22 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CHAP. II. 
appearance of some of the skulls of the English and French 
killed in the attack on this place in 1845, and fixed on high 
poles not far from the place where we had anchored, produced 
a singular and not very pleasant sensation, as for the first time 
I gazed on this revolting spectacle. 
Shortly after we had anchored, a large clumsy single canoe, 
destitute of outriggers and paddled by a number of men, came 
alongside, when a middle-aged man, followed by three or four 
others, mounted the ship’s side, and came into the cabin. 
They had neither shoes nor stockings, but wore white shirts 
under a cloth bound round their loins, with a large white 
scarf, the native lamba, hanging in ample and graceful folds 
over their shoulders, and broad-brimmed hats of neatly plaited 
grass or fine rushes. As soon as they had entered, the chief 
of the party, who we understood was the harbour master or 
captain of the port, inquired in a very official manner, 
speaking imperfect English, the name of the ship, of the 
captain, mate, passengers, and crew, with the object of our 
visit, &c. The answers to all these questions were written 
down by one of his attendants, and he was explicitly in¬ 
formed that the vessel was not sent on a trading voyage, but 
simply to convey the letter of the merchants of Mauritius to 
the queen, and to wait her majesty’s reply. He said, if it 
was only a letter, that had been sent before, and the queen 
had returned her answer to the effect that no trade could be 
allowed until the money required as compensation for the in¬ 
sult and the wrong perpetrated in the attack on the country 
in 1845 had been paid. He asked if it was right to go to a 
country and shoot down the people because we did not like 
their laws? He soon informed us also that he had been a 
member of the embassy sent to Europe in 1837 ; that he had 
visited France and England, and knew that whoever went to 
reside in either of these countries must be subject to the laws 
of the country so long as they remained there; that the laws of 
