292 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CHAP. XI. 
other useful article, to the owner of the house in which I had 
slept; and if the mistress of the house had a child in her 
arms, which was frequently the case, and it was not too much 
frightened at my white face and strange dress, to allow me to 
place a showy handkerchief or piece of cloth over its shoul¬ 
ders, this manner of expressing my sense of their hospitality 
seemed to be equally gratifying to parents and child. 
As this was one of the places at which Bainebehevitra, 
meaning “Father of great thoughts the second officer at 
Tamatave, had ordered a bullock to be given to me, the 
people in charge of his property here drove a fine ox near 
my house, in the afternoon, and presented it to me in the 
name of their chief. The animal was caught, killed, and 
distributed by sunset, and the bustle and noise, around a 
number of fires in the neighbourhood, during the early part 
of the evening, indicated the zest which attended the pre¬ 
paration of the evening meal. My own bearers, and others 
close by, became afterwards exceedingly noisy, and, much to 
my annoyance, kept up their shouting and screaming till long 
after midnight. 
The next morning was rainy and dark, and the chiefs pro¬ 
posed to rest here for the day to re-arrange the packages, and 
to supply the places of eleven of the men who had departed 
during the night before last, after having received their 
supply of rice for two or three days in advance. I was some¬ 
what surprised to find that the men who had left had the 
lightest loads. Two of them had only had a small box of 
tea, about ten pounds weight, and a black leather bag to 
carry between them; and other two had had only my hat- 
box, and a small bundle of bedding for their load. Some of 
the men said they had relations in the neighbourhood, and 
took the opportunity of being near to pay them a visit, but 
I apprehended that their going might arise from its being 
government service in which they were employed, and for 
