310 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CHAP. XII. 
tiful. In some directions were seen the hollows of the 
nearest valleys, with the grass houses composing their strag¬ 
gling villages, having the gardens and rice-grounds of the 
natives around them. Beyond these the marshes or swamps 
appeared in several places, together with cattle feeding on the 
higher ground : the sides of the hills were clothed with wood, 
and the tops of the mountains apparently composed of masses 
of granite. In other directions, a dense white cloud, or 
vapour, stretched across the valleys, concealing all they con¬ 
tained, and only leaving visible the summits of the loftier 
mountains. Vegetation was still abundant, though not so 
luxuriant as in the region over which we had travelled. The 
soil, as seen on the banks of the rivers, or by the steep and 
freshly broken sides of the ravines, was of yellow or pink 
clay, with fragments of quartz intermingled to a great depth. 
About nine o’clock we reached Ampasimbe, one of the 
government post stations. Before I had finished my break¬ 
fast, a good fat bullock was driven near the door. A chief 
came, and, pointing to the animal, told me it was a present 
which he had been directed to make to me, from Bainibehe- 
vitra, the chief at Tamatave; I gratefully acknowledged the 
present, and then told Izaro to have it slaughtered for the 
men. Off the men went, without needing another word, 
surrounded the animal, and, after chasing and dodging for 
some time, with one or two ineffectual attempts to hold it by 
the horns and the tail, a number of them seized and threw it 
down by main force, and then, fastening ropes to its horns 
and legs, led it to the place of slaughter. It was soon killed 
and cut up, each portion being distributed with the skin on; 
for, excepting at Tamatave, where the skin sells for a dollar 
in the market, they never think of skinning their bullocks, 
and frequently cook their beef with the skin on it. Pieces of 
skin cut up, mixed with fat, and boiled till it forms a kind 
of jelly, is said to be a favourite dish. A piece of the ribs, 
