Rempart; in a fourth
may be seen the three-headed mountain called the Trois Mammelles.
Contiguous to these opens a deep caldron, two of the sides of which
have broken down in ruin, while the others remain erect and precipitous.
Besides these, the view includes the Caps de Garde du Port Louis de
Mocca, Le Pouce, with its narrow peak projecting over the plateau like a
thumb, and the precipitous Peter Botte.

Madame Pfeiffer also paid a visit to the Trou de Cerf, or "Stag's Hole,"
a crater of perfectly regular formation, brimful of bloom and foliage.
As its locality is indicated by no sign or landmark, the traveller is
seized with astonishment on suddenly finding it lying open beneath his
feet. The prospect from this point embraces three-fourths of the island;
majestic mountains clothed in virgin forests almost to their very
crests; wide-spreading plains, green with the sugar-cane plantations;
rich verdure-clad valleys where the shadows drowsily linger; and beyond,
and all around, the dark blue shining sea with a fringe of pearly foam
indicating the broken outline of the coast.

* * * * *

It was on the 25th of April, 1857, that Madame Pfeiffer sailed for
Madagascar, and on the last day of the month she reached the port of
Tamatave. Of late years Tamatave has grown into a place of much
commercial importance, but in Madame Pfeiffer's time it was but a poor,
though a very large village, with between 4,000 and 5,000 inhabitants.
Obtaining permission to pass into the interior of the island, she
penetrated as far as Antananarivo, or "City of a Thousand Towers," the
capital. As she approached it, she could see it picturesquely planted
on a high hill that rose almost suddenly out of the broad and fertile
inland plain; and after a pleasant journey through rich and beautiful
scenery, she came upon the suburbs, which enclose it on all sides.

At first the suburbs were simply villages; but they have gradually
expanded until they have touched one another, and formed a united
aggregate. Most of the houses are built of earth or clay; but those
belonging to the city itself must, by royal decree, be constructed of
planks, or at least of bamboo. They are all of a larger size than the
dwellings of the villagers; are much cleaner, and kept in better
condition. The roofs are very high and steep, with long poles reared at
each end by way of ornament. Many of the houses, and sometimes groups of
three or four h