The friendly hospitality of the chief of this village was found to be
likely to cause delay, for he would not hear of his visitors departing
until they had been feasted and entertained with games and hunting.
As they were completely in his power there was nothing for it but to
submit with the best grace possible, although Ravonino was naturally
anxious to push on.
"You see it won't do to look as if we were indifferent to his
hospitality," said the guide. "He would be greatly offended, for you
must know that the Malagasy pride themselves on their hospitality.
Come, we will go and have a look at the neighbouring woods while they
are preparing breakfast for us, and I will tell you a story about the
late King Radama."
"Was that the good king you told us about who did so much for the
missionaries, though he wasn't a Christian himself?" asked Hockins, as
they all passed through the enclosure of the village and entered the
woods.
"Yes, the same," replied the guide, "though whether he was a Christian
or not I cannot tell. I judge no man. He made no profession of
Christianity, but he was kind to the missionaries--very different from
Ranavalona."
"Das de oosurper, what you call 'er?" said Ebony.
"Just so," returned the guide. "Well, as I was saying, our people are
very hospitable. Everywhere, almost, throughout the country, when a
traveller enters a village, a present is usually brought to him of rice,
poultry, or fruit, or whatever they have on hand. You'll find out that
for yourselves as you go along--"
"A bery proper state ob tings," remarked Ebony.
"And whatever house you come to," continued Ravonino, "the owner will
invite you politely to enter, and make you welcome. Of course there are
greedy and surly people here and there, but these are an exception to
the rule. Well, on one occasion King Radama heard of some people of
that sort. You must know that our chiefs have always required that they
should be entertained on the best the people could provide. It is an
old custom. Well, Radama made a law that all the provisions and other
kinds of property should belong to the people, but all the houses in the
country should belong to the sovereign; and he ordered the inhabitants
to furnish lodgings to his servants and soldiers wherever they went. In
order to make sure that his orders were obeyed the King soon after went
in disguise to a village some distance off, and towards evening entered
a peasant's house and asked to be taken in for the night.
"The heads of the family did not refuse, but rendered their hospitality
in such a way as showed that he was not welcome. Next day he went to
another house. There he was kindly welcomed, civilly treated, and the
best they had in the house was set before him. In the morning when
taking leave he made himself known, no less to the surprise than
consternation of the family, and he left, assuring them that their
hospitality should not be forgotten. The King kept his word, for he
afterwards sent his officers to the village with a stern reproof to his
first entertainer and a handsome present to the other."
Just as the guide finished his anecdote a resplendent butterfly of
enormous size rose from the bushes, and Mark, to whom it was quite a new
specimen, bounded after it, but failed to effect a capture.
"Neber mind, massa," said the sympathetic Ebony, "you'll hab better luck
nex' time--p'r'aps!"
"Besides," added the guide, "there are plenty more where that came from,
for we have got into a good region for insects."
"Seems to me," said Hockins, "it's a good region for everything. Look
at that now,"--he pointed to an object in front of him. "I would say
that was a spider if it warn't as big as a bird, and hadn't set up a
fishin'-net for a web!"
Although not strictly correct, the seaman's description had a foundation
in truth, for some of the spiders of Madagascar are enormous, and their
webs so thick that it requires a considerable effort to break them.
Moreover they are said to be poisonous, and the bite of some even
deadly.
The contemplation of those creatures, however, had to be cut short at
that time, as they did not dare to risk keeping Voalavo waiting
breakfast for them.
"We are going to stick pigs and hunt wild cattle," said the jovial
chief, with his mouth full of chicken and rice, when they arrived. "We
will show the white men some fun."
On this being translated Ebony hoped that the black man was included in
the white, and Mark asked if the hunting-ground was far-off.
"A long way," said the chief, "we shan't reach it till night. But
that's no matter, for night is our time to hunt."
He said this with a twinkle in his eye, for he saw well enough that his
guests were impatient to be gone.
"But," continued he, on observing that they did not seem cheered by the
prospect, "our road to the hunting-plain lies on your way to
Antananarivo, so you won't lose time."
As he spoke he opened a small box containing a brown sort of dust, of
which he put as much as he possibly could between the teeth of his lower
jaw and the lip.
"What in all the world is he doin'?" asked Hockins of the guide in a low
tone.
"He is taking snuff."
"I always s'posed," remarked Ebony, "dat snuff was tooken by de nose!"
"So it is, they tell me, in England; but we have a different fashion
here, as you see, and quite as foolish."
"You don't mean that it's tobacco he treats in that way?" exclaimed
Mark.
"Not pure tobacco, but tobacco mixed with other things--something like
the cheap cigars which you English are said to smoke!" replied Ravonino
with something of a humorous twinkle in his eyes. "But we don't smoke.
We only snuff. In making our snuff we first dry the tobacco leaves and
grind them to powder. Then to this we add the ashes of the leaves of a
sweet-smelling herb, the mixture being twice as much tobacco as ashes; a
small quantity of potash or salt is added, and then it is considered fit
for use."
"Don't your people smoke at all?" asked Hockins.
"Not much, and never tobacco--except those on the coast who have been
corrupted by Europeans. Some of us used to smoke _rongona_, a kind of
hemp. It is a powerful stimulant, and used to be taken by warriors
before going out to battle, because it drove them nearly mad, and so
fitted them for their bloody work. Government has lately forbidden its
use--but it is still used in secret."
"They've got baccy, an' don't smoke!" murmured Hockins to himself in a
kind of meditative surprise, as though he had just been told that the
natives possessed food and did not eat.
"But _you_ don't smoke?" remarked the guide.
"That's 'cause I hain't got baccy nor pipe. You give me pipe and baccy
an' I'll smoke you into fits in no time."
"Do you feel the want of it much?"
"Not much. At first I did, most awful, but now I'm gettin' over it."
The guide was silent. He might have remarked, "Yet now, if you had the
chance, you would enslave yourself _again_!" but, not being of an
argumentative turn of mind, he merely shook his head and changed the
subject. It was well, for Hockins was one of those people who, "if
convinced against their will, remain of the same opinion still."
After breakfast, while the young men of the tribe armed themselves and
made preparation for the expedition, Ravonino took his friends through
the village, the inhabitants of which were evidently as deeply
interested in seeing the white men as the latter were in seeing the
brown; for each were objects of curiosity to the other.
During the stroll our friends saw the weaving of the _lamba_--the large
plaid-like garment of hempen cloth worn extensively in the island. The
looms were rude and simple, but the fabrics produced were wonderfully
good in appearance and texture, some being made of a kind of coarse
silk. Many of them were ornamented, and rendered very heavy with
immense quantities of small leaden beads fastened to the garment either
in straight or curved rows, the lead having been procured from traders
at the coast, and the beads having been manufactured by themselves.
These natives wore but little clothing--merely a cloth round the loins,
and sometimes a jacket made of coarse material. The _lamba_ is usually
worn over the shoulders in the cool of the morning, but at the time we
write of most of the men who used the garment, had bound it tightly
round their waists.
Our travellers were made acquainted at this time with a game which
interested them greatly--especially arousing the enthusiasm of the
negro. It was a kicking game, played by some of the more active among
the young men, who, having got ready for the field quickly, were waiting
for their slower companions. The chief peculiarity of the game
consisted in the mode of kicking, namely backwards, in the horse or
donkey fashion. The guide explained that the name of the game, when
literally translated, was, "striking blue with the sole of the foot!"
It is a desperate game, and when played, as it frequently is, by
hundreds of active and powerful young men, the results are sometimes
sprained ankles, broken legs, etcetera.
"Oh! das de game for me!" cried the enthusiastic Ebony, who could hardly
be restrained from joining. "De sole ob my foot's awrful broad, an' I
could strike black as well as blue. Do let me try, massa!"
Fortunately, perhaps, for our negro, the chief came out of his hut at
that moment and gave the signal for the hunters to advance, thus
bringing the game and Ebony's aspirations to an abrupt end. The young
men at once fell to the rear, and the whole party sallied forth into the
forest.
It was magnificent weather, with just cloud enough to prevent the sun
being overpoweringly hot, and the tract of country over which they
passed was surpassingly beautiful. To Mark Breezy it seemed as if all
the winged insects in the island had come forth to welcome him. There
were butterflies of various sizes and brilliant colours flitting to and
fro among the wild-flowers, besides dragon-flies, grasshoppers of
exquisite beauty, spiders with coats of gold and silver, caterpillars
half-a-foot long in gorgeous array of black, scarlet, and yellow, and
many other creatures which we may not pause to describe here, though
Mark and the guide frequently paused to look at them, insomuch that they
were often left a considerable way behind. One of the butterflies which
Mark caught at that time was very beautiful, and a slow flier. It
actually measured eight inches across the extended wings.
Of larger animals they saw none; and it may be as well to remark here
that there are no large carnivora in Madagascar--no lions, tigers,
leopards panthers, or creatures of that sort--nothing larger than a
wild-cat and a wolf being known. Neither are there elephants, giraffes,
rhinoceroses, hippopotami, antelope, nor deer; the only large animals
being two species of ox, and the wild-boar, goats and sheep, and
crocodiles. There are also huge bats, an animal of the monkey tribe
called the lemur, hedgehogs, and rabbits.
The lemurs are very pretty little things, and, being gentle affectionate
creatures, are sometimes tamed and kept as pets.
The scenery, we have said, was beautiful. At one turn of the road in
particular a landscape of such beauty appeared suddenly before them that
Mark was arrested as if spell-bound; it was such a gorgeous combination
of luxuriant foliage--ferns and palms and bamboos, interlaced with
creepers, and enlivened by streams which brawled and tumbled in
picturesque cascades, over which hundreds of butterflies sported in the
sunshine. From the height of land on which they stood a wide,
well-watered plain was seen to extend far below them. It was hemmed in
on either side by wooded hills and backed by the interior highlands.
Far down the hill-side their companions could be seen wending their way
through the tangled shrubbery, just in rear of the native hunters, led
by their energetic chief Voalavo. As the men carried spears, the points
of which glittered in the sun, the party had quite a martial aspect.
To our young student the whole scene was enchanting. It had the effect
of subduing and solemnising his feelings in a way which he had never
before experienced. The earnest, religious cast of his companion's
spirit also tended not a little to deepen this feeling and induce him
for the first time in his life to understand that "nature's God" was in
very truth present with him.
"Is not the hand of the Master here?" said Ravonino, after a long
silence.
"Truly, my friend, it is," replied the young man, "and your remark puts
me to shame. For many a time, through the microscope and the human
frame and the surrounding world, might I have seen this Master-hand
everywhere--if my eyes had been open."
The guide turned on Mark an earnest, inquiring look.
"Friend," he said, impressively, "if this be so, you are now very
specially awakened to the Truth. If you have passed through and seen so
much without recognising God in his creatures, you have been brought for
the first time to know yourself. Turn now--now--to the Saviour, and you
will henceforth see a glory in all things that you never saw before.
Turn, my friend--for `now is the accepted time.'"
Ravonino spoke with such an earnest look and tone that the youth could
not doubt the sincerity of his belief in the Saviour whom he so
affectionately held up to his view.
"Ravonino, I believe you are right. God help me to turn!"
"He _has_ helped you already," said the guide. "That prayer, _if true_,
never yet came from an unrenewed heart."
As he spoke a shout from those further down the hill-side stopped the
conversation and obliged the friends to resume the descent.
"That is the plain, I am told," said Ravonino, "where they expect to
find wild cattle, and where we shall have to encamp, no doubt, till
night enables us to hunt."
"Not a very cheerful time to go sporting," said Mark.
"They do not count it sport," remarked his comrade, gravely. "They are
short of meat, and hunt for food."
A few minutes later and the party was encamped in the thick woods that
bordered the plain.