VISIT TO THE COURT OF THE HOVAS. 119 
In all cases of appeal against the decree of the 
provincial courts, the final decision is given at 
the capital; and each officer, even from the 
most distant parts of the country, has to go up 
to Imerina to receive his credentials and to be 
invested with authority. 
Justice is slow and tardy still even at the 
capital, and suitors have often to wait months, 
and even years, before a decision is come to in 
matters in which they are concerned. But a 
gradual reform is evident in the legal and judi¬ 
cial arrangements of the Hova courts, and things 
are confessedly much better than they were only 
a few years ago in this respect. 
Reforms in the administration of law and 
equity are, as we have found by experience in 
England, the most difficult of all reforms to 
effect speedily and thoroughly. It takes years 
to sweep away the mass of vested interests, pre¬ 
cedents, prejudice, and superstition which cling 
around any established and venerable system of 
justice, however corrupt; and the Hova Govern¬ 
ment deserve credit for the courage with which 
they have grappled with flagrant abuses, and at 
least secured protection and a hearing for both 
parties in a suit. This is not much, but those 
who know anything of Madagascar will gladly 
allow that it is a considerable improvement upon 
the former state of things. 
