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storage of rice, &c.: it is closed with stones and earth. All 
the villages of this province are situated, like Tannanarivou, 
on mountains or lofty eminences, and surrounded by one or two 
rows of trenches, often fifty or sixty feet deep. This manner of 
fortifying themselves is probably owing to their frequent wars, 
and to the barbarous custom of falling on the inhabitants. of 
a village and carrying them away into slavery. The only 
approach to a village is by a very small narrow path, which 
is barricadoed by large stones. The houses are commonly 
built of red clay. -— SOUS TOP 
The regal palace, which is situated in the centre of the 
capital, on the finest platform of the mountain, and all the 
apartments of which ‘consist in a kind of eating-room and a 
sleeping chamber, is constructed, like most of the houses at 
Tannanarivou, of wood, and on a similar plan, except that 
the roof is covered with shingles, and that it stands on a plat- 
form of hewn stones. The interior is tolerably decorated, 
being hung with paper, and there are globes, glasses, pictures, 
and other articles, brought by Europeans; but the whole was 
far from producing the effect on me that it did on some of 
the missionaries, who praise the general elegance of the 
dwelling, and the spaciousness and beauty of the apartments.* 
The exterior is painted of all imaginable colours, yellow, 
green, blue, red, black, &c. and has the gaudy unsubstantial 
appearance of a house of cards. The north and south sides 
are adorned with different designs in silver, from the terrace 
to the cope-stone, and the fagade is covered with ornaments 
of the same metal. In the centre of this is a large glass, and 
a small mirror above it, surrounded with silver decorations, 
and with large gilded frames, manufactured at Emerina itself. 
From this circumstance, the name of this building, the Silver 
Palace ('Thranu- Wula), is derived. This palace is surrounded 
by a kind of wooden balcony, very rudely carved, to which — 
an ascent is obtained by a ladder, for want of a better stair- 
case. "The palace and all the court are surrounded by a 
/——. ? See Copland’s History of Madagascar, p. 81. 
