lambas, thrown gracefully over their shoulders. The men were
clad also in cotton, white cotton pantaloons, cotton lambas, and straw
hats, with large black silk band. In the morning sun the play of colors
over the landscape was lovely. The dark green hills, studded with the
brilliant red brick houses of the inhabitants, whose white garments
dotted the lanes and foot-paths, contrasted with the brighter emerald of
the rice fields in the hollows. The soil everywhere is deep red, almost
magenta, in color, and where the roads or pathways cross the hills they
shine out as if so many paint-brushes had streaked the country in broad
red stripes. Above all, the spires of the strange city, set on top of
its mountain with a deep blue sky for a background, added to the beauty
of the scene.

"It was difficult to imagine that this peaceful country, with its pretty
cottages, its innumerable chapels, whose bells were then calling its
people to worship, and its troops of white-robed men and women answering
the summons, was the barbarous Madagascar of twenty years ago."

Mention of the form of government had by the Madagascar people and which
is now being superseded by occupancy of the French and the introduction
of laws of a civilized nation, may not be out of place. As far back as
tradition will carry, there existed in Madagascar a kind of feudalism.
Villages were usually built on the hilltops, and each hilltop had its
own chieftain, and these petty feudal chiefs were constantly waging war
with each other. The people living on these feudal estates paid taxes
and rendered certain services to their feudal lords. Each chief enjoyed
a semi-independence, for no strong over-lord existed. Attempts were made
from time to time to unite these petty chieftains into one Kingdom, but
no one tribe succeeded in making itself supreme till the days of Radam
I, who succeeded in bringing the whole of Imerina under his government,
and to his son, Radama, he left the task of subduing the rest of the
island. By allying himself closely with England, Radama obtained
military instruction and carried war into distant provinces. He
ultimately succeeded in conquering many of the tribes and his reign
marked the beginning of a new era in Madagascar. Indeed, only from his
days could Madagascar in any sense be regarded as a political unit.

In one direction, however, the results of Radama's policy must be
regarded as retrogressive. Before his reign no chief or king w