346 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
of consulting them, and laying before them plans—from 
which, however, they never dissent—but the final respon¬ 
sibility of the affairs of government rests with himself. He 
is the father of his kingdom, and its numerous and diver¬ 
sified officers are under his independent control. He is 
invested with the legislative and executive authority. All 
laws emanate from him. The army is raised, and its officers 
are appointed by him. Peace and war are made by him. 
All important civil case^ are finally decided by him; and 
death can be inflicted or remitted only by his decree. In 
some instances he goes out to war in person, and then takes 
as a right the command of the army. 
In right of precedence, the members of the royal family 
hold of course the next rank to the sovereign. The 
mother of the reigning prince, if living, usually takes the 
highest rank next to her son; the king’s wife, or the 
queen, next; and the other wives, according to their 
seniority; then brothers, and their wives, sisters, chil¬ 
dren, &c. As the Malagasy are extremely tenacious of 
the honours due to their rank, great attention is paid to 
the strict rules of etiquette in all that pertains to pre¬ 
cedence. 
So many of the prejudices of the Malagasy with regard 
to rank or precedence, are derived from traditions of their 
former chieftains, that some mention of them here may not 
be out of place. The most important amongst the ances¬ 
tors of the royal family, appears to have been Rabiby, or 
Ralambo, who is mentioned in all proclamations as the father 
of the present race of princes in Imerina; and whatever may 
be the collateral branch from which he descends, the reigning 
prince of Madagascar must be able to trace his descent to 
Ralambo. He it is to whom tradition assigns the honour 
of having first given his preference to that particular part 
