84 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
feet above the level of the surrounding rice grounds. The 
capital itself, Tananarivo, is situated on the summit of a 
long irregular hill, about five hundred feet high. The 
principal mountains in the three divisions of Ankova, 
are, Angavo to the east, Ankaratra to the south, Ambo- 
himiangara to the west, and Andringitra to the north, 
chiefly distinguished as the scene of legendary tales, re¬ 
counting the mighty achievements of giants, and other 
monstrous beings, supposed to belong to a fabulous age. 
The altars erected by former generations on the summits 
of these mountains, to the memory of such extraordinary 
personages, still exist, and are visited by the people as 
the appropriate places for prayer and sacrifice to the 
manes of the mighty dead. On the tops of some of 
these mountains, are still existing the vestiges of ancient 
villages. 
Altars are also met with throughout the whole of 
Ankova, and frequently the sites chosen for them are high 
places and groves. The usual name for these is, Vazimba, 
i. e. altars raised to the Vazimba, the supposed aborigines 
of the central parts of the island. 
Ankova, although it has few trees to improve or diversify 
its appearance, excepting the wild fig, which is met with 
in most of the villages, is bounded by forests to the north 
and east; the former separating the province from Antsia- 
naka, and the latter from Ankay. To its being thus clear 
of wood, and its consequently favouring the free circu¬ 
lation of the air, may in part be attributed the salubrity of 
Ankova, and the north of Betsileo, called Vakin-ankaratra, 
for here the Malagasy fever is as much an exotic, as it is 
indigenous almost every where else. 
The valleys and low grounds are principally used for the 
cultivation of rice: bogs and marshes, which are too swampy 
