HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
189 
treated with great respect and consideration. On the follow¬ 
ing morning a procession, which is described as well worth 
seeing, proceeded to the dwelling of the captive king. It 
consisted of two hundred girls, bearing cooked provisions. 
The girls, who were uniformly neat in their attire, and 
bore each one finely platted basket, were preceded by six 
of the captains and twenty-four aged men. 
Although every thing appeared now to be ready for the 
departure of Mr. Hastie, yet such was the pertinacity of 
the king and his ministers, that every objection, already 
stated, with many new ones emanating from the latter 
party, had to be discussed again before the four who were 
deputed as ambassadors could be induced to set out on 
their journey. Amongst other things, they wished to know 
from the king, whether, in case of the slave-trade being 
abolished, they who were the nobles of the land should be 
expected to work like menials; and the king, on his part, 
appeared to discover every moment new reasons why the 
measure could not be brought into operation, which, in 
addition to his wish to detain the British agent at his 
capital, rendered it extremely difficult for Mr. Hastie suc¬ 
cessfully to carry through the business he had undertaken. 
On the 13th of October, however, he succeeded in com¬ 
pleting the preparations for his journey, and set off for 
Tamatave, in company with the four ministers deputed by 
the king. 
The following letter from Captain Stanfell to governor 
Farquhar, will give an account of what transpired at that 
place in reference to this embassy:— 
“ His Majesty’s Ship Phaeton, Tamatave, Island of 
Madagascar, Oct. 26th, 1817. 
a Sir,—A fter receiving your excellency’s instructions on the 
1st instant, I arrived at Tamatave on the 5th, and soon learned 
