A HOSPITABLE RECEPTION 189 



which I had of course to reply. After a few minutes' delay, and 

 promising to come and preach to them on the following after- 

 noon, we pushed on, for it was near sunset, and we had still 

 three or four miles to traverse before reaching our destination. 



It was about an hour after sundown before we reached Ampara- 

 faravola, but a bright moon near the full prevented any diffi- 

 culty in travelling. The town itself was almost entirely Hova, 

 and consisted of about ninety houses in a square stockade of 

 palisading, a double line of which ran all around it ; but there 

 were as many more Sihanaka houses within half-a-mile of the 

 rova, and two or three small villages at no great distance. On 

 the west side of the town was a large, well-built, clay chapel, 

 not then finished. Our first look at it, without any doors or 

 windows, made us doubtful whether we could use it as a lodging, 

 especially as the evening breeze blew sharply through the 

 numerous openings ; however, as we found there were tempo- 

 rary doors and shutters of zozdro, which filled them up to some 

 extent, we decided that we had better stay in it. A few 

 minutes after our arrival, the lieutenant-governor of the district 

 and his attendants came out of the rova to meet us ; and then, 

 of course, came loyal inquiries and polite speeches and, after 

 a little time, beef, rice and poultry, etc. We were glad at last 

 to get some tea, but we found the chapel very windy and letting 

 in far too many mosquitoes to be pleasant, so we pitched the 

 tent at the far end of the building as a sleeping apartment, and 

 by dexterous management Mr Pillans and I stole a march on 

 our bloodthirsty little tormentors, and managed to get a good 

 night's rest ; while the doctor secured the same under the pro- 

 tection of his mosquito net. 



On Sunday morning the people assembled early (rather too 

 early for us) outside the chapel ; and as soon as we had break- 

 fasted, stowed away our packages, beds, etc., at the farther end, 

 and covered them over with our tent to make things tidy, we 

 let the people in. Mr Pillans' gorgeous rug again did duty as 

 covering for the rough little table which served as a reading-desk, 

 while the doctor's photographic chemical box made it a con- 

 venient height. The chapel was soon well filled with people, 

 about four hundred and fifty in number ; they came in follow- 

 ing the governor and his officers, who took their seats first. 

 Then came the commander's wife, a very stout, pleasant-looking 



