xpected.
Attention was drawn to the subject of Christianity. Many of all ranks
began to study the Bible and to acknowledge the truth, and among them
was the queen's son, then only seventeen years old. The queen was
greatly averse to the new religion; and this, probably, was one of the
causes which made her break off all intercourse with strangers, while
she carried on the persecution against her own subjects who had become
converts. The patient way in which the Christians bore their sufferings
induced many others to inquire into the truth of their doctrines, and
ultimately to embrace them. At last a reaction took place; the queen
began to discover the ill effects of the restrictive system she had been
endeavouring to establish, and once more showed an inclination to renew
her intercourse with civilised nations. Friendly relations with the
British had again been established when we anchored before Tamatave.

The roadstead before Tamatave offers a good anchorage, except when the
wind is from the north or east. Several species of pandanus and some
tall cocoa-nut trees gave a tropical character to the scenery. Soon
after anchoring, a large but rather clumsy canoe came alongside, with an
officer who spoke a little English, and said he was the harbour-master,
and a number of attendants. They wore neatly plaited straw hats, white
shirts bound round the loins with cloths, and large white scarfs thrown
gracefully over the shoulders like the Scotch plaid. The harbour-master
entered in a book the name of the ship and other particulars, and we
then accompanied him to his house on shore--that is, the captain, the
doctor, and Jerry and I. It was built of wood, nearly fifty feet long
and twenty-five high, a verandah running all round; a door in the
centre, and windows on either side; the floor of the veranda well
planked, so as to form an outer apartment. The whole was thatched with
the leaves of the traveller's-tree. The walls were covered with tofia,
or native cloth, and the floor with a large fine mat. A well-made
bedstead stood in one corner with sleeping mats on it, and in the centre
a table covered with a white cloth. In different parts of the room were
chairs and ottomans covered with mats; cooking utensils, arms, machines
for making mats, bags of rice, and other articles for consumption, were
arranged against the sides of the room. It was a fair specimen of a
native house, and in the essentials showed a considera