Test bank for Principles of Information Systems 12th

Edition Stair Reynolds 1285867165 9781285867168

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Chapter 06 Telecommunications and Networks

TRUEFALSE

1. Telecommunications is creating profound changes in business because it strengthens the barriers

of time and distance.

(A) True (B)

False

Answer : (B)

2. A telecommunications protocol is any material substance that carries an electronic signal to

support communications between a sending and receiving device.

(A) True (B)

False

Answer : (B)

3. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a leading standards-setting

organization whose IEEE network standards are the basis for many telecommunications devices and
services.

(A) True (B)

False

Answer : (A)
4. With synchronous communications, the receiver gets a message after some delay-a few seconds to
minutes or hours or even days after the message is sent.

(A) True (B)

False

Answer : (B)

5. Sending an email over the Internet is an example of an asynchronous communication.

(A) True

(B) False

Answer : (A)
6. A half-duplex channel can transmit data in either direction but not both simultaneously.

(A) True

(B) False

Answer : (A)

7. Channel bandwidth refers to the diameter of the telecommunications media.

(A) True

(B) False

Answer : (B)

8. Broadband communications is a telecommunications system that can transmit data very quickly.

(A) True

(B) False

Answer : (A)

9. In a circuit-switching network, no fixed path is created between the communicating devices, and
the data is broken into packets for sending over the network.

(A) True (B)

False

Answer : (B)

10. An advantage of a packet-switching network is that data arrives in exactly the same order in
which it is sent.

(A) True (B)

False

Answer : (B)

11. Twisted-pair wire offers cleaner and crisper data transmission (less noise) than coaxial cable and
also a higher data transmission rate.

(A) True

(B) False
Answer : (B)

12. A geostationary satellite orbits the earth at an altitude of less than 1,000 miles.

(A) True

(B) False

Answer : (B)

13. 3G wireless communications supports wireless voice and broadband speed data communications
in a mobile environment at speeds of 2 to 4 Mbps.

(A) True (B)

False

Answer : (A)

14. 4G will deliver 3 to 20 times the speed of 3G networks for mobile devices.

(A) True

(B) False

Answer : (A)

15. The growth in wireless data traffic is expected to increase modestly over the time period 2013 to
2017.

(A) True (B)

False

Answer : (B)

16. Voice and phone communications are examples of asynchronous communications.

(A) True

(B) False

Answer : (B)

17. A personal area network (PAN) is a wireless network that connects information networking
devices within a small area, such as an office, home, or several floors of a building.

(A) True
(B) False

Answer : (B)

18. A wide area network (WAN) is a telecommunications network that connects users and their
computers in a geographical area that spans a campus or city.

(A) True (B)

False

Answer : (B)

19. With centralized processing, multiple computer platforms are dedicated to special functions,
such as database management, printing, communications, and program execution.

(A) True (B)

False

Answer : (B)

20. With distributed processing, processing devices are placed at remote locations but are
connected to each other via a network.

(A) True (B)

False

Answer : (A)

21. A client is any computer on a network that sends messages requesting services from the servers
on the network.

(A) True (B)

False

Answer : (A)

22. Network management software is a system software that controls the computer systems and
devices on a network and allows them to communicate with each other.

(A) True (B)

False

Answer : (B)
Another document from Scribd.com that is
random and unrelated content:
Th e P roj ect G u t en b erg eBo ok of A n at u ral i st
i n Ma d agascar
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: A naturalist in Madagascar

Author: James Sibree

Release date: August 8, 2022 [eBook #68708]

Language: English

Original publication: United States: J. B. Lippincott, 1915

Credits: Peter Becker, John Campbell and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A

NATURALIST IN MADAGASCAR ***
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
[number]
Footnote anchors are denoted by , and the footnotes have been placed at the
end of each chapter.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
 O V G C S
The stone is levered into position closing the opening. A
deep fosse or ditch surrounding the village completes its
fortification. The man in front is carrying two packages
secured to a pole in the usual manner of the country
 A N AT U R A L I S T
IN MADAGASCAR
A Record of Observation Experiences and
Impressions made during a period of over Fifty Years’
Intimate Association with the Natives and Study of the
Animal & Vegetable Life of the Island

BY

JAMES SIBREE, F.R.G.S.

Membre de l’Academie Malgache
AUTHOR OF “THE GREAT AFRICAN ISLAND,” “MADAGASCAR ORNITHOLOGY,”
&c., &c., &c.

WITH 52 ILLUSTRATIONS & 3 MAPS

PHILADELPHIA

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
LONDON: SEELEY, SERVICE & CO. LTD.
1915
 Dedicated
WITH MUCH AFFECTION TO

MY DEAR WIFE
MY CONSTANT COMPANION IN MADAGASCAR

AND FAITHFUL HELPER IN ALL

MY WORK FOR FORTY-

FOUR YEARS
 P R E FA C E

T
HE title of this book may perhaps be considered by some as too
ambitious, and may provoke comparison with others somewhat
similar in name, but with whose distinguished authors I have no
claim at all to compete.
I have no tales to tell of hair-breadth escapes from savage beasts, no
shooting of “big game,” no stalking of elephant or rhinoceros, of “hippo”
or giraffe. We have indeed no big game in Madagascar. The most
dangerous sport in its woods is hunting the wild boar; the largest
carnivore to be met with is the fierce little fòsa, and the crocodile is the
most dangerous reptile.
But I ask the courteous reader to wander with me into the wonderful
and mysterious forests, and to observe the gentle lemurs in their home, as
they leap from tree to tree, or take refuge in the thickets of bamboo; to
come out in the dusk and watch the aye-aye as he stealthily glides along
the branches, obtaining his insect food under the bark of the trees; to
listen to the song of numerous birds, and to note their habits and curious
ways; to hear the legends and folk-tales in which the Malagasy have
preserved the wisdom of their ancestors with regard to the feathered
denizens of the woods and plains, and to admire the luxuriant vegetation
of the forests, and the trees and plants, the ferns and flowers, and even
the grasses, which are to be found in every part of the island.
I invite those who may read these pages to look with me at the little
rodents and insect-eaters which abound in and near the woods; to mark
the changing chameleons which are found here in such variety; to watch
the insects which gambol in the sunshine, or hide in the long grass, or
sport on the streams. If such unexciting pleasures as these can interest
my readers, I can promise that there is in Madagascar enough and to
spare to delight the eye and to charm the imagination.
I confess that I am one of those who take much more delight in
silently watching the birds and their pretty ways in some quiet nook in
the woods, than in shooting them to add a specimen to a museum; and
that I feel somewhat of a pang in catching even a butterfly, and would
much rather observe its lovely colours in life, as it unfolds them to the
sunshine, than study it impaled on a pin in a cabinet. No doubt
collections are necessary, but I have never cared to make them myself.
Nothing is here recorded but facts which have come under my own
observation or as related by friends and others whose authority is
unquestionable. And while my main object is to convey a vivid and true
impression of the animal and vegetable life of Madagascar, I have also
given many sketches of what is curious and interesting in the habits and
customs of the Malagasy people, among whom I have travelled
repeatedly, and with whom I have lived for many years. I have no
pretensions to be a scientific naturalist or botanist, I have only been a
careful observer of the beautiful and wonderful things that I have seen
and I have constantly noted down what many others have observed, and
have here included information which they have given in the following
pages.
I have long wished that someone far more competent than myself
would write a popular book upon the natural history and botany of this
great island; but as I have not yet heard of any such, I venture with some
diffidence to add this book to the large amount of literature already
existing about Madagascar, but none of it exactly filling this place. For
many years I edited, together with my late friend and colleague, the Rev.
R. Baron, the numbers of The Antanànarìvo Annual, a publication which
was “a record of information on the topography and natural productions
of Madagascar, and the customs, traditions, language and religious
beliefs of its people,” and for which I was always on the look-out for
facts of all kinds bearing on the above-mentioned subjects. But as this
magazine was not known to the general public, and was confined to a
very limited circle of readers, I have not hesitated to draw freely on the
contents of its twenty-four numbers, as I am confident that a great deal of
the information there contained is worthy of a much wider circulation
than it had in the pages of the Annual.
Finally, as preachers say, although this book is written by a
missionary, it is not “a missionary book”; not, certainly, because I
undervalue missionary work, in which, after nearly fifty years’
acquaintance with it, and taking an active part in it, I believe with all my
heart and soul, but because that aspect of Madagascar has already been
so fully treated. Books written by the Revs. W. Ellis, Dr Mullens, Mr
Prout, Dr Matthews, Mr Houlder, myself and others, give all that is
necessary to understand the wonderful history of Christianity in this
island. Despite what globe-trotting critics may say, as well as colonists
who seem to consider that all coloured peoples may be exploited for their
own benefit, mission work, apart from its simply obeying the last
commands of our Lord, is the great civilising, educational and
benevolent influence in the world, deny it who can! But in this book I
want to show that Madagascar is full of interest in other directions, and
that the wonderful things that live and grow here are hardly less worthy
of study than those events which have attracted the attention of Christian
and benevolent people for nearly a hundred years past.
The author thanks very sincerely his friends, Mr John Parrett,
Monsieur Henri Noyer, and Razaka, for their freely accorded permission
to reproduce many photographs taken by them and used to illustrate this
book. And his grateful thanks are also due to his old friend, the Rev. J.
Peill, for the care he has taken in going through the proof sheets,
especially in seeing that all Madagascar words are correctly given.
Two or three chapters of this book cover, to some extent, the same
ground as those treated of in another book on Madagascar by the author,
published some years ago by Mr Fisher Unwin. The author here
acknowledges, with many thanks, Mr Fisher Unwin’s kindness in giving
full permission to produce these, which are, however, rewritten and
largely added to.
J. S.

NOTE.—Throughout this book Malagasy words are accented on the syllables which should be
emphasised, and if it is borne in mind that the vowels a, e and i have as nearly as possible the
same sound as in French or Italian, and that o is exactly like our English o in do, to and move, and
that the consonants do not differ much in sound from those in English, except that g is always
hard, s always a sibilant and not like z, and j is like dj there will be no difficulty in pronouncing
Malagasy words with a fair amount of accuracy.
 CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY 17
Natural History of the Island—Still Little Known—Roads and Railway—We
travel by Old-Fashioned Modes—Great Size and Extent of Madagascar

CHAPTER II
TAMATAVE AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE COUNTRY 20
“The Bullocker”—Landing at Tamatave—Meet with New Friends—Landing
our Luggage—Bullocks and Bullock Ships—Native Houses—Strange Articles
of Food—A Bed on a Counter—First Ride in a Filanjàna—At the Fort—The
Governor and his “Get-Up”—A Rough-and-Ready Canteen

CHAPTER III
FROM COAST TO CAPITAL: ALONG THE SEASHORE 27
Travelling in Madagascar—Absence of Roads—“General Forest and General
Fever”—Pleasures and Penalties of Travel—Start for the Interior—My Private
Carriage—Night at Hivòndrona—Native Canoes—Gigantic Arums—Crows and
Egrets—Malagasy Cattle—Curious Crabs—Shells of the Shore—Coast
Lagoons—Lovely Scenery—Pandanus and Tangèna Trees—Pumice from
Krakatoa—Sea and River Fishes—Prawns and Sharks—Hospitable Natives—
Trees, Fruits and Flowers—“The Churchyard of Foreigners”—Unpleasant Style
of Cemetery—“The Hole of Serpents”—Killing a Boa-constrictor—The White-
fronted Lemur—Andòvorànto—How the Aye-Aye was caught—What he is like
—And where he lives—A Damp Journey

CHAPTER IV
FROM COAST TO CAPITAL: ANDÒVORÀNTO TO MID-FOREST 48
A Canoe Voyage—Crocodiles and their Ways—River Scenery—Traveller’s
Tree—Which is also “The Builder’s Tree”—Maròmby—Coffee Plantation—
Orange Grove—We stick in the Mud—Difficulties of Road—Rànomafàna and
its Hot Springs—Lace-leaf Plant—Native Granaries—Endurance of Bearers—
Native Traders—Appearance of the People—Native Music and Instruments—
Bamboos—Ampàsimbé—Cloth Weaving—Native Looms—Rofìa-palms—“A
Night with the Rats”—Hard Travelling—Béfòrona—The Two Forest Belts—
The Highest Mountains—Forest of Alamazaotra—Villages on Route—The
Blow-Gun

CHAPTER V
FROM COAST TO CAPITAL: ALAMAZAOTRA TO ANTANÀNARÌVO 63
“Weeping-place of Bullocks”—“Great Princess” Rock—Grandeur of the
Vegetation—Scarcity of Flowers—Orchids, Bamboos, and Pendent Lichens—
Apparent Paucity of Animal Life—Remarkable Fauna of Madagascar—
Geological Theories thereon—Lemurs—The Ankay Plain—An Ancient Lake—
Mòramànga—River Mangòro—Grand Prospect from Ifòdy—The Tàkatra and
Its Nest—Hova Houses—Insect Life—Angàvo Rock—Upper Forest—Treeless
Aspect of Imèrina—Granite Rocks—Ambàtomànga—And its big House—
Grass Burning—First View of Capital—Its Size and Situation—Hova Villages
—A Cloud of Locusts—Reach Antanànarìvo

CHAPTER VI
THE CHANGING MONTHS IN IMÈRINA: CLIMATE, VEGETATION AND LIVING
CREATURES OF THE INTERIOR 75
The Seasons in Madagascar—Their Significant Names—Prospect from Summit
of Antanànarìvo—Great Rice-plain—An Inundation of the Same—Springtime:
September and October—Rice-planting and Rice-fields—Trees and Foliage—
Common Fruits—“Burning the Downs”—Birds—Hawks and Kestrels—
Summer: November to February—Thunderstorms and Tropical Rains—
Lightning and its Freaks—Effects of Rain on Roads—Rainfall—Hail—
Magnificent Lightning Effects—Malagasy New Year

CHAPTER VII
SPRING AND SUMMER 90
Native Calendar—Conspicuous Flowers—Aloes and Agaves—Uniformity of
Length of Days—Native Words and Phrases for Divisions of Time—And for
Natural Phenomena—Hova Houses—Wooden and Clay—Their Arrangement—
And Furniture—“The Sacred Corner”—Solitary Wasps—Their Victims—The
Cell-builders—The Burrowers—Wild Flowers

CHAPTER VIII
THE CHANGING MONTHS IN IMÈRINA: CLIMATE, VEGETATION, AND LIVING
CREATURES OF THE INTERIOR 103
Autumn: March and April—Rice Harvest—The Cardinal-Bird—The Egret and
the Crow—Harvest Thanksgiving Services—Rice, the Malagasy Staff of Life—
Queer “Relishes to Rice”—Fish—Water-beetles—A Dangerous Adventure with
One—Dragonflies—Useful Sedges and Rushes—Mist Effects on Winter
Mornings—Spiders’ Webs—The “Fosse-Crosser” Spider—Silk from it—Silk-
worm Moths—And Other Moths—The “King” Butterfly—Grasshoppers and
Insect Life on the Grass—The Dog-Locust—Gigantic Earthworms—Winter:
May to August—Winter the Dry Season

CHAPTER IX
AUTUMN AND WINTER 116
Old Towns—Ancient and Modern Tombs—Memorial Stones—Great Markets—
Imèrina Villages—Their Elaborate Defences—Native Houses—Houses of
Nobles—Hova Children—Their Dress and Games—Village Churches—And
Schools—A School Examination—Aspects of Nightly Sky Epidemics in Cold
Season—Vegetation
 CHAPTER X
AT THE FOREST SANATORIUM 127
A Holiday at Ankèramadìnika—The Upper Forest Belt—The Flora of
Madagascar—Troubles and Joys of a Collector—A Silken Bag—Ants and their
Nests—In Trees and Burrows—Caterpillars and Winter Sleep—Butterflies’
Eggs—Snakes, Lizards and Chameleons—An Arboreal Lizard—Effects of
Terror—Some Extraordinary Chameleons—The River-Hog—Sun-birds

CHAPTER XI
FOREST SCENES 140
Forest Scenes and Sounds—The Goat-sucker—Owls—Flowers and Berries—
Palms and other Trees—The Bamboo-palm—Climbing Plants—Mosses,
Lichens and Fungi—Their Beautiful Colours—Honey—The Madagascar Bee—
Its Habits and its Enemies—Forest People—The Bétròsy Tribe—A Wild-Man-
of-the-Woods—A Cyclone in the Forest—A Night of Peril

CHAPTER XII
RAMBLES IN THE UPPER FOREST 150
Forest Parts—Lost in the Woods—Native Proverbs and Dread of the Forest—
Waterfalls—A Brilliant Frog—Frogs and their Croaking—A Nest-building Frog
—Protective Resemblances and Mimicry—Beetles—Brilliant Bugs—Memorial
Mounds—Iron Smelting—Feather Bellows—Depths of the Ravines—Forest
Leeches—Ferns—Dyes, Gums and Resins—Candle-nut Tree—Medicinal Trees
and Plants—Useful Timber Trees—Superstitions about the Forest—Marvellous
Creatures—The Ball Insect—Millipedes and Centipedes—Scorpions

CHAPTER XIII
FAUNA 162
The Red-spot Spider—Various and Curious Spiders—Protective Resemblances
among them—Trap-door Spiders—The Centetidæ—Malagasy Hedgehogs—The
Lemurs—The Propitheques—The Red Lemur—Pensile Weaver-bird—The Bee-
eater—The Coua Cuckoos—The Glory and Mystery of the Forests—A Night in
the Forest

CHAPTER XIV
ROUND ANTSIHÀNAKA 173
Object of the Journey—My Companions—The Antsihànaka Province—Origin
of the People—Anjozòrobé—“Travellers’ Bungalow”—A Sunday there—“Our
Black Chaplain”—The “Stone Gateway”—Ankay Plain—Ants and Serpents—
Hair-dressing and Ornaments—Tòaka Drinking—Rice Culture—Fragrant
Grasses—The Glory of the Grass—Their Height—Capital of the Province—We
interview the Governor—Flowers of Oratory—The Market—Fruits and Fertility
—A Circuit of the Province—Burial Memorials—Herds of Oxen—Horns as
Symbols—Malagasy Use of Oxen—A Sihànaka House—Mats and Mat-making
—Water-fowl—Their Immense Numbers—Teal and Ducks—The Fen Country
—Physical Features of Antsihànaka—The Great Plain—Ampàrafàravòla—
Hymn-singing—Sihànaka Bearers—“Wild-Hog’s Spear” Grass—Dinner with
 the Lieutenant-Governor—“How is the Gun?”—Volcanic Action—Awkward
Bridges—Fighting an Ox—Occupations of the People—Cattle-tending—Rice
Culture—Fishing—Buds

CHAPTER XV
LAKE SCENERY 193
The Alaotra Lake—Lake Scenery—A Damp Resting-place—Shortened Oratory
—We cross the Lake—An Ancient and Immense Lake—The Crocodile—
Mythical Water-creatures—A Pleasant Meeting—“Manypoles” Village—A
Sihànaka Funeral—Treatment of Widows—A Village in the Swamp—Unlucky
Days and Taboos—Madagascar Grasses—We turn Homewards

CHAPTER XVI
LAKE ITÀSY 208
Old Volcanoes—Lake Itàsy—Distant Views of it—Legends as to its Formation
—Flamingoes—Water-hens—Jacanas—Other Birds—Antsìrabé—Hot Springs
—Extinct Hippopotami—Gigantic Birds—Enormous Eggs

CHAPTER XVII
VOLCANIC DISTRICT 215
Crater Lake of Andraikìba—Crater Lake of Trìtrìva—Colour of Water—
Remarkable Appearance of Lake—Legends about it—Its Depth—View from
Crater Walls—Ankàratra Mountain—Lava Outflows—An Underground River—
Extinct Lemuroid Animals—Graveyard of an Ancient Fauna—The
Palæontology—And Geology of Madagascar—Volcanic Phenomena—The
Madagascar Volcanic Belt—Earthquakes—A Glimpse of the Past Animal Life
of the Island

CHAPTER XVIII
SOUTHWARDS TO BÉTSILÉO AND THE SOUTH-EAST COAST 228
Why I went South—How to secure your Bearers—The Old Style of Travelling
—Route to Fianàrantsòa—Scenery—Elaborate Rice Culture—Bétsiléo
Ornament and Art—Burial Memorials—We leave for the Unknown—A Bridal
Obligation—Mountains and Rocks—Parakeets and Parrots—A Dangerous
Bridge—Ant-hills—The Malagasy Hades—Brotherhood by Blood—Bétsiléo
Houses—“The Travelling Foreigners in their Tent”—A Tanàla Forest—
Waterfalls—A Tanàla House—Female Adornment

CHAPTER XIX
IVÒHITRÒSA 246
Ivòhitròsa—Native Dress—a Grand Waterfall—Wild Raspberries—The Ring-
tailed Lemur—The Mouse-Lemur—A Heathen Congregation—Unlucky Days
—Month Names—The Zàhitra Raft—A Village Belle and her “Get-up”—The
Cardamom Plant—Beads, Charms and Arms—Bamboos and Pandanus—A
Forest Altar—Rafts and Canoes—Crocodiles—Their Bird Friends—Ordeal by
Crocodile—Elegant Coiffure—A Curious Congregation—Ambòhipèno Fort—
We reach the Sea—Gigantic Arums—Sea-shells—Pulpit Decoration—
 Butterflies—Protective Structure in a Certain Species—An Arab Colony—
Arabic Manuscripts—Frigate-birds and Tropic-birds—Other Sea-birds

CHAPTER XX
AMONG THE SOUTH-EASTERN PEOPLES 257
Hova Conquest of and Cruelties to the Coast Tribes—The Traveller’s Tree and
its Fruits—A Hova Fort—Ball Head-dressing—Rice-fields—Volcanic
Phenomena—Vòavòntaka Fruit—A Well-dunged Village—Water from the
Traveller’s Tree—We are stopped on our Way—A Native Distillery—Taisàka
Mat Clothing—Bark Cloth—Native Houses and their Arrangement—Secondary
Rocks—Ankàrana Fort—A Hospitable Reception—A Noisy Feast—“A Fine
Old Malagasy Gentleman”—A Hearty “Set-Off”—Primitive Spoons and Dishes
—Burial Memorials

CHAPTER XXI
THE SOUTH-EASTERN PEOPLES 270
A Built Boat—In the Bush—A Canoe Voyage—Canoe Songs—The Angræcum
Orchids—Pandanus and Atàfa Trees—Coast Lagoons—A Native Dance—A
Wheeled Vehicle—Lost in the Woods—A Fatiguing Sunday—Dolphins and
Whales—Forest Scenery—A Tanàla Funeral—Silence of the Woods—The
Sound of the Cicada—Mammalian Life—Hedgehogs and Rats—Why are Birds
comparatively so few?—Insect Life in the Forest—A Stick-Insect—Protective
Resemblances—The Curious Broad-bill Bird—Minute Animal Life in a River
Plant—Ambòhimànga in the Forest—A Tanàla Chieftainess—River-fording and
Craft—We reach the Interior Highland—Bétsiléo Tombs—Return to
Antanànarìvo

CHAPTER XXII
TO SÀKALÀVA LAND AND THE NORTH-WEST 285
North-West Route to the Coast—River Embankments—Mission Stations—A
Lady Bricklayer—In a Fosse with the Cattle—An Airy Church on a Stormy
Night—A Strange Chameleon—The “Short” Mosquitoes—Ant-hills and
Serpents—A Sacred Tree—Andrìba Hill and Fort—An Evening Bath and a
Hasty Breakfast—Parakeets, Hoopoes, and Bee-eaters—The Ikòpa Valley—
Granite Boulders—Mèvatanàna: a Birdcage Town—We form an Exhibition for
the Natives—Our Canoes—Crocodiles—Shrikes and Fly-catchers—Tamarind-
trees—Camping Out—The “Agy” Stinging Creeper—River Scenery—Fan-
palms—Scaly Reptiles and Beautiful Birds—Fruit-eating and Other Bats—
Secondary Rocks—Sparse Population—The Sàkalàva Tribes—A Vile-smelling
Tree

CHAPTER XXIII
TO THE NORTH-WEST COAST 301
Tortoises—Gigantic Tortoises of Aldabra Island—Park-like Scenery—The
Fierce Little Fòsa—Small Carnivora—Beautiful Woods—“Many Crocodiles”
Town—A Curious Pulpit—A Hot Night—A Voyage in a Dhow—Close
Quarters on its Deck—An Arab Dhow and its Rig—Bèmbatòka Bay—Mojangà
—An Arab and Indian Town—An Ancient Arab Colony—Baobab-trees—
Valuable Timber Trees—The Fishing Eagle—Turtles and Turtle-catching—
Herons—The North-West Coast—A Fishing Fish—Oysters and Octopus—
Nòsibé and Old Volcanoes—Our Last Glimpses of Madagascar
 L I S T O F I L L U S T R AT I O N S
Old Village Gateway with Circular Stone Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
On the Coast Lagoons 28
A Forest Road 32
Low-class Girl fetching Water 50
A Sihànaka Woman playing the Vahiha 50
Bétsimisàraka Women 58
Hova Women weaving 58
Family Tomb of the late Prime Minister, Antanànarìvo 66
Royal Tombs, Antanànarìvo 66
Earthenware Pottery 76
Digging up Rice-fields 76
Pounding and winnowing Rice 78
Hova Middle-class Family at a Meal 78
Rocks near Ambàtovòry 92
Typical Hova House in the Ancient Style 96
On the Coast Lagoons 106
Transplanting Rice 112
Hova Tombs 118
Friday Market at Antanànarìvo 120
Ancient Village Gateway 124
A Forest Village 134
Chameleons 136
Anàlamazàotra 146
Memorial Carved Posts and Ox Horns 156
Blacksmith at Work 156
On the Coast Lagoons 166
Some Curious Madagascar Spiders 168
Sihànaka Men 176
Forest Village 176
A Wayside Market 180
Water-carriers 218
Hide-bearers resting by the Roadside 230
Bétsiléo Tombs 230
Memorial Stone 234
Types of Carved Ornamentation in Houses 236
” ” ” 238
Group of Tanàla Girls in Full Dress 242
Tanàla Girls singing and clapping Hands 242
Tanàla Spearmen 248
Coiffures 250
A Forest River 252
Tree Ferns 260
Traveller’s Trees 260
A Malagasy Orchid 272
Malagasy Men dancing 274
Woman of the Antànkàrana Tribe 278
Woman of the Antanòsy Tribe 278
The Fòsa 302
Malagasy Oxen 302

MAPS
Physical Sketch Map of Madagascar 16
Ethnographical Sketch Maps of Madagascar 17
General Map of Madagascar 314
 PHYSICAL SKETCH-MAP OF MADAGASCAR
showing lines of Forest, and limits of high land of Interior exceeding
2500 feet above Sea-level
ETHNOGRAPHICAL SKETCH-MAP OF MADAGASCAR
A NATURALIST IN
MADAGASCAR
 CHAP T E R I

I N T R O D U C T O RY

T
HE great African island of Madagascar has become well known to
Europeans during the last half-century, and especially since the
year 1895, when it was made a colony of France. During that fifty
years many books—the majority of these in the French language—have
been written about the island and its people; what was formerly an
almost unknown country has been traversed by Europeans in all
directions; its physical geography is now clearly understood; since the
French occupation it has been scientifically surveyed, and a considerable
part of the interior has been laid down with almost as much detail as an
English ordnance map. But although very much information has been
collected with regard to the country, the people, the geology, and the
animal and vegetable productions of Madagascar, there has hitherto been
no attempt, at least in the English language, to collect these many
scattered notices of the Malagasy fauna and flora, and to present them to
the public in a readable form.
In several volumes of a monumental work that has been in progress
for many years past, written and edited by M. Alfred Grandidier,[1] the
natural history and the botany of the island are being exhaustively
described in scientific fashion; but these great quartos are in the French
language, while their costly character renders them unknown books to
the general reader. It is the object of the following pages to describe, in
as familiar and popular a fashion as may be, many of the most interesting
facts connected with the exceptional animal life of Madagascar, and with
its forestal and other vegetable productions. During nearly fifty years’
connection with this country the writer has travelled over it in many
directions, and while his chief time and energies have of course been
given to missionary effort, he has always taken a deep interest in the
living creatures which inhabit the island, as well as in its luxuriant flora,
and has always been collecting information about them. The facts thus
obtained are embodied in the following pages.
It is probably well known to most readers of this book ROADS AND
TRAVELLING
that a railway now connects Tamatave, the chief port of
the east coast, with Antanànarìvo, the capital, which is about a third of
the way across the island. So that the journey from the coast to the
interior, which, up to the year 1899, used to take from eight to ten days,
can now be accomplished in one day. Besides this, good roads now
traverse the country in several directions, so that wheeled vehicles can be
used; and on some of these a service of motor cars keeps up regular
communication with many of the chief towns and the capital.
But we shall not, in these pages, have much to do with these modern
innovations, for a railway in Madagascar is very much like a railway in
Europe. Our journeys will mostly be taken by the old-fashioned native
conveyance, the filanjàna or light palanquin, carried by four stout and
trusty native bearers. We shall thus not be whirled through the most
interesting portion of our route, catching only a momentary glimpse of
many a beautiful scene. We can get down and walk, whenever we like, to
observe bird or beast or insect, to gather flower or fern or lichen or moss,
or to take a rock specimen, things utterly impracticable either by railway
or motor car, and not very easy to do in any wheeled conveyance. Our
object will be, not to get through the journey as fast as possible, but to
observe all that is worth notice during the journey. We shall therefore, in
this style of travel, not stay in modern hotels, but in native houses,
notwithstanding their drawbacks and discomforts; and thus we shall see
the Malagasy as they are, and as their ancestors have been for
generations gone by, almost untouched by European influence, and so be
able to observe their manners and customs, and learn something of their
ideas, their superstitions, their folk-lore, and the many other ways in
which they differ from ourselves.
Let us, however, first try to get a clear notion about this EXTENT OF THE
great island, and to realise how large a country it is. Take ISLAND
a fair-sized map of Madagascar, and we see that it rises like some huge
sea-monster from the waters of the Indian Ocean; or, to use another
comparison, how its outline is very like the sole—the left-hand one—of
a human foot. As we usually look at the island in connection with a map
of Africa, it appears as a mere appendage to the great “Dark Continent”;
and it is difficult to believe that it is really a thousand miles long, and
more than three hundred miles broad, with an area of two hundred and
thirty thousand square miles, thus exceeding that of France, Belgium and
Holland all put together.[2] Before the year 1871 all maps of Madagascar,
as regards its interior, were pure guesswork. A great backbone of
mountains was shown, with branches on either side, like a huge
centipede. But it is now clear that, instead of these fancy pictures, there
is an extensive elevated region occupying about two-thirds of the island
to the east and north, leaving a wide stretch of low country to the west
and south; and as the watershed is much nearer the east than the west of
the island, almost all the chief rivers flow, not into the Indian Ocean, but
into the Mozambique Channel. When we add that a belt of dense forest
runs all along the east side of Madagascar, and is continued, with many
breaks, along the western side, and that scores of extinct volcanoes are
found in several districts of the interior, we shall have said all that is
necessary at present as to the physical geography. Many more details of
this, as well as of the geology, will come under our notice as we travel
through the country in various directions.
[1] Histoire Physique, Naturelle et Politique de Madagascar, publiée par
Alfred Grandidier, Paris, à l’Imprimerie Nationale; in fifty-two volumes,
quarto.
[2] I have often been astonished and amused by the notions some English
people have about Madagascar. One gentleman asked me if it was not
somewhere in Russia!—and a very intelligent lady once said to me: “I
suppose it is about as large as the Isle of Wight!”
 CHAP T E R I I

TA M ATAV E A N D F I R S T I M P R E S S I O N S O F T H E C O U N T RY

I
T was on a bright morning in September, 1863, that I first came in
sight of Madagascar. In those days there was no service of steamers,
either of the “Castle” or the “Messageries Maritimes” lines, touching
at any Madagascar port, and the passage from Mauritius had to be made
in what were termed “bullockers.” These vessels were small brigs or
schooners which had been condemned for ordinary traffic, but were still
considered good enough to convey from two to three hundred oxen from
Tamatave to Port Louis or Réunion. It need hardly be said that the
accommodation on board these ships was of the roughest, and the food
was of the least appetising kind. A diet of cabbage, beans and pumpkin
led one of my friends to describe the menu of the bullocker as “the
green, the brown, and the yellow.” Happily, the voyage to Madagascar
was usually not very long, and in my case we had a quick and pleasant
passage of three days only; but I hardly hoped that daylight on
Wednesday morning would reveal the country on which my thoughts had
been centred for several weeks past; so it was with a strange feeling of
excitement that soon after daybreak I heard the captain calling to me
down the hatchway: “We are in sight of land!” Not many minutes
elapsed before I was on deck and looking with eager eyes upon the
island in which eventually most of my life was to be spent. We were
about five miles from the shore, running under easy sail to the
northward, until the breeze from the sea should set in and enable us to
enter the harbour of Tamatave.
There was no very striking feature in the scene—no TAMATAVE AND
towering volcanic peaks, as at Mauritius and Aden, yet it FIRST
IMPRESSIONS
was not without beauty. A long line of blue mountains in
the distance, covered with clouds; a comparatively level plain extending
from the hills to the sea, green and fertile with cotton and sugar and rice
plantations; while the shore was fringed with the tall trunks and feathery
crowns of the cocoanut-palms which rose among the low houses of the
village of Tamatave. These, together with the coral reefs forming the
harbour, over which the great waves thundered and foamed—all formed
a picture thoroughly tropical, reminding me of views of islands in the
South Pacific.
The harbour of Tamatave is protected by a coral reef, which has
openings to the sea both north and south, the latter being the principal
entrance; it is somewhat difficult of access, and the ribs and framework
of wrecked vessels are (or perhaps rather were) very frequently seen on
the reef. The captain had told me that sometimes many hours and even
days were spent in attempting to enter, and that it would probably be
noon before we should anchor. I therefore went below to prepare for
landing, but in less than an hour was startled to hear by the thunder of the
waves on the reef and the shouts of the seamen reducing sail that we
were already entering the harbour. The wind had proved unexpectedly
favourable, and in a few more minutes the cable was rattling through the
hawsehole, the anchor was dropped, and we swung round at our
moorings.
There were several vessels in the harbour. Close to us was H.M.’s
steamer Gorgon, and, farther away, two or three French men-of-war,
among them the Hermione frigate, bearing the flag of Commodore
Dupré, their naval commandant in the Indian Ocean, as well as
plenipotentiary for the French Government in the disputes then pending
concerning the Lambert Treaty. I was relieved to find that everything
seemed peaceful and quiet at Tamatave, and that the long white flag
bearing the name of Queen Ràsohèrina, in scarlet letters, still floated
from the fort at the southern end of the town. I had been told at Port
Louis that things were very unsettled in Madagascar, and that I should
probably find Tamatave being bombarded by the French; but it is
unnecessary to refer further to what is now ancient history, or to touch
upon political matters, which lie quite outside the main purpose of this
book.
Tamatave, as a village, has not a very inviting appearance from the
sea, and man’s handiwork had certainly not added much to the beauty of
the landscape. Had it not been for the luxuriant vegetation of the
pandanus, palms, and other tropical productions, nothing could have
been less interesting than the native town, which possessed at that time
few European residences and no buildings erected for religious worship.
[3] Canoes, formed out of the trunk of a single tree, soon came off to our
ship, but I was glad to dispense with the services of these unsafe-looking
craft, and to accept a seat in the captain’s boat. Half-an-hour after
anchoring we were rowing towards the beach, and in a few minutes I
leaped upon the sand, with a thankful heart that I had been permitted to
tread the shores of Madagascar.
Proceeding up the main street—a sandy road bordered by enclosures
containing the stores of a few European traders—we came to the house
of the British Vice-Consul. Here I found Mr Samuel Procter, who was
subsequently the head for many years of one of the chief trading houses
in the island, and also Mr F. Plant, a gentleman employed by the
authorities of the British Museum to collect specimens of natural history
in the then almost unknown country. From them I learned that a
missionary party which had preceded me from Mauritius had left only
two days previously for the capital, and that Mr Plant had kindly
undertaken to accompany me on the journey for the greater part of the
distance to Antanànarìvo. At first we thought of setting off on that same
evening, so as to overtake our friends, but finding that this would involve
much fatigue, we finally decided to wait for two or three days and take
more time to prepare for the novel experiences of a Madagascar journey.
In a little while I was domiciled at Mr Procter’s store, where I was
hospitably entertained during my stay in Tamatave.
The afternoon of my first day on shore was occupied in seeing after
the landing of my baggage. This was no easy or pleasant task; the long
rolling swell from the ocean made the transfer of large wooden cases
from the vessel to the canoes a matter requiring considerable dexterity.
More than once I expected to be swamped, and that through the rolling
of the ship the packages would be deposited at the bottom of the harbour.
It was therefore with great satisfaction that I saw all my property landed
safely on the beach.
Although Tamatave has always been the chief port on THE BULLOCKER
the east coast of Madagascar, there were, for many years
after my arrival there, no facilities for landing or shipping goods. The
bullocks, which formed the staple export, were swum off to the ships,
tied by their horns to the sides of large canoes, and then slung on board
by tackles from the yard-arm. From the shouting and cries of the native
drovers, the struggles of the oxen, and their starting back from the water,
it was often a very exciting scene. A number of these bullockers were
always passing between the eastern ports of Madagascar and the islands
of Mauritius and Réunion, and kept the markets of these places supplied
with beef at moderate rates. The vessels generally ceased running for
about four months in the early part of the year, when hurricanes are
prevalent in the Indian Ocean; and it may easily be supposed that the
passenger accommodation on board these ships was not of the first order.
However, compared with the discomforts and, often, the danger and long
delays endured by some, I had not much to complain of in my first
voyage to Madagascar. It had, at least, the negative merit of not lasting
long, and I had not then the presence of nearly three hundred oxen as
fellow-passengers for about a fortnight, as on my voyage homewards,
when I had also a severe attack of malarial fever.
The native houses of Tamatave, like those of the other coast villages,
were of very slight construction, being formed of a framework of wood
and bamboo, filled in with leaves of the pandanus and the traveller’s tree.
In a few of these some attempts at neatness were observable, the walls
being lined with coarse cloth made of the fibre of rofìa-palm leaves, and
the floor covered with well-made mats of papyrus. But the general aspect
of the native quarter of the town was filthy and repulsive; heaps of
putrefying refuse exhaled odours which warned one to get away as soon
as possible. In almost every other house a large rum-barrel, ready tapped,
showed what an unrestricted trade was doing to demoralise the people.
I could not help noticing the strange articles of food exposed for sale
in the little market of the Bétsimisàraka quarter. Great heaps of brown
locusts seemed anything but inviting, nor were the numbers of minute
fresh-water shrimps much more tempting in appearance. With these,
however, were plentiful supplies of manioc root, rice of several kinds,
potatoes and many other vegetables, the brilliant scarlet pods of different
spices, and many varieties of fruit—pine-apples, bananas, melons,
peaches, citrons and oranges. Beef was cheap as well as good, and there
was a lean kind of mutton, but it was much like goat-flesh. Great
quantities of poultry are reared in the interior and are brought down to
the coast for sale to the ships trading at the ports.
The houses of the Malagasy officials and the principal NATIVE HOUSES
foreign traders were substantially built of wooden
framework, with walls and floors of planking and thatched with the large
leaves of the traveller’s tree. No stone can be procured near Tamatave,
nor can bricks be made there, as the soil is almost entirely sand; the town
itself is indeed built on a peninsula, a sand-bank thrown up by the sea,
under the shelter of the coral reefs which form the harbour. The house
where I was staying consisted of a single long room, with the roof open
to the ridge; a small sleeping apartment was formed at one corner by a
partition of rofìa cloth. There was no window, but light and air were
admitted by large doors, which were always open during the day. A few
folds of Manchester cottons, to serve as mattress, and a roll of the same
for a pillow, laid on Mr Procter’s counter, formed a luxurious bed after
the discomforts of a bullock vessel. All around us, in the native houses,
singing and rude music, with drumming and clapping of hands, were
kept up far into the night; and these sounds, as well as the regular beating
of the waves all round the harbour, and the excitement of the new and
strange scenes of the past day, kept me from sleep until the small hours
of the morning.
The following day I went to make a visit to the Governor of Tamatave,
as a new arrival in the country. My host accompanied me, as I was of
course quite unable to talk Malagasy. As this was a visit of ceremony, it
was not considered proper to walk, so we went by the usual conveyance
of the country, the filanjàna. This word means anything by which articles
or persons are carried on the shoulder, and is usually translated
“palanquin,” but the filanjàna is a very different thing from the little
portable room which is used in India. In our case it was a large easy-
chair, attached to two poles, and carried by four stout men, or màromìta,
as they are called. They carried us at a quick trot; but this novel
experience struck me—I can hardly now understand why—as irresistibly
ludicrous, and I could not restrain my laughter at the comical figure—as
it then seemed to me—that we presented, especially when I thought of
the sensation we should make in the streets of an English town.
The motion was not unpleasant, as the men keep step together. Every
few minutes they change the poles from one shoulder to the other, lifting
them over their heads without any slackening of speed.
A few minutes brought us to the fort, at the southern THE GOVERNOR
end of the town; this was a circular structure of stone,
with walls about twenty feet high, which were pierced with openings for
about a dozen cannon. We had to wait for a few minutes until the
Governor was informed of our arrival, and thus had time to think of the
scene this fort presented not twenty years before that time, when the
heads of many English and French sailors were fixed on poles around the
fort. These ghastly objects were relics of those who were killed in an
attack made upon Tamatave in 1845, by a combined English and French
force, to redress some grievances of the foreign traders. But we need not
be too hard on the Malagasy when we remember that, not a hundred
years before that time, we in England followed the same delectable