THE FALLS OF THE IKOPA.
THE FALLS OF THE IKOPA.
THE FALLS OF THE IKOPA.
On our return home, we bent our course a little to the northward that we might visit the falls of the Ikopa. These falls are not only very striking in themselves, but the barrier reef over which the river leaps occupies a most important position in the economy of the province. The sedimentary clay of Madagascar yields so readily to the action of water, and is so speedily scored into gullies and ravines, that if it had nothing to stay its course, broad plains would be impossible; only long and narrow rice cultivation would be practicable. The truth of this wehave seen again and again in the scored and riven districts of Menabe and Ankay, where it is difficult to find level ground. On the western side of Imerina, at the point to which the line of its drainage by the Ikopa tends, there is in God’s good providence a remarkable reef of hard gneiss rocks. This reef retains the waters of the river at a certain fixed height. Age has passed after age, generation after generation: but the waters remain. The clay hills of Imerina have been melting away; but the silt at their feet, and the rich soil that has been formed, have only found a more perfect level. They cannot be wasted and washed away, over the stern barrier which retains the waters: and so the plain of Imerina, twelve hundred square miles in size, has only grown richer, as its swamps were cleared of reeds, and has become more fit to feed the multitudes of people that cluster in the hundreds of villages which stud its fertile bosom. A similar reef of rocks at Sinjoarivo retains the waters of the Onibe in the Ankisitra plain: and yet another, the winding stream of the Mánantánana, which waters though imperfectly the broad basin of Ambohimandroso. It is due entirely to these rocky barriers that this rich silt and the fertilising streams, which support a million lives have found a secure resting-place, four thousand feet above the sea.
The Fárahántsana, or reef of the Ikopa, lies at a point, a few miles north-west of Ambohimanoa and immediately south of Vonizongo. We struck the river a little above the reef, where it bends round to the north; and we clambered over the rocks beyond, until we stood on a projection of the bank, opposite to the falls. The reef is two hundred yards in length; and the rocks are piled on oneanother in a solid mass, while hundreds more lie struggling in the waters in the bed below. The Fárahántsana is the second fall; there being a smaller fall with numerous rapids half a mile above. In the chief fall there are two passages for the water, and the height of the fall is fifty feet. Once over they boil and foam and hurry onward, taking a second leap a little below, and foaming over great boulders rush down the rocky ravine toward the sea. The scene is in many ways one of great beauty. I was glad to secure two photographs of it, the one facing the fall, the other looking down the ravine.
After examining and enjoying the scene, we went to tiffin in what appeared to be a pretty looking cottage, on one of the islands, and embowered in trees. It proved to be a Malagasy house of the usual order, dirty, disorderly, with a clean mat or two vainly endeavouring to hide what was beneath. Of course while we rested the inevitable chickens would come between our feet, and carry away everything that their hungry little beaks could grasp. The next day we returned to the Capital: having made large additions to our knowledge of the details of Imerina geography, during this little journey of four days.
CHAPTER VIII.THE SIHANAKA PROVINCE AND PEOPLE.
CHAPTER VIII.THE SIHANAKA PROVINCE AND PEOPLE.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE SIHANAKA PROVINCE AND PEOPLE.
Special reason for a visit to this Province—Crossing the Granite Moors—Basin of the Mananára—Anjozorobe and its People—Spend Sunday with them—“The Gate of Rock”—The Wilderness of Ankay—Capital of the Sihanaka, its Governor and People—Christian work and the Native Pastor—Tour round the District—Ambohidehilahy—Ambodinónoka—Petulance of our Bearers—The great Swamp and its Reeds—Ambohitromby—Reception at Ambohipeno—Amparafaravola and its kind Governor—A Volcanic Hill—Ambohijanahary—Ambohitsara—Enquiries about the Gun—The Alaotra Lake and the Scenery around it—Marosalázana and its bright Scholars—Memorials of the Dead—Whence came the Sihanaka People—How they became Christians—What the Gospel is doing for them—Form, Extent and Population of the District.