File:Modern travel, a record of exploration, travel (1921) (14593254828).jpg

Identifier: moderntravelreco00davi (find matches)
Title: Modern travel, a record of exploration, travel
Year: 1921 (1920s)
Authors: Davidson, Norman James. (from old catalog)
Subjects: Voyages and travels
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott company London, Seeley, Service & co., ltd.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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ways, sometimes three deep, are formed ofstone, often in large slabs, and instead of a gate a greatcircular stone, eight or ten feet in diameter, was rolledacross the opening and was fitted into rough grooves oneither side, and wedged up with other stones inside thegate. In the fosses, which are, of course, always damp,with good soil, ferns and wild plants grow luxuriantly;and the bottom forms a plantation in which peach,banana, guava and other fruit trees are cultivated, aswell as coffee, arums, and a variety of vegetables. Talltrees frequently grow there, so that these fosses areoften the prettiest feature of the village. Seen from a distance, Malagasy villages often lookvery pretty and picturesque, but the enchantmentwhich distance lends is utterly dispelled on closeracquaintance. They are really most insanitary andfilthy. When passing through the forest one cannot fail tonotice here and there a long white bag of a silky-lookingtexture. On cutting this open it is found to contain a
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t/3 .t; ci a a — s a Pi; rt Pi -^ < ^ MADAGASCAR : NATURES MUSEUM 201 wriggling mass of caterpillars. Another noticeable nestis that of a small species of black ant. It is often aslarge as a football and is made of cow-dung or vegetablematter. It contains a series of thin floors separated bypillars. In these nests is found a number of small buthandsome beetles ; but no one has been able to explainthe object of their presence there. Another abode ofthe ant tribe takes the form of a large mound with acrater-like opening at the top. There are other specieswhich do not construct habitations but live in the crev-ices of the bark of trees or in the stalks of plants.Butterflies are scarce in the woods, but caterpillars arenumerous. Reptiles are not very conspicuous; oneseldom sees a snake, although probably the denseundergrowth affords them sufficient concealment, andalthough they are for the most part innocuous, and someof them very pretty, the natives appear to have a super-stitious d

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