286 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CHAP. XI. 
inspection it proved to be neither of these, though an exceed¬ 
ingly curious plant. A single flatfish stem nearly an inch in 
breadth, and sending out small fibres on each side, extended 
up the stem of a large tree for thirty or forty feet, and then 
sent out smaller shoots which spread amongst the branches. 
There were no flowers at the time, but the natives told me 
it bore blue or purple flowers along the sides of the small 
branches. They called it tandraho. I subsequently saw 
another plant of the same species, which had along the sides 
of the smaller branches yellow round shaped protuberances 
resembling in structure the seed vessels of the Ganna indica , 
or Indian shot, but the seeds were soft and unripe. 
We resumed our journey soon after noon, passing through 
a beautiful and fertile country covered with herbage, and 
ornamented by magnificent trees standing singly or in 
clumps. In portions of the ground that had been recently 
cleared and enclosed, and the vegetation destroyed by burn¬ 
ing, the trees which were still standing deprived of their 
smaller branches and great part of their bark, were of enor¬ 
mous size, and the soil seemed exceedingly rich. I had to¬ 
day, as well as on previous occasions, passed herds of cattle, 
either feeding or reclining on the grassy plains; and I had 
noticed that they were always accompanied by a number of 
birds nearly white, about the size of a pigeon, but in shape 
more like a stork, having long legs and neck. It appeared 
a different bird from the red-billed pique-bocf. These birds 
seemed to be the constant companions of the cattle, at¬ 
tracted by the flies or other insects about the oxen, and 
passed in and out amongst them, close to them, and even 
upon them when grazing or lying down, with the most perfect 
freedom and confidence. On inquiring of the natives about 
them I was told that they were called vorompotsy, white bird, 
or vorontianombe; literally, birds beloved by cattle, as they 
always followed the herds and devoured the flies which tor- 
