actual - DSpace@GIPE

224 AOTUAL AFRIOA.
changing, the new men duck under the poles and the others simply
slide away at the ends. The bearers occasionally run with you,
bnt only for short distances, and as a sort of rest for themselves.
Over a fairly good road I prefer the 61anzana to the horse, since
yon have no animal to watch and no fear of a spill, and thus are
more at liberty to observe the country and the people. Tamatave
is considered a healthy place for Europeans during the winter
months, and a foreigner shonld always if possible enter the country
at that time. All the seaboard of the island is permeated with
miasma during the wet season. Besides, to say nothing of discomfort,
the rains are so heavy and continnous it is almost impossible
to enter the interior at that time. Angnst, September and October
are perhaps the beat months for travel, and this was the time
of year dnring which my visit WII8 made. I found the days bright
and warm, almost too warm in the middle of the day on the coast
and low-lying plains, but the nights were always cool and comfortable,
and necessitated the use of one or two blankets.
The road follows at 6rst the line of the seacoast, from which
yon are never more than half a mile distant, and constantly in hearing
of the heavy snrf prodnced by the sontheast trade winds beating
npon the broad beach. For some three or fonr miles inland, as
far as Adevoranty. or seventy-two miles along the coast, the plain
consists of sand which has been heaped np in great billows and is
covered with scanty pastnre or scrubby trees and low bnsh, except
in parts where yon pass through gennine woods or forest&. The
rivers coming down from the hilla have been stopped in their
conrsea and great lakes or lagoons have thns been formed along
the coast. It is said that some fonr hundred miles of inland navigation
by boats is thns afforded, the occasional obstructions of land
being few and unimportant. The track which I followed ran
along these great sandbanks of islands between the sea and the lagoons.
I met many natives coming in to 'ramatave, the men in
plain white togas, the women in gay gowns. There was great dignity
as well as grace in their gait and mauner. All carried nmbrel1as.
Many coolies bearing the prodocts of the country also
jogged along. A large nnmber bore the hides of cattle, foor of
which seemed to be considered a sufficient load for one man. All
tbese coolies carried a sbort spear with a slender staff and iron
head, which, being also shod with a sharp iron prong, served ..
a sort of alpenstock .. well .. weapon. Several men bore oldfashioned
flint-lock mnaketa. I will spare the reader the names of