VISIT TO THE COUET OF THE HOVAS. 131 
and again it burst upon us each time with greater 
distinctness of detail, revealing new objects of 
interest, to which our attention was constantly 
being called by the natives about us. Perhaps 
the great impression that Antananarivo makes 
upon the visitor on his first arrival is in a meas¬ 
ure due to the squalor and discomfort which 
prevails in so many of the Hova villages on the 
borders of the province, and some experience of 
which the most complacent and good-tempered 
traveller can scarcely altogether avoid. But 
however this may be, we one and all felt devoutly 
thankful when at length there was a prospect of 
our sitting down again at an English table and 
sleeping in a bed. The bearers, too, whose wives 
and children are generally resident in the capital, 
are glad to get home for a few days’ rest before 
again returning to the coast in search of fresh 
employment, and the final rush of the palanquin 
along the narrow paths and across the muddy 
rice-fields that surround the town is therefore 
unequalled by anything of the kind that has 
hitherto been experienced. But this method of 
“ bringing one in with a run” has its incon¬ 
venient side, for if one is fortunate enough to 
have friends in this out-of-the-way corner of the 
world, and they have come out to greet us, as is 
customary, the chances are that we shoot clean 
past them, or through them, and they have to 
