250 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
and purple silk. The gateways were hung with scarlet 
cloth and pink silk. The roof of the house in which the 
king had died was covered with crimson cloth; besides 
which, large quantities of rich gold lace and fringe were em¬ 
ployed in the decorations. Troops were stationed round 
the court-yard. The officers and band wore a white lamba 
over their uniforms, white being the mourning colour in 
Madagascar, and crape on the arm. Cannon and musketry 
were fired every half hour. Immense numbers of bullocks 
were distributed by the queen among the people. 
On the morning of the 11th, the firing of cannon and 
musketry commenced at daybreak, and continued every 
half hour through the day; and at eight o’clock the military 
assembled in the palace-yard, every avenue towards which 
was thronged with the tens of thousands assembled; but 
the greatest order prevailed. The space within was en¬ 
tirely occupied, excepting a narrow passage left for the 
entry and exit of the officers. Troops in full uniform lined 
the passage from Trano-vola, where the king had died, and 
where the corpse still remained, to Besakana, whither it 
was now to be conveyed in state. The place was filled with 
the tsirondahy, or king’s body-guard; the female singers 
kneeling to the ground; and a number of females holding 
the fans usually carried to the grave with a corpse. The 
youths in personal attendance on the king, and the principal 
officers conducting the ceremonies, were also present. 
About nine o’clock, the relatives of the king, the young 
princesses, and the wives of the judges, left the palace. 
They had been to take their last farewell of the remains 
of the departed monarch ; and retired, according to the 
custom of the country, carried on the backs of their ser¬ 
vants, weeping bitterly the whole way, and unquestionably 
many of them with the utmost sincerity of feeling. The 
