CIIAP. XI. 
TRAVELLING ALONG THE SEA-BEACH. 
281 
seven o’clock in the morning we resumed our journey, which 
led for some distance over a plain partially wooded; on 
emerging from which we travelled for several miles along 
the sea-beach. The morning sun shining upon the long 
heaving billows of the ocean, which broke in lofty roaring 
surges on the shore, increased the brilliance and grandeur 
of the scene. As the wet sand afforded the firmest path, 
the bearers kept as near as possible to the water, and were 
often up to their knees in surf and foam. When passing 
over the drier sands, they sunk ankle-deep at every step; 
and this portion of their journey must have been extremely 
laborious. At length, after passing the pleasantly situated 
village of Irangy, standing on a rising ground, and over¬ 
looking the lake of the same name, which was concealed 
from us by the high ground thickly covered with wood on 
the side nearest the sea, we proceeded along a sandy country, 
having a sheet of water, a mile or more in width, extending 
for miles on our right. On their way over a grassy plain, my 
bearers halted for a minute or two, when I asked them if 
they wished to rest awhile, as I was quite willing to do so. 
They said they did not wish to halt, and were quite strong 
to proceed; and, to give me a proof that they were so, one 
of them, who walked beside the palanquin, bounded off at 
full speed towards a clump of trees bearing an edible fruit, 
jumping over a bush three or four feet high on his way. He 
soon overtook his companions with a number of the ripe 
fruit of the voantaka , a species of strychnos, which he distri¬ 
buted among them. About ten o’clock, having travelled 
eighteen miles, we reached Ivavongy, which I was told was 
the first village in the country of the Betanimena. 
My bearers, having perhaps had the lightest load, were 
considerably in advance of the rest of the party; and I 
arrived at this place before the interpreter, or any of the 
officers, who generally informed the people of the villages 
at which we stopped of my name, objects, &c. But the 
