10 
MADAGASCAR 
middle of this century a mountain chain running north 
and south was worked in, which must in its turn be 
regarded as purely fanciful. It appears in a map published 
in the year 1840, in accordance with the information of 
Leguevel de Lacombe, with elaborate details, but it is 
a pure invention, Grandidier having obliged the so-called 
traveller to acknowledge that he had never left the east 
coast and that his descriptions, in spite of their minute¬ 
ness, were evolved from his own imagination. 
In the years 1865—1870 the French geographer, Alfred 
Grandidier, travelled through the island in many different 
directions, and we are indebted in the hiehest decree 
to his assiduous investigations for our present knowledge 
of the large island. His sketch-map, published in 1871, 
is the first to give an account of the topography in 
accordance with fact; in the year 1865 he undertook an 
accurate triangulation of Imerina, the central province, 
which was continued by P. Roblet. Grandidier’s book 
of travels, magnificently got up, numerous splendid vol¬ 
umes of which have already appeared, must always 
stand out as a pattern of geographical excellence and 
must serve as the basis of all future works on Mada¬ 
gascar. Subsequently (1875) Mullens brought out a map 
of the Betsileo country, and Gautier extended our geo¬ 
logical knowledge. The English missionaries have made 
many contributions to our knowledge of individual localities 
and their inhabitants; of these James Sibree, A. Shaw, 
W. D. Cowan, J. Richardson, A. Walen and R. Baron 
must be especially particularized. Their observations are 
chiefly to be found in the “ Antananarivo Annual and 
Madagascar Magazine,” a periodical printed in the former 
capital of the Hova, which forms a rich mine for the 
ethnology of the Malagasy. 
The peculiar and abundant Flora and Fauna have 
also manifold attractions for Physicists. As early as the 
last century Philibert Commerson wrote with ecstasy of 
