e him intimately acquainted with the drill as practised
in the British army at that period.

"Why, I do believe the fellers are speakin' English!" he said, in some
surprise.

"Not wonder much, for Ingleesh drill'd um," said Laihova, who, since
they parted from Ravonino, had begun to use his broken English to the
best of his power. It must be said that that power was not great, even
at the best.

He explained to his friends that Radama the First--that wise king who
had been so fond of the English, and had done so much to aid the
missionaries, abolish the slave-trade, and civilise his people--had,
among other changes, remodelled his army after the British pattern, and
had obtained the services of non-commissioned officers from the
Mauritius to drill his troops. These organised them into divisions,
brigades, regiments, companies, etcetera, and as they found no native
words suitable to express military evolutions, they introduced their own
English words of command, which have remained in use ever since.

By means of this army of Hova troops, and the flint-lock weapon known
familiarly as `Brown Bess,' Radama succeeded in subduing all the native
chiefs of Madagascar, with only a few exceptions, and thus became the
recognised king of an island considerably larger than Great Britain.
Being an enlightened and well-disposed monarch, he made good use of the
power thus acquired. It was only after his death in 1828 that a
retrograde movement set in, as we have said, under the wicked Queen
Ranavalona.

It is one of the misfortunes of our fallen condition that rectitude in
any course, however good, cannot long be maintained--at least in
reasonable perfection. The army which had enabled Radama to pursue on
the whole a beneficent course, ere long began to make its creator know
its power. Feeling his dependence on it, Radama adopted the unwise
policy of increasing the military influence, and weakening that of the
civil officials, the heads of the people, and other functionaries whose
position was derived from ancient political arrangements. Public
offices of honour and importance were given to military officers rather
than to civilians, and this unfair exaltation of the military over the
civilian class led, as it always does, to tyranny and injustice.

The system of service was in itself a gross form of injustice to the
people, for, although the theory of service does not at first sight
appear unjust, the practice of it was