26 
MADAGASCAR 
In the dry season there is a very sensible fall in the 
temperature. In the eastern mountains the air is fresh 
during the night, dew is formed abundantly, and thick 
mists rise in the early morning from the valleys. In 
Antananarivo the thermometer falls to 41°, in the plain 
of lazolava a fall to 25° was observed, so that the water 
was covered with a crust of ice. 
The climatic conditions given above appear to hold 
generally in the district of Betsileo, south of the high 
land. In Fianarantsoa 4800 ft. above the sea-level the 
mean annual temperature is somewhat lower than in the 
province of Irnerina, viz. 63-8°. July, the coldest month, 
has a mean temperature of 56*8°, and the rainfall 
amounts only to 40 inches in the year. 
In order to be able to make a proper estimate of 
the prospects of future colonization, it is by no means 
unimportant to state the experience hitherto obtained 
as to the adaptability of man to the climatic conditions 
detailed above. 
From this point of view Madagascar has not hitherto 
stood in the best repute. Its fevers are dreaded and have 
given to the country the name of the White Man’s Grave. 
Considered, however, without prejudice, Madagascar is 
better than its repute. The conditions are neither better 
nor worse than elsewhere in the tropics. 
It is not to be gainsaid that unhealthy, fever-haunted 
stretches of country exist, especially in the low-lying dis¬ 
tricts along the coast. This holds of the eastern as well 
as of the western coasts, for on the former, during the last 
campaign, the French troops suffered much in the Bet- 
siboka Valley; but it is equally certain that there exist 
other stretches of coast which present but little danger 
to a European, provided he understands how to regulate 
his manner of living. The cooler highland is of course 
far more suitable for him. On the whole we may accept 
the conclusion of Grandidier, that the conditions of health 
