3G2 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CHAP. XIII. 
The prince appeared much interested in learning the 
names and properties of some few of the plants we saw on 
our route. Soon after five o’clock we reached Isoaierana, a 
spacious building, which the prince had more than once 
pointed out during our ride, telling me it had been built 
by the late king Eadama. An immense hill had been 
removed to provide a site for this building, which we ap¬ 
proached by passing through a level space four or five 
hundred yards wide. The prince then asked if I would 
enter; and, alighting from the palanquin at one of the 
principal entrances, he took my arm, and led me in, until 
we reached a large room nearly a hundred feet long and 
forty feet wide, apparently occupying the entire centre of the 
building. It was a splendid room, though too low to be 
well proportioned. The walls were wainscoted, the floor 
of native wood beautifully polished, and inlaid in large square 
panels or mosaics, some kinds richly coloured, and varying 
almost through every shade, from ebony to maple. It is 
said there are forty rooms on the ground floor of this build¬ 
ing, besides chambers or attics; but as the evening was ad¬ 
vancing, we did not prolong our stay. All the servants in 
the house retired to a distance as we entered; but as we 
departed, they gathered outside, and offered their salutations 
to the prince. 
This remarkable building is altogether of wood, the walls 
outside covered with diagonal panels, the sides screened with 
double verandahs, and the roof covered with shingles. The 
lower verandah is protected by an iron railing, and also by an 
iron chain on low posts, at a short distance from the house. 
Considering the state of civilisation in the country at the 
time of its erection, Isoaierana is an astonishing building, 
and would be a splendid mansion had it but been higher. It 
was built about thirty years ago, as a sort of suburban re¬ 
sidence, by Eadama, under the direction of M. Le Grros, a 
