268 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. chap. x. 



once a soldier might be seen amongst the crowd with a large 

 piece of flesh raw and bloody, dangling from the end of the 

 spear across his shoulder. A perfect saturnalia reigned 

 throughout the village till past midnight, and the rude bar- 

 barian music of the tomtoms scarcely ceased before daylight. 

 Similar proceedings took place on the following day, although 

 the officers from the fort were not present, and few of the 

 Hovas, or more respectable portion of the community, ap- 

 peared to participate in the prevailing drunkenness and 

 tumult, which seemed to be confined in a great measure to 

 the Betsimasaraka or natives of the coast, and the slaves. 



On the evening of the next day I was invited to a public 

 dinner given by the governor to the officers from the 

 capital. About a dozen foreign residents — Italians, Germans, 

 and French, but chiefly the latter, including the captains of 

 two French vessels which had arrived on the preceding day— 

 were present. The provision was abundant, consisting of 

 soup, beef, roast pig, poultry, game, and pastry, all well 

 prepared. The officers from the capital appeared sensible 

 and well-behaved men, and, as I sat next to them at dinner, 

 I had occasional opportunities of answering their inquiries 

 about England, as well as of hearing the news from the 

 capital. After the dinner, several of the foreign residents 

 expressed their sense of the merits and services of the late M. 

 Delastelle, and, as one of them frequently mentioned the 

 name of the queen, the governor politely requested that 

 whatever reference they might make to M. Delastelle, they 

 would avoid mentioning the name of the sovereign ; and, as 

 the officers from the palace intimated their approval of the 

 governor's request, I inferred that it was not considered re- 

 spectful to the sovereign that her name should be thus in- 

 troduced in the course of an after-dinner speech. 



On every occasion that I had met him at dinner, the 

 governor had observed that I did not drink wine, and on my 



