HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
249 
The sentiments of the nation on this subject, the im¬ 
portance attached to profusion of expenditure, and gorgeous 
and imposing pageantries in mourning, are most distinctly 
exhibited whenever the death of a sovereign takes place. 
In the number of oxen killed, and amount of property 
consumed, the funeral and mourning ceremonies observed 
at the death of Radama’s father probably exceeded all that 
had previously taken place in the country, as it is supposed 
that about 10,000 head of cattle were slaughtered on that 
occasion. But the observances on that occasion were greatly 
surpassed by those which followed the decease of the late 
monarch Radama, which took place at the capital in the 
month of August, 1828. 
On the morning of the 3d of August, it was officially 
proclaimed that the king “ had retired,” £C had gone to his 
fathers and it was ordered that all, of every rank and 
age, male and female, with a few exceptions, should shave 
the head; that the females should weep; that no showy dress 
nor ornament should be worn; that no perfume or unguent 
should be employed; that no dress but the lamba should be 
worn, and that not allowed to trail on the ground. It was 
further ordered, that no one should ride on a horse, or be 
carried in a chair; that the work at the ordinary handicrafts 
should be suspended; that no one should salute another on 
meeting, nor play on any instrument, nor dance, nor sing; 
that no one should sleep on a bed, but on the ground; that 
no one should sit on a chair, or use a table; that no one 
should use ardent spirits—and the punishment of decapi¬ 
tation was threatened to those who should violate this last 
prohibition. 
The walls of the palace, and of Besakana, a house called 
the throne of the kingdom, were covered with white cloth, 
and splendidly ornamented within with tapestries of crimson 
