252 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
chap. x. 
CHAP. X. 
Overland Route to Pointe de Galle.—Detention in Ceylon.—Voyage to 
Mauritius. — Arrival in Madagascar.— Signs of increasing Traffic at Tama- 
tave. — Pirst Night on Shore. — General Fondness of the People for Music. 
—• Introduction of the Violin. — Dinner with the Governor. — Deaths of 
former Friends.—Applications for Medicine. —Presents from the Princes.— 
Visit from the Governor and Suite. — Astonishment excited by the Electric 
Telegraph — The Queen’s Preference for running Messengers rather than 
the Wires. — Native Work in Iron. — Iron Smelting. — Native Smiths.— 
Message of Condolence from the Queen to a bereaved Family at Tamatave. 
Mode of estimating the Worth of the Deceased. — Homage to the Dead. — 
Scenes of Riot and Drunkenness. — The Governor’s Dinner to the Officers 
from the Capital. — Bearers engaged for the Journey.—The Government 
Sempstresses. 
Before leaving the Cape of Grood Hope, in 1855, I had re¬ 
ceived a letter from the Malagasy government, conveying to 
Mr. Cameron and myself permission to proceed to the capi¬ 
tal ; and before the close of the year a second letter to the 
same effect reached me in London. Mr. Cameron, then 
residing at the Cape, had expressed his willingness to accom¬ 
pany me; and as the permission, forwarded in this instance 
without solicitation on our part, might be regarded almost as 
an invitation, I did not feel it right to refuse to undertake 
another visit to the country. 
For this purpose, I embarked in one of the Peninsula and 
Oriental Company’s steamers at Southampton, on the 20th of 
March, 1856. We touched at Gibraltar and Malta, landed 
at Alexandria, and pursued the now often-traversed over¬ 
land route to Suez. Here we embarked again on board the 
“ Nubia,” sailed down the Red Sea to Aden, and then, crossing 
