HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
259 
this place the king went, attended by his body-guard and 
singing-women. Immense crowds accompanied him. Never 
had the people witnessed so magnificent and imposing a 
spectacle. The king sent horses for the Missionaries, stat¬ 
ing that he wished them to be present; and scarcely was 
an individual left in the capital. At the place of rendez¬ 
vous, a wide plain, well adapted for the purpose, the troops 
already drawn up, formed three sides of a square, and the 
fourth was completed by the addition of two battalions, 
which presently marched in, accompanying the king from a 
neighbouring elevation. Having passed the whole in review, 
the king mounted a stage prepared for his reception, where, 
instead of the military dress he had been wearing, he put 
•on his usual kabary costume—a dress that was partly na¬ 
tive, partly European, and partly Arab. 
After various military evolutions had been performed, 
and several rounds of musketry fired, the troops were drawn 
up into one close body, for the convenience of hearing the 
king’s speech. He first ordered them to unfix their 
bayonets, while he offered a prayer; when, having taken 
hold of the idol, he returned thanks for past favours, and 
supplicated a blessing on his army and his subjects. This 
ended, the bayonets were again fixed, and Radama delivered 
a long and eloquent speech, in the course of which he was 
frequently cheered by the vast assembly, which amounted 
altogether to sixty or seventy thousand people. This 
speech embraced a variety of topics: his descent from 
Ralambo and Andria-masina-valona; the powerful kings 
who had preceded him, whose names he mentioned in con¬ 
nexion with their heroic actions and the weapons they had 
used; his father’s character and virtues; and the bravery 
of their fathers, and of many of those then present, whose 
scars, still visible, afforded infallible evidence of their cou- 
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