260 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CHAP. X. 
A day or two after I received a visit from the governor, the 
chief judge, and a number of other officers. The governor 
wore scarlet embroidered pantaloons, a green coat, a laced 
hat, and was carried in a palanquin preceded by a band of 
music, and attended by a guard of eighty or a hundred men 
bearing muskets or spears. He said the wet weather had 
prevented his coming earlier, expressed his pleasure at my 
arrival, asked the objects of my visit, and inquired if I knew of 
any hostile intentions in Europe against Madagascar. I in¬ 
formed him that my visit was, as I had stated in my letter 
sent to him from Mauritius, a visit of friendship ; that I was 
the bearer of letters and presents for the queen, and of a 
message of friendship from the English government, who had 
no hostile intentions towards Madagascar. He expressed his 
pleasure at learning that the English were friendly towards 
Madagascar, and delivered to me a letter from the secretary 
of the government at the capital, authorising me to proceed 
thither on my proposed visit without delay, and remain there 
a month. He said he was anxious to afford every facility for 
my journey, and would furnish bearers to carry my packages 
as soon as I should be ready. 
During my previous visits the chiefs had made a number 
of inquiries, both of Mr. Cameron and myself, about the elec¬ 
tric telegraph, the reported achievements of which, they said, 
were to them utterly incomprehensible. I already possessed 
a general knowledge of the theory of telegraphic communica¬ 
tion, and had often witnessed the working of the instrument. 
After I had received the last application from the native 
government to repeat my visit to Madagascar, it appeared to me, 
on reflection, that if I could show them the apparatus and some 
of the simplest modes of operation by which this wonderful 
application of modern science is now performing so important 
a part in human progress, it would gratify the more intelligent 
amongst them, and increase the attractions of knowledge; 
