ciiap. vii. RUSTIC BRIDGE AND WOODLAND SCENERY. 
175 
before they could get out of the way when the billows broke 
in foam and spray upon the rocky beach. The rocks, in some 
places, seemed to be crystal or quartz, occasionally also there 
were fragments of coral. Numbers of small crabs and other 
fish, apparently searching for food along the edge of the sea, 
were startled into deeper water by our approach. We saw 
also here and there a few natives digging for a larger kind of 
crab in the sand along the higher parts of the beach. About 
half-past eight we reached a broad stream, across which we 
were ferried in canoes, and soon afterwards arrived at Ifotsy, 
where we stopped to take breakfast. 
Resuming our journey we crossed two rivers in the course 
of the day, both deep; over one of them, at Sakondro, a 
rustic kind of bridge, skirted by trees, presented so complete 
a picture of woodland and water, bank and bridge, that I re¬ 
quested the men so to arrange their journey on our return 
that we might stop at this place, intending, if possible, to 
obtain a photographic view of the scene. The other was of 
considerable width, in some parts so deep that we could only 
cross it in canoes. Two or three houses stood near the bank 
where my bearers set me down, and the master of one of them 
invited me to enter. I followed him and found several 
travellers either waiting to cross the river or resting on their 
journey. 
Canoes, for ferrying passengers across the rivers, appear to 
be provided by the government, or the chiefs of the district. 
Once or twice we had to wait until parties who had arrived 
at the water’s edge before us had all been ferried over, and 
travellers who arrived while we were passing had to wait 
until we had crossed. With only one canoe, it sometimes 
required two or three trips to carry us all over, yet no back¬ 
wardness was manifested by the ferrymen, to whom the pas¬ 
sengers generally gave a small quantity of rice for their 
trouble. 
