280 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. CHAP. XI. seemed even to exceed a foot and a half in length; but the Angrcecum superbum was most abundant. Some of the or chids greatly resembled certain varieties of dendrobium, being about the size and form of D. Pierardi. There were, also, several bulbs, apparently varieties of Watsoni, exhibiting pink and lilac flowers; but I had not the heart to stop the men, so as to allow me to examine them more carefully. The little slender modest blue flowered lobelia appeared in great abundance during some parts of the journey. But ex cept when passing through the forest, the road lay over wet, marshy ground, having a sandy surface, with apparently shallow lagoons spreading a mile or two towards the in terior. After travelling about eighteen miles, we halted at Andra- nokoditra, a village of about a dozen houses, standing on a high bank of sand rising gradually from the shore of an ex tensive lagoon. The country towards the interior was well wooded, and more elevated than any we had passed through, and on the opposite side of the lake, the little village of Ma- naoka embowered among trees, and standing on a rising ground, with a tall flag-staff in the centre, from which on stated occasions the ensign of the sovereign was unfurled, added much to the charms of the landscape. The houses in the villages at which we had hitherto halted, had been for the most part small, slightly constructed, and dirty; seldom protecting their inmates from the heavy rains which at this season of the year are so frequent. The inha bitants did not appear to suffer from want of food; and though much could not he said for their cleanliness or comfort, I saw but comparatively few sick persons. The people who reside constantly in these unhealthy districts are reported to enjoy in general immunity from the fever which is often so severe and fatal to natives from more elevated and healthy districts of the country, as well as to foreigners.