The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-06-17
A PARKWAY LAND.
OF A TRIP THROUGH
MADAGASCAR.
Interesting Description OF the Country and
the People.

IR'htfI aaa
the People.
A correspondent of the London Standard
in a recent letter describes a Journey of 1870
miles made by himself from Tamataya, on
the eastern coast, to Antananarivo, the
capital OF Madagascar. He travelled at first
in a ph~ilanZan-the palanquin OF Madagas-
car-which Is a chair placed ON two long
poles and carried by eight men. The six
ty-miles' run along the coast. he says, was
through an extremely pretty country.
I" ON our right stretched a fine unduIating
country. the sward under foot seeming as
carefully tended and as soft as a gentleman's
lawn. Clumps of spreading trees, grassy
slopes, and peeps OF quiet lagoon waters
cleaning amid the foliage, gave the land
scape the appearance Of a huge park, across
which porters raced merrily. Alright
the fitting hreilies came ont in their thou
sands and sparkled amid the leaves, while
the crickets and the beetles kept up the
ceaseless and almost deafening hum pc
culiar TO the tropical night everywhere.
Our halting-place was the small village Of
Panarani. a long line Of huts, with
bamboo walls, bamboo floors, and palm
leaf roofs. inhabited chiefly by fowls,
leas, and mosquitoes. Every hut had
it, rum-cask on tap. and was filled
with packs Of sailed hides, which Malagasy
porters were carrying from the capital to
Tamataya. The trade is rapidly ~increas-
ing. II already amounts to 100, 600 hides
annually, and throughout II journey we
constantly met long lines Of hcavIly-laden
bearers. The villagers on the road made a
good thing OF the traffic, and hence the
numerous rum-caSks. We COM
pleted the sixty miles along the coast in
two days, finding ourselves at Andeyo-
rante, next to Tamataya the most pOpulous
town i'm this section OF Madagascar, and
more than TiyallIng that commercial centre
in the number Of its rum-casks and in
the drunkenness Of It's inhabitants. IL was
sunday evening when we arrived, and the
singing from the two or three chapelS min
glcd with the drunken Drawing in the
mere huts. Among the traders here |
found an Afghan from Cabul, a Mussulman
from Hyderabad. in the Deccan, and a
Parsee from Bombay. who were each Of
them glad TO receive some account Of their
native cities. Indian traders are becoming
A. ubiquifouS over East Africa rs are Jews
in Europe"
The second section OF the Journey was a
trip i'm canoes 0f about fifteen miles up la
goOns and rivers. The philanZan men pad
died the canoes. OF the singing Of the men
he SAYS There were bass singers and
seconds. while the melodies were often
sweet and Strangely plaintiye. Indeed, We
imcied we could trace in this Malagasy
music indications Of the higher civilization
OF which the people are capable. our In
dian fellow-subiects have learned from Us
10 make speeches a. long and as dTeary A.
those Of any member OF Parliament. They
are merchants. they are lawyers. they
are b%aronete. and they take degrees
at college. But not the most learned
graduate among them has mastered
a single western diity or melody. They
cannot appreciate or understand western
music. There the line between eastern
and western civilization i drawn. But
whistle 10 any Malagasy bearer an air from
Patience or any other iayorite opera.
and he will speedily render himself "A nui-
sance. like any London street-boy, TO all
within hearing. As we padded onward
the country on either bank seemed IA yeri-
table PLANTER paradise. But tall grasses.
palms. reeds. and luXuriant jungle cover
the SUGAR and tObaccO-iields OF the future.
Everything grows here. n vine twig
stuck in the sand near Tamatava bore fruit
in a month or two, and now yields two
crops per annum."
The Journey was then made over a
mountainous region. and the correspond
cnt speaks n follows OF the Malagasy roads {:
"A Malagasy path goes very straight. 1t
despiscs easy inclincs and reyels in pre-
ciDiccs. Ant like. the Malagasy goes over
everything in front OF him. lie prefers, il
ANYTHING. the highest point i'm any range OF
hills that may have to DE crossed, and de-
| WAITING neither 10 the right nor 10
the left. goes straight over II, no mat
ter how steep ~ slope may be. our
daily toll for nearly a week was the con-
tInual ascent and descent OF rocky ridge
covered with forests on the tops, which,
running in seeming endless succession due
north and south. and at right angles to the
path. render penetration 10 the interior OF
Madagascar from the east coast 80 dlincuil.
No sooner wa one ridge surrounded than
another would present Itself, and 80 close
were they that q stone might easily be
thrown from the top OF one 10 the other
vet "A gorge about 1000 feet deep always
Law between, and down into that gorge
would the bearers plunge, only that the
same tOllsome labor OF ascent might be
commenced again. Sitting in a philan-
Fan during such a journey Is no very
pleasant experience. a solemn and op-
pressiye silence prevailed everywhere.
There i no life in the woods Of Madagas-
ear. and throughout our journey a single
black parrot and melancholy crow or
two were the only birds we saw" Tie goes
on 10 say that at one village at which a bait
| was made a convoy Of Government gun
powder was being passed, for better secu-
rity. from the coast 10 the capital, and the
kegs were changed from one set OF men
10 the other amid much palaver, and two
bullocks were slaughtered and eaten TO eel
citrate the event after which the entire
village got drunk.
OF the plateu OF Imerina. the home Of
the Hovas. the ruling race OF Madagascar,
the correspondent says: 'Around Us were
numerous villages clustering on the hill
slopes. There were no trees, only rolling
ycldt. like that peculiar 10 South Africa.
.. - L.r InaNl.af nAn- Af