274 
MADAGASCAR. 
The mode by which the popular vote is taken 
is peculiar. A summons is sent with great for¬ 
mality through the provinces to the remotest 
corners of the island for representatives of the 
people to assemble at the capital. A vast con¬ 
course in the environs of Antananarivo is the 
result, and on a given day the prime minister, in 
full uniform, and attended by a brilliant staff, 
goes forth to address the assembly in public ha- 
bary in the name of the sovereign. The scene is 
an animated one, and to a stranger full of inter¬ 
est. The noble voice of Kainilaiarivony is heard 
appealing to the feelings, or rousing the ardour 
of the thousands of the ambany lanitra (under 
heaven), the name for the people, who hang 
breathless upon his lips. He then puts to them 
the question as to whether certain measures are 
to be adopted or no. The popular response to 
this appeal is taken as an indication of the 
nation’s will, and the law thus acquiesced in by 
the assembly is added to the national code. 
Thus, when the prime minister, on June 7, 1883, 
at the vast kabary held to consider the ulti¬ 
matum received from the French commander 
Pierre, demanded the opinion of the people as 
to the yielding up of territory in response to 
the French demand, a universal shout went up 
of “ Sanatria izany ! ” God forbid that; and with 
one voice they demanded rifles and ammuni- 
