252 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 



CHAP. X. 



Overland Route to Pointe de Galle. — Detention in Ceylon. — Voyage to 

 Mauritius. — Arrival in Madagascar. — Signs of increasing Traffic at Tama- 

 tave. — First Night on Shore. — General Fondness of the People for Music. 

 — Introduction of the Violin. — Dinner with the Governor. — Deaths of 

 former Friends. — Applications for Medicine. — Presents from the Princes. — 

 Visit from the Governor and Suite. — Astonishment excited by the Electric 

 Telegraph. — The Queen's Preference for running Messengers rather than 

 the Wires. — Native Work in Iron. — Iron Smelting. — Native Smiths. — 

 Message of Condolence from the Queen to a bereaved Family at Tamatave. 

 Mode of estimating the Worth of the Deceased. — Homage to the Dead. — 

 Scenes of Riot and Drunkenness. — The Governor's Dinner to the Officers 

 from the Capital. — Bearers engaged for the Journey. — The Government 

 Sempstresses. 



Before leaving the Cape of Grood Hope, in 1855, I had re- 

 ceived a letter from the Malagasy government, conveying to 

 Mr. Cameron and myself permission to proceed to the capi- 

 tal ; and before the close of the year a second letter to the 

 same effect reached me in London. Mr. Cameron, then 

 residing at the Cape, had expressed his willingness to accom- 

 pany me ; and as the permission, forwarded in this instance 

 without solicitation on our part, might be regarded almost as 

 an invitation, I did not feel it right to refuse to undertake 

 another visit to the country. 



For this purpose, I embarked in one of the Peninsula and 

 Oriental Company's steamers at Southampton, on the 20th of 

 March, 1856. We touched at Gibraltar and Malta, landed 

 at Alexandria, and pursued the now often-traversed over- 

 land route to Suez. Here we embarked again on board the 

 " Nubia," sailed down the Red Sea to Aden, and then, crossing 



