376 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CHAP. XIY. 
four deep/ with, a band on the east side. The soldiers wore 
the white cloth round the waist, with white cross-belts upon 
their brown skins, and were certainly tall, athletic-looking 
men. The commanding officer, a man beyond the middle 
age, but active and vigorous, wore a silk shawl wound like a 
loose turban on his head, a finely-figured shirt, a handsome 
silk lamba or scarf round his waist as a sash, the fringed ends 
reaching to his ankles, and carried in his hand a bright, 
highly-ornamented scimitar. As the military evolutions were 
not finished, we halted for a short time about half-way across 
the court, and then proceeded to the position appointed us 
within three or four yards of the soldiers, and in front of the 
long wide verandah under which the queen and her court 
were assembled. We all bowed to the queen, pronouncing 
the salutation “Tsara, tsara, tompoko : ” — “ It is well, it is 
well, sovereign.” We then turned to the east, and bowed 
to the tomb of Radama, a small square stone building 
on the side of the court. We were then conducted to our 
appointed places. I was placed in the centre, immediately 
before the queen, with an interpreter on each side. Two 
French gentlemen residing in the capital had been invited 
to be present. M. Laborde, a French Resident, stood 
on the right of one of the interpreters, and M. Fenez, a 
French Roman Catholic priest, a stout, good-natured-looking 
man, on the left. He was residing with M. Laborde, and had 
been introduced to me as M. Hervier. M. Laborde’s costume 
was in excellent style; and M. Hervier, the priest, wore a 
dress coat and silk embroidered waistcoat. The interpreters, 
officers who had been educated in England, kept me so 
promptly informed as to what I was to do, that I felt re¬ 
lieved from all apprehension of any gross violation of court 
etiquette. 
It was now intimated that I must speak, and offer the 
hasina, or customary offering, without which no stranger 
