TOWNS AND VILLAGES 
151 
male population, in some places at any rate, leave their 
native villages to seek for new pastures. The Sakalava 
of Maintirano live throughout half the year on the coast; 
the other half, namely the rainy season, they spend on 
the Island of Juan de Nova, where they occupy them¬ 
selves in planting maize and catching turtle. Formerly 
this love for a wandering life was expressed in a very 
inconvenient manner, for the Sakalava fitted out pirate 
fleets and made the Mozambique Channel insecure. 
The reason that the single important town in Sakalava- 
land, namely Majunga, has attained some importance 
is that the great river Betsiboka empties itself into the 
sea at this place and forms an artery for trade with 
the interior. 
Things are essentially different on the east side. Here 
the extreme fertility of the soil impels the settlers to 
agriculture, for which the negro had from the beginning 
a natural gift, whereas his liking for cattle-raising was a 
secondary one, adopted first from Hamitic races. Agricul¬ 
ture presupposes a settled mode of life. The east side 
surpasses the west in density of population, but might 
support ten times its present population without difficulty. 
On the coast lie numerous and to some extent flourishing 
towns, the rise of which is, for the most part, connected 
with the rapid expansion of trade in the neighbouring 
islands of Reunion and Mauritius, with which a brisk 
intercourse has always been kept up. The great increase 
in the inhabitants of Diego Suarez in the north was 
accidental, and arose from the fact that ten years ago 
it passed into French hands. Vohemar owes its existence 
to its convenient harbour and healthy climate; it is an 
important harbour for the export of live stock. That 
the city of Tarnatave has become the most important 
centre of trade on the east coast is explained by its 
advantageous geographical position between the Masca- 
renes and Central Madagascar. Large villages have 
