Animals, Plants, Etc., of Madagascar
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Animals, Plants, Etc., of Madagascar.
No PART OF the world has proved so interesting to the zoologist, or such a paradise to the botanist as Madagascar. The bed of the Indian Ocean is of extreme depth, except round the islands. Evidence warrants the belief that Madagascar was connected with Africa. One fact, which strikes every traveler in Madagascar is the lack of animal life. It is the home of some species of reptile. There are between fifty and sixty species of chameleons and a great variety of snakes, even pythons nine or ten feet in length, and as thick as a man's leg. One species is looked upon with great superstitious reverence, as the impersonation of their dead ancestors, whose souls upon the death of the body have passed into these creatures. When one is discovered, the chiefs assemble near it and proceed to ascertain whose ancestor is here embodied. This is done by a series of questions that can be answered by yes or no. The animal is attentively watched, and when the motion of its head is supposed to indicate the affirmative to the question, Are you the ancestor to such a chief? it then becomes the duty of the chief to conduct the proper ceremonies. A bullock is killed and blood given to propitiate the creature and secure its good offices. Gigantic tortoises are found, some six feet broad, weighing nearly eight hundred pounds. There are a hundred species of land birds, not more than half a dozen being known elsewhere. Many small streams in the forest seem to be literally alive with butterfly and moth life. One of the spiders is the largest known. So strong are some of the hunting spiders that they can throw out any substance twice or thrice their own weight to a distance twelve times their own length. The number of flowering plants, it is thought, will yet be found to reach four or five thousand.—Madagascar and France.