amparts of earth, apparently for no other purpose than to separate
the courtyards from the neighbouring tenements. The streets and squares
are all very irregularly built: the houses are not placed in rows, but in
clusters,--some at the foot of the hill, others on its slopes. The royal
palace crowns the summit.

Madame Pfeiffer expressing her surprise at the number of
lightning-conductors that everywhere appeared, was informed that perhaps
in no other part of the world were thunderstorms so frequent or so fatal.
She was told that, at Antananarivo, about three hundred people were
killed by lightning every year.

The interior of the town was in appearance exactly like one of the
suburbs, except that the houses were built of planks or of bamboo.

At the time of Madame Pfeiffer's visit, the sovereign of Madagascar was
Queen Ranavala, memorable for her sanguinary propensities, her hatred of
Europeans, and her persecution of the Christian converts. It proves the
extraordinary power of fascination which our traveller possessed, that
she obtained from this feminine despot so many concessions--being allowed
to travel about the island with comparative freedom, and being even
admitted to the royal presence. The latter incident is thus described:--

Towards four o'clock in the afternoon her bearers carried Madame Pfeiffer
to the palace, over the door of which a great gilded eagle expands its
wings. According to rule, in stepping across the threshold the visitor
put her right foot foremost; and this ceremony she also observed on
entering, through a second gateway, the spacious courtyard in front of
the palace. Here the queen was visible, being seated on a balcony on the
first story, and Madame Pfeiffer and her attendants were directed to
stand in a row in the courtyard opposite to her. Under the balcony some
soldiers were going through divers evolutions, which concluded, comically
enough, by suddenly lifting up the right foot as if it had been stung by
a wasp.

The queen was attired in a wide silk simbre, and wore on her head a large
golden crown. Though she sat in the shade, a very ample umbrella of
crimson silk--throughout the East a sign of royal dignity--was held over
her head. She was of rather dark complexion, strongly and even sturdily
built, and, though seventy-five years of age, remarkably healthy and
active. On her right stood her son, Prince Rakoto; and on her left, her
adopted son, Prince Ramboasalama. Behi