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As far as his knowledge went, the aloes were servi- 

 ceable, and they had taken the place of English aloes 

 in the Queen's Hospital, the London Missionary 

 Society's Hospital, and the Norwegian Hospital. The 

 Malagasy aloes could be bought cheaply in the market. 

 He believed that they were of two species. The 

 Tangeria beans were the ordeal beans in Madagascar, 

 the possession of which had lately been made illegal 

 by the Government. Not long ago there was a 

 considerable disturbance made in the central province, 

 where the capital was situated, because a man from 

 the coast dared to bring up a quantity of these beans- 

 There was an epidemic of malarial fever raging at the 

 time and decimating the people, and this man 

 persuaded a stupid woman in one of the villages to 

 give an infusion of the beans to a person whom he 

 regarded as a witch, and suspected of causing the 

 epidemic. That person and several others died in 

 consequence, and when the news of this reached the 

 Queen, she ordered the whole village, containing over 

 five hundred adults, to be brought up, and they were 

 put upon their trial in order to ascertain how many 

 persons had been involved in the breach of the law. 

 They were kept for three months between two high 

 walls, and without any other shelter. At the trial the 

 only person found guilty was the woman who had 

 administered the infusion of beans at the instigation of 

 the man who brought them into the village. Owing 

 to the mismanagement of the judges, it required three 



