both sides; and Peter Botte hauled himself up by it to the
topmost crest, and thus immortalized his name. The ascent has since been
accomplished by English travellers.

A trip was also undertaken to the Trou de Cerf, or "Stag's Hole," a
crater of perfectly regular formation, brimful of bloom and foliage. As
no sign or mark betrays its whereabouts, the traveller is seized with
astonishment on suddenly reaching its brink. His astonishment soon wears
off, and he feels an intense delight in contemplating the view before
him. It comprises three-fourths of the island: majestic mountains
clothed in virgin forests almost to their very crests; wide-spreading
plains, green with the leafiness of the sugar-cane plantations; cool
verdurous valleys, where the drowsy shadows softly rest; and beyond and
around the blue sea with a fringe of snow-white foam marking the
indentations of the coast.

* * * * *

On the 25th of April 1857 Madame Pfeiffer sailed for Madagascar, and
after a six-days' voyage reached the harbour of Tamatave.

Madagascar, the reader may be reminded, is, next to Borneo, the largest
island in the world. It is separated from the African mainland by the
Mozambique Channel, only seventy-five miles wide. It stretches from lat.
12 to 25 degrees S., and long. 40 to 48 degrees E. Its area is about ten
thousand geographical square miles.

[The Traveller's Tree: page189.jpg]

Madagascar contains forests of immense extent, far-reaching plains and
valleys, rivers, lakes, and great chains of mountains, which raise their
summits to an elevation of ten or twelve thousand feet. The climate is
tropical, the vegetation remarkable for abundance and variety. The chief
products are gums and odoriferous balsams, sugar, tobacco, maize, indigo,
silk, spices. The woods yield many valuable kinds of timber, and almost
every fruit of the Torrid Zone, besides the curious and useful
Traveller's Tree. Palms are found in dense and beautiful groves; and
among them is the exquisite water-palm, or lattice leaf-plant. In the
animal kingdom Madagascar possesses some remarkable forms; as, for
instance, the makis, or half-ape, and the black parrot. The population
consists of four distinct races: the Kaffirs, who inhabit the south; the
Negroes, who dwell in the west; the Arabs in the east; and in the
interior the Malays, among whom the Hovas are the most numerous and the
most civilized.

* * * * *

Tamatave, when visited by Madame