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SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.
Andororante, or the "Slave Market," former capital of the Betsimisaraka. kingdom, stands on a tongue of sand amid a labyrinth of coast lagoons. Its position is the most important of any on this seaboard, being the point which
Fig. 139. — Tamatave.
lies nearest to the capital. Hence travellers bound for Tananarivo follow the coast from Tamatave to Andovoranto, and then strike inland from a neighbouring estuary, whence they soon reach the escarpments of the central plateau. This would consequently be an excellent site for a great commercial or naval station, but for the dangerous character of the neighbouring coastlands and the difficult
