188 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CHAP. VII. 
tendants, came at an early hour to see me again. He said he 
had not been able to sleep all night, and we continued talking 
until the bearers were all gathered at the door, when, taking 
leave of him and the many friends who had come to bid me 
farewell, I set off before seven o’clock, accompanied by my 
host, and expecting to be followed in a day or two by the tall 
friend who had been my companion from Tamatave. 
The air was fresh and cool after the rain, and the morning 
unusually pleasant. We passed Sakondro, the picturesque 
scene of which I had intended to take a view, but having 
been detained by the rain a day longer than I had expected, 
we could spare no time there. By half-past ten we reached 
Ifotsy, where we halted for breakfast. At this place we were 
overtaken by the mate of the wrecked vessel, who was pro¬ 
ceeding to Tamatave, in the hope of obtaining a passage to 
Mauritius. After resting about two hours we resumed our 
journey through the same delightful country, and between 
five and six reached Ivoidotra, fifteen miles from Tamatave. 
As the officers of this place objected to our proceeding farther 
until the next morning, I set out to look for plants, and before 
dark found a number of good specimens, with which I re¬ 
turned to my lodgings about dusk. I ultimately succeeded 
in adding some of the plants obtained in this remote region 
to my own collection at home, and one, a fine Angrcecum 
superbum , which I recently exchanged for a plant from India 
with a nurseryman near London, bore during the present 
spring a number of large pure white flowers, which I have since 
been informed were selected on account of their rarity and 
beauty to form part of the bridal bouquet on the occasion of 
the recent nuptials of the Prince of Prussia with the Princess 
Royal of England,—an honour which few could have supposed 
a plant originally growing in a Malagasy wilderness ever 
would attain. 
After supper I lay down on a mat to rest until about four 
