132 
MADAGASCAR. 
defer the hand-shaking till we meet them upon 
their own thresholds. 
The road onward now presents a very animated 
appearance, as group after group of native 
civilians or soldiers pass and repass us, either 
going to or returning from the great centre of 
Malagasy life and commerce. Friendly salu¬ 
tations are exchanged between the occupant of 
the palanquin and the passers-by, and at length 
the actual ascent into the city begins. There 
are no roads or streets laid out on any orderly 
system, and huge boulders block the way or fill 
up the gaping watercourses here and there, ex¬ 
actly as they did probably in the days of the first 
Radama. The less dignified but still sacred 
cities of the country which cluster round Antan¬ 
anarivo are pointed out to us, and the quarter of 
the city whence so many hundreds of the popu¬ 
lace were hurled in the days of the first Ranava- 
lona, for political and other offences, upon the 
sharp rocks below. The entry into the capital 
may be best described as a succession of climb¬ 
ing operations, varied by undignified scrambles 
on the part of the bearers over the rocks and 
gullies that choke the road upwards to the 
centre of the town; and the aspect of the new 
arrival is that of a man who has undergone 
some struggle of an exhausting nature, in the 
course of which he has suffered damage to his 
