e was borne by four bearers, two
before and two behind, while four others walked by the side ready to
relieve them. No wheeled carriages are used in Madagascar, so that the
only roads are the paths made by the unshod feet of the natives, or by
the bullocks' hoofs; and there is no water-carriage--all goods are
conveyed on men's shoulders from one part of the country to the other;
so that we had quite an army with us, what with our relays of bearers,
and those who carried our baggage and presents. Up and down hills we
travelled, through the wildest scenery we could imagine. It is
difficult to describe it. Sometimes we had to wind up and down over
rugged heights; then through forests, frequently turning aside to avoid
the huge trees which had fallen across our path; then across swamps and
plots of slippery mud; and often we had to force our way through dense
jungle, or through miles of primeval forests.

We saw many interesting trees and plants. One of the most beautiful is
the bamboo. Some of the canes, nearly a foot in circumference at the
base, rise to the height of forty or fifty feet, their slight,
feathery-looking points, like huge plumes, waving with the slightest
breeze, and assisting to keep up a circulation of the air. They are
fringed at their joints with short branches of long, lance-shaped
leaves. We saw bamboos of all sizes, some with the cane as delicate as
a small quill, yet fully ten feet long; and these were also exceedingly
graceful. So also were the tree-ferns, which grew in great profusion
and beauty on the sides of the hills. But the most curious and valuable
tree we saw was the traveller's-tree. It has a thick succulent stem
like the plantain. From ten to thirty feet from the ground it sends out
from the stem, not all round, but on opposite sides, like a fan, ten or
a dozen huge bright green leaves; so that facing it, it has the
appearance of a vast fan. The stalk of the leaf is six or eight feet
long, and the leaf itself four or six more. In each head were four or
five branches of seed-pods, in appearance something like the fruit of
the plantain. When they burst each pod was found to contain thirty or
more seeds, in shape like a small bean, covered up with a very fine
fibre of a brilliant purple or blue colour. The most singular
arrangement, which gains this tree the name it bears, is the pure water
which it contains. This is found in the thick part of the stem of each
leaf, at the