THE MOUNTAIN PASS AT ANGAVO. 
CHAP. XII. 
329 
kind friends with whom I had held such pleasant intercourse, 
and wound our way up the fertile and lovely valley of Angavo, 
to the pass in the mountains forming its western boundary. 
The first objects which attracted my attention after leaving the 
village were a number of picturesque tombs, of careful con¬ 
struction and considerable extent. I was told they were the 
resting-places of Eamonja’s ancestors. 
The ascent upon which we had entered was long and gradual 
until near the summit, but I walked nearly all the way. At 
different elevations we passed a succession of hamlets, perched 
in the most picturesque spots, often on points of high land 
projecting out into the valley. The houses were all well-built, 
with clean swept court-yards around them. At one which we 
passed, the first two-storied house I had noticed since leaving 
Tamatave, a woman was looking out of a chamber window; at 
others the inmates of the house seemed to be gathered toge¬ 
ther on a sort of parapet in front of their dwellings, in order 
to see us pass. I frequently halted to look back over the wide 
green and fertile valley we had left. The cattle feeding on the 
sides of the hills, the rustic villages scattered here and there 
along its borders, or on the rocky promontories jutting out from 
the mountain’s side, the gardens and rice fields mapped out 
below, and the clear cool stream winding its way along the 
centre, all combined to form an extended and beautiful 
scene, probably the more charming because seen under a 
cloudless sky, and tinged with the bright rays of the morning 
sun. 
In little more than an hour we reached the pass near the 
summit of Angavo, the natural fortress of the province of 
Ankay. It is a lofty massive granite mountain, capped with 
clay, and having steep inaccessible sides. The small portion 
of level land on the summit is defended by a succession of 
deep ditches, extending nearly round it, and continued, one 
after another, from the summit to the edge of the precipitous 
