Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/560

 400 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. Beveral miles seawards to a wooded islet known as the " Isle of Plums." The largest vessels tind commodious anchorage in the Tamatave roadstead, which can be easily reached without crossing any dangerous surf-beaten bars. The town itself is a small place consisting of depots, warehouses, cabins, and hovels inhabited by Betsimisarakas, blacks of various origin, and Creoles from the Mascareuhas. These dwellings are embowered in orange, lemon, mango, and cocoauut groves, while towards the west the " battery " and Hova village are masked by a curtain of tall trees. Formerly Tamatave was one of those " graves of Europeans " which are so frequently met in tropical regions. But the local climate has been considerably improved by the draining of some neighbouring marshes, which are now also planted with the fever-dispelling eucalyptus. Tamatave is the chief outlet for the cattle, rice, and other provisions intended for the Mascarenhas Islands, and for the hides and caoutchouc exported to Europe. The total exchanges average about £200,000. North of Tamatave the nearest station is the little-frequented seaport of Fouleimnfe. Maharelo, its native name, means " Much Health," but although salubrious enough for its Betsimisaraka inhabitants, the climate is nearly always fatal to Europeans. Farther north follows the port of Fcncrife, or Feuoarko, where vessels come chiefly to take in cargoes of rice. Fenerife is the natural outlet for the produce of the fertile Sihanaka territory and the Maningori valley. Towards the north-east stretches the long and narrow French island of St. Mary, the iV^o>.s< Boraha of the natives, which in 1883 had a population of 7,500. The early French writers also give it the name of Nossi Ibrahim, that is, Abra/iain's LsUmd, and speak of a Jewish colony settled here. Nevertheless, there is nothing Semitic either in the carriage or the features of its present Betsimis.iraka inhabitants, who are noted for their fine physical appearance. With its southern dependency, the islet of Naffes, St. Mary is 30 miles long from south-east to north-west, but so narrow that the whole area scarcely exceeds 60 square miles. Not more than one-fifth of this space is under cultivation, the chief products being cloves and vanilla. Over fifty thousand palms fringe the coast, on the west side of which stands the port, well-sheltered by the islet of Madame. Tintiuyne [Teng-Tciifj) and the other post on this coast lately occupied by the French have been abandoned, while the older French town of Loiiisboarr/, founded by the adventurer Beniovski, has been replaced by a Malagasy fort near Maroon f- setra. This is the chief outlet for the caoutchouc of Madagascar, which is yielded by a rahea or liana different from that of the East African species. On the north-east seaboard occur several ports, such as Angotsi, or Ngotsi, with a safe harbour and in a district yielding the best rice in the whole island ; Vohemar, like Angotsi protected by an islet, which forms an excellent port doing a brisk trade in live-stock and other provisions for' the Mascarenhas; Luquez (Lokia), occupied by the English for a short time after the Napoleonic wars; lastly, at the northern extremity of Madagascar, the great inlet of Antomboka, or Diego Suarez, one of. those numerous landlocked basins which, like Rio de Janeiro,