16 
MADAGASCAR. 
up to form a guard of honour, and imparted 
quite a homely English look to the scene. The 
then Lieutenant-Governor of the Mauritius, Sir 
G. F. Bowen, K.C.B., with some of the privileged 
State officials, were grouped upon the pier, eagerly 
discussing the latest war news from the Cape; 
and at a becoming distance were small crowds 
of the always animated, gaily clad, and diverse 
inhabitants of the colony. With that generous 
thoughtfulness and ready tact in dealing with 
the intricacies of Eastern character, for which he 
stands out pre-eminently amongst that noble line 
of satraps by whose wisdom and high personal 
gifts we have been able for so long to govern our 
distant dependencies, not only with honour to 
ourselves, but without loss of comfort or dignity to 
them, Sir George Bowen had drawn around him, 
on the occasion to which I refer, some of the dig¬ 
nity which becomes the representative of his illus¬ 
trious sovereign, to say “Farewell,” and wish a 
prosperous voyage, and a long and peaceful reign 
to his Highness Abdullah Mohammed Hadji II., 
Sultan of Johanna, and the chief of the islands 
of the Comoro group. I found that Sultan Ab¬ 
dullah had for some time suffered from cataract, 
which at length brought total blindness, and he 
had been induced to visit the Mauritius for the 
purpose of availing himself of the valuable ser¬ 
vices of the medical men of the colony. A very 
