical is, in fact, the signification of the name Bezano¬ 
zano. The inhabitants are not numerous, and the villages 
are small. Cattle and poultry are abundant; rice is largely 
cultivated. The people are, however, generally poor and 
dirty, and much addicted to divination and idols. The 
dialect spoken, like that of Antsianaka, being strongly nasal, 
resembles that of the coast more than that of the adjoining 
inland province of Ankova. 
The scenery of many parts of Ankay is extremely beau¬ 
tiful and picturesque. The province consists principally of 
an extensive plain, situated between lofty hills, and watered 
by the fine river Mangoro, which runs eastward to Anteva. 
West of this river is a mountain called Ifody, covered for 
the most part with a forest: it commands an extensive view 
