HOVA ART. 259 



abundant decorative carving found among the Bdtsileb in the 

 southern central provinces. 



There is in Imdrina, as in Madagascar generally, nothing 

 which can be called an architectural style, for there are no 

 buildings t)f any size except the royal palaces at the capital. 

 But still the Hovas have a style of house peculiar to them- 

 selves, both in construction and shape, and these give a distinct 

 character to the appearance of the purely native towns. The 

 capital city of Antananarivo has been almost entirely rebuilt 

 within the last ten or twelve years, and its old timber houses 

 replaced by buildings of sun-dried brick, on European models. 

 But about fifteen or sixteen years ago, it was crowded with 

 the old-fashioned houses, most of them of wood, with lofty and 

 extremely high-pitched roofs, and finished at the gables with 

 the crossing timbers called " horns," the extremities of which 

 projected above the ridge to a height of from two or three 

 to five or six feet, and in the case of the royal houses even 

 to twelve or fourteen feet. Towering above these, on the 

 summit of the hill , were the two chief royal palaces ; the 

 principal one an immense timber structure with lofty roof, 

 and arched verandah in three tiers surrounding the building. 

 To the north-east of this was the second palace, of similar 

 design, but only two stories in height, and about two -thirds 

 the size of its loftier neighbour. The great palace has, how- 

 ever, during the last ten years been surrounded with a massive 

 stone verandah, with lofty corner towers, and with Corinthian 

 engaged columns, all the details being excellently worked out 

 under English superintendence in the classic styles, so that it 

 no longer presents the peculiar Malagasy type of construc- 

 tion. 



In the interior ornamentation of these royal houses (as 

 well as of some few of those belonging to the upper classes), 

 there seemed to me to be a certain distinct style prevalent. 

 This is chiefly seen in the painted decorations of the upper 

 parts of the walls, and sometimes of the ceilings, which both 

 in the colouring and large bold style of the patterns always 

 reminded me somewhat of Assyrian ornament, as shown in 

 decoration of the palaces at Persepolis. I am sorry that I am 

 unable to confirm tins by illustrative sketches, for the few 



