FIRST VIEW OF THE CAPITAL 78 



in the sky on all sides, and then found it was produced by the 

 grass burning on the hills and downs, which showed in lines of 

 fire for many miles in all directions. 



Early on Tuesday morning, with a glad heart I took my seat 

 in my palanquin, rejoiced to think that this was the last stage 

 in my long journey. About three quarters of an hour after 

 leaving Ambatomanga we caught our first sight of the capital, 

 still twelve or fourteen miles distant, and I could not but be 

 struck by its size and fine situation, a much larger city than I 

 had expected, built on the summit and slopes of a lofty rocky 

 hill some two miles long from north to south, which was covered 

 with dark-looking houses. In the centre stood conspicuous the 

 great bulk of the chief palace and its smaller neighbour, their 

 arched verandahs and steep roofs, all painted white, and shining 

 in the morning sun, towering over every other object. It was a 

 memorable moment to me, as I thought of what had happened 

 in Antananarivo within the last quarter century, and that my 

 work was to raise lasting memorials to the brave Malagasy 

 who had suffered and died for their faith. 



On we went over the long rolling moor-like hills, losing sight 

 of the city every now and then, and presently coming in view of 

 it again as we mounted the ridges ; and every half-hour brought 

 out more of the details of the place and revealed its masses of 

 dark houses, clustered on the slopes of the rocky hill. Several 

 streams we crossed by means of stone arched bridges, and I was 

 struck by the number of villages to be seen in every direction, 

 many of them enclosed in high walls made of red clay, laid with 

 care in regular courses and apparently hard and durable. The 

 houses were all built of the same material, and many of them 

 were enclosed in circular and others in square courtyards with 

 gateways. Many of the villages were surrounded with deep 

 fosses, sometimes two and even three yards deep, now generally 

 filled with bananas, peach and other fruit trees, and some with 

 walls and stone gateways, giving one the impression that there 

 must have formerly been much internal warfare to need such 

 elaborate defences. This indeed was the case before Imerina 

 was governed by one sovereign, about a hundred years ago. 



Within a mile or two of the city we passed for a quarter of an 

 hour through a perfect cloud of locusts, which covered the ground 

 and filled the air. At a distance these insects appeared like a 



