243 
CHAPTEK XII. 
THE CORONATION OF RANAVALONA III. 
Antananarivo, tlie city of a thousand, as the 
word implies, was founded by the first monarch 
of the present reigning dynasty, and endowed with 
many peculiar and royal privileges. It contains, 
as has been already said, the palaces of the Queen, 
the courts of justice, and the residences of the 
nobility and princes of the court. Scattered 
about also on its northern spur are the beautiful 
villa homes and important public institutions of 
the various missionary societies which have made 
the pleasant Hova city the centre of their work 
and the sanatorium for those of their body whose 
lines are cast in less agreeable but equally import¬ 
ant places—-for instance, in the distant stations 
and Hova outposts, or amongst the tributary 
tribes of the Betsimisaraka or Betsileo. The 
capital is naturally adapted for the purposes of 
a national pageant, and has, at a distance 
especially, an air of grace and majesty which is 
