Failure of the _Coup d’État_.--Prince Ramboasalama.--The _Pas de
Deux_.--Discovery of the Plot.--Death of Prince
Razakaratrino.--Freedom of Manners.--Irreligion.--Beginning of our
Captivity.--A Kabar.--Persecution of the Christians.--The Delivery
of the Presents.
June 20. This was at length to be the great and decisive day. Mr.
Lambert was nearly recovered from the fever; so there was to be no more
delay, and to-night the long-contemplated _coup d’état_ was to be
carried out.
The two missionaries, who were not to appear to bear any part in these
political disturbances, went in the morning to one of the possessions of
Mr. Laborde, distant thirty miles from the capital. It was proposed to
send me there too; but I preferred remaining at Tananariva; for I
thought, if the attempt should fail, it would not be difficult to find
my head, even if I were a hundred miles from the capital.
The following plan had been devised by the conspirators. The prince was
to dine at eight o’clock in the evening with Mr. Lambert, Marius,
Laborde, and his son, in the garden-house belonging to the latter, and
thither all reports from the other conspirators were to be carried, that
it might be known if every thing was progressing favorably, and that
every man was at his post. At the conclusion of the dinner, at eleven
o’clock at night, the gentlemen were to march home to the upper part of
the town, accompanied by music, as if they came from a feast; and each
man was to remain quiet in his own house until two o’clock. At the
latter hour all the conspirators were to slip silently into the palace,
the gates of which Prince Raharo, the chief of the army, was to keep
open, and guarded by officers devoted to Prince Rakoto; they were to
assemble in the great court-yard, in front of the apartments inhabited
by the queen, and at a given signal loudly to proclaim Prince Rakoto
king. The new ministers, who had already been nominated by the prince,
were to explain to the queen that this was the will of the nobles, the
military, and the people; and, at the same time, the thunder of cannon
from the royal palace was to announce to the people the change in the
government, and the deliverance from the sanguinary rule of Queen
Ranavola.
Unhappily, this plan was not carried out. It was frustrated by the
cowardice or treachery of Prince Raharo, the commander-in-chief of the
army. While the gentlemen were still at table, they received from him
the disastrous news that, in consequence of unforeseen obstacles, he had
found it impossible to fill the palace exclusively with officers devoted
to the prince’s interest, that he would consequently be unable to keep
the gates open to-night, and that the attempt must be deferred for a
more favorable opportunity. In vain did the prince send messenger after
messenger to him. He could not be induced to risk any thing.
In the year 1856 Prince Rakoto had placed himself at the head of a
similar conspiracy against the queen. Then also the night and the hour
had been fixed upon for the attempt, and, as in the present
instance, every thing failed through the sudden defection of the
commander-in-chief. It may be that this occurred partly through that
personage losing courage at the decisive moment; but I am more inclined
to think that his participation in the plot must be a feigned one, and
that he is in reality a creature of the queen and her prime minister,
Rainizahoro; and, I fear most of all, that he is a partisan of Prince
Ramboasalama.
This prince, a son of a sister of Queen Ranavola, was adopted by the
queen many years ago, when she had no son of her own, and, owing to her
time of life, could scarcely hope to have any offspring. So she looked
upon the prince as her natural successor, and declared him her heir
with all the usual formalities. Soon afterward she had hopes of becoming
a mother, and Prince Rakoto was born. It is asserted by many that
though, in consequence of this event, she removed Ramboasalama from the
succession, and declared her own son to be the heir-apparent, this was
not done with the usual ceremonies, and it is much to be feared that
upon the queen’s decease great and bloody dissensions may arise between
the parties of the rival princes, and the faction of Ramboasalama may
obtain the mastery. This prince, several years older than Rakoto, is
naturally far more experienced than the latter; he has also the
reputation of being very astute and enterprising; and, though not so
good-natured and philanthropic as the queen’s son, he is far less cruel
and bloodthirsty than Ranavola.
So far as I could judge from what was told me, he appears to have formed
a powerful party for himself, and to have secured the greater portion of
the nobility, chiefly through great concessions, and from the fact that
he is entirely averse to the abolition of slavery, while, on the other
hand, Prince Rakoto means to carry out this measure, and wishes in
general to curtail the privileges of the higher classes.
These reasons ought in themselves to be sufficient to induce one of the
European powers to take Prince Rakoto’s part; but European governments
only take up cases in which they have the prospect of some immediate and
material advantage--to act from mere philanthropy forms no part of their
plans.
The plot has unfortunately become what may be called a “well-known
secret.” Every body knows of it, and even among the people reports of
the contemplated change in the government have become rife; and it is
only the queen, we have been assured, who is in profound ignorance of
what is going on around her. I can not believe this. We are certainly
told that no one would venture to accuse the prince to his mother, for
in such a case the queen would surely at once summon her son and make
him acquainted with the charges against him, when it might be
anticipated that he would deny every thing, and the denouncer would be
considered as a traitor, and executed accordingly. I can not believe
that the adherents and favorites of the queen have entirely left out the
prince’s name, and merely have denounced Mr. Lambert, Mr. Laborde, and a
few of the other conspirators. Of adherents and favorites the queen has
plenty, in spite of her cruelty and egotism; and she knows how to attach
the most influential men in the land to her person, though they do not
receive the smallest salary from her; but she gratifies them with
estates and slaves, or gives them a still more valuable reward, by
assigning to them, under the name of aids-de-camp, a number of people
who are obliged to do them service like slaves, receiving neither
provisions nor wages in return. Thus Raharo, the present
commander-in-chief of the army, has eight hundred of these aids-de-camp
continually under his command; his father, who preceded him as
commander-in-chief, had fifteen hundred.
June 21. To-day Prince Rakoto told us that his mother would receive Mr.
Lambert as soon as his health was restored, and me too, in the inner
palace, and that she wished very much to see us dance together. He added
that it would give her great pleasure to see us exhibit some new dance,
and that, as Europeans, we were doubtless acquainted with several. A
strange idea this! First I had to give a concert, and now I am to turn
ballet-dancer, and perhaps afterward dancing-mistress--I who, even in my
youth, cared very little for dancing, and always had the greatest
difficulty in remembering the various steps and figures. And Mr.
Lambert! What a thing to expect from a man who is still young, that he
should execute a _pas de deux_ with a woman nearly sixty years old!
Neither of us had the slightest intention to gratify this ridiculous
whim; and as Mr. Lambert suffered much again this morning from the
fever, and I also had a renewed attack of that insidious disease, we
made our illness serve as an excuse for the present.
June 22. To-day we received very bad news: the queen has received
information of the plot. Our friends told us, however, that efforts were
being made to divert her suspicions from the right direction, and to
make her believe that the people wished for a change in the government.
It is said that no names have been denounced to her, but that the wish
is represented as having been generally expressed among the people.
Our friends may try to screen us, but our enemies, of whom Mr. Lambert,
as I have already remarked, has several, will not be so considerate; and
it is unfortunately certain that the queen has for some time looked upon
Mr. Lambert with suspicion, for to-day she told her son that when Mr.
Lambert lay dangerously ill of the fever, she had consulted the oracle
upon the question whether he had any evil design against her, and if so,
whether he would die of the fever. The reply of the Sikidy was, that “if
Mr. Lambert had any such evil design, the fever would assuredly carry
him off:” as this had not been the case--as he had not died, she thought
he could not be plotting any evil against her.
Is this the truth, or does the cunning woman only say it in the hope of
worming something out of the prince himself? Even if it is the truth,
can she not consult the Sikidy over and over again, until, some fine
day, it may give a different answer?
At any rate, I consider our cause is lost; and Heaven knows what the
queen may intend to do to us. These are the consequences of the prince’s
delays and irresolution. But who knows? Several times the thought has
arisen in my mind, chiefly from the demeanor of Prince Raharo, that the
prince is surrounded by traitors, who pretend to acquiesce in his
projects, but only do so to obtain a knowledge of them, and afterward
carry intelligence to the queen. Perhaps in this view they treat him
like a child, and let him have his hobby, always, however, taking the
necessary precautions to be able to stop his highness’s sport before
things go too far.
June 27. Last night died Marshal Prince Razakaratrino, the queen’s
brother-in-law. The death of this grand lord will give me an opportunity
of seeing a new and interesting sight, for the funeral of such an
exalted personage is conducted in Madagascar with the greatest
solemnity. After the body has been washed, it is wrapped in simbus of
red silk, often to the number of several hundred, and none of which must
cost less than ten piastres, though they generally cost much more. Thus
enshrouded, the corpse is placed in a kind of coffin, and lies in state
in the principal apartment in the house, under a canopy of red silk.
Slaves crouch around it, crowded together as closely as possible, with
their hair hanging loose, and their heads bent down in token of
mourning; each of them is furnished with a kind of fan to keep off the
flies and musquitoes from the deceased. This strange occupation is
continued day and night; and as high personages are frequently kept
unburied for several weeks, the slaves have to be continually relieved
by others.
During the time the corpse is lying under the canopy, envoys come from
every caste of the nobility and from every district of the country,
accompanied by long trains of servants and slaves, to present tokens of
condolence for themselves, and in the names of those by whom they are
sent. Each of the envoys brings an offering of money, varying according
to his own fortune, and the amount of popularity enjoyed by the
deceased, from half a dollar to fifty or more. These presents are
received by the nearest relation of the dead man, and are devoted to
defraying the expenses of the burial, which often come to a great sum;
for, besides the large number of simbus to be purchased, a great many
oxen must be killed. All visitors and envoys stay until the day of the
funeral, and are entertained, as well as their servants and slaves, at
the expense of the heirs. When the funeral ceremonies extend over
several weeks, and the number of the guests is large, it may be easily
imagined that a goodly stock of provisions is consumed, especially as
the people of Madagascar, masters and servants, are valiant trenchermen
when they feed at the cost of another. Thus, at the death of the last
commander of the army, the father of Prince Raharo, no fewer than 1500
oxen were slaughtered and eaten. But then this man had stood very high
in the queen’s favor, and his funeral is recorded as the most splendid
in the memory of man: he lay in state for three weeks, and young and old
streamed in from the farthest corners of the kingdom to pay him the last
honors.
With regard to the performances of the people of Madagascar as
trenchermen, I have been told that four natives can eat up an ox in a
space of twenty-four hours, and that after such a meal they go away as
comfortable and light as if they had barely satisfied their hunger. I
should be sorry, however, to vouch for the authenticity of this report
to my readers. I have never witnessed such a feat; and, looking at the
size of the oxen that are sacrificed upon such occasions, I should say
that the estimate was undoubtedly exaggerated.
Voracious as the natives are (I can use no milder epithet) when an
opportunity for gluttony occurs, they have, on the other hand, like the
wild Indians, the power of enduring great privation with consummate
patience, and will support themselves for weeks together on a little
rice and a few thin slices of dried meat.
When the corpse is carried out of the house, a few slaughtered oxen must
be laid at the door, and the bearers have to step over their bodies.
The period of lying in state, and of mourning generally, is fixed by the
queen herself; for this marshal the former ceremony was fixed for four
days, the latter for ten. If he had been a near relation of the queen--a
brother or uncle--or one of her particular favorites, he could not have
been buried under from ten to fourteen days, and the period of mourning
would have extended to twenty or thirty days at least.
The body is prevented from becoming offensive by the number of simbus in
which it is wrapped.
We did not follow the funeral procession, but saw it pass from Mr.
Laborde’s house; its extent was very great, and it consisted of nobles,
officers, women, mourning women, and slaves, in large numbers. From the
highest to the lowest, all wore their hair loose as a token of mourning;
and with this loosened hair they looked so particularly hideous--so
horribly ugly--that I had never seen any thing like them among the
ugliest races of India and America. The women especially, who let their
hair grow longer than the men wear it, might indeed have passed for
scarecrows or furies.
In the midst of the procession came the catafalque, borne by more than
thirty men. Like the costumes at the court balls, so this catafalque had
evidently been copied from some engraving, for its ornamentation was
quite European in character, with this one difference, that the machine
was hung with red and variegated silk stuffs instead of the customary
black cloth. The marshal’s hat, with other insignia of rank and honor,
were placed upon it, and on both sides marched slaves, with clappers to
scare away the flies from the catafalque.
The corpse was conveyed thirty miles away to an estate of the deceased,
to be burned there; the greater number of nobles and officers only
escorted it for the first few miles, but many carried their politeness
so far as to go the whole distance.
In all Madagascar there is no place exclusively set apart for the burial
of the dead. Those who possess land are buried on their own estates; the
poor are carried to some place that belongs to nobody, and are there
frequently thrown under a bush, or put into any hollow, no one taking
the trouble even to throw a little earth upon them.
When I saw this funeral conducted in such truly European style, I
thought, as I had frequently done before, what a strange country this
Madagascar was, and what striking contrasts were found among these
people--cultivation and savagery, imitation of European manners and
customs and the rudest barbarism go here hand in hand. One finds here,
as in Europe, all the titles of rank and nobility, from the prince down
to the lieutenant: many of the nobles often go about in European garb;
many speak and write English or French, and the rich dine off plate, and
possess handsome, well-furnished houses. Farther imitations of our
European customs are seen in the etiquette with which the queen
surrounds her own person, the ceremonious splendor she seeks to impart
to her court, the solemn excursions to her pleasure palaces, the fancy
balls, the great dinners, the funerals of high personages, and other
occasions of the kind.
The industrial education of the people has also made great progress in
certain districts; and it is easy to see that, if properly cultivated
and directed, industrial arts would soon attain a higher development.
Thus, as already stated, the goldsmiths and silversmiths furnish
specimens that excite my unqualified admiration; the women silk-weavers
make very pretty pieces from native silk; and Mr. Laborde turns out from
his various factories of native workmen all kinds of weapons, even to
small cannon, and powder, as well as glass, soap, wax-lights, rum, and
the most delicious liqueurs.
With respect to the cultivation of the mind and heart, the inhabitants
of Madagascar have not sought to imitate the Europeans. In this
particular, indeed, many of the wildest tribes, who have scarcely come
into communication with Europeans at all--for instance, the Dyaks of
Borneo; the Afoxes, in the island of Celebes; the Anthropophagi, in the
interior of Sumatra, and others--stand far above the Hovas and
Malagaseys. Incredible as it may appear, the latter have no religion at
all--not the slightest idea of a God, of the immortality of the soul, or
even of its existence. The queen, I was told, certainly worships a few
household idols, but she places far less reliance on these than on the
verdicts of the Sikidy; and when a missionary once spoke to her of the
immortality of the soul, she is said to have considered him mad, and to
have laughed aloud in his face. The people are allowed to worship any
thing they like--a tree, a river, or a rock--but belief in Christ is
strictly forbidden. With the exception of the few who have become
converted to the Christian faith in spite of the queen’s prohibition,
the bulk of the people believe in nothing at all, at which I wondered
the more when I considered that some of the races living in Madagascar
are descended from the Arabs and Malays, nations who in the earliest
times had some ideas of God and of religion.
Oh, how much it is to be wished that the government should pass into
Prince Rakoto’s hands! I am certain that this beautiful country would
then make the most rapid strides in intellectual progress and in
material wealth.
June 30. When I was traveling in the United States, I thought I had
found the country where women had the greatest freedom, and the greatest
independence of thought and action. What an error! Here, in Madagascar,
they lead a much more independent, unrestrained life. I do not speak of
Queen Ranavola, whose rank gives her a kind of right to follow only the
dictates of her will, but of the other women, who are not subjected to
the laws of propriety which trammel us poor European females. Thus, for
instance, Mary, the favorite of Prince Rakoto, came very frequently,
with his full knowledge, quite alone to our house, not only to pay a
visit to Mr. Lambert while he was ill with the fever, but when he was in
perfect health. She had often partaken of our evening repast, and to-day
she joined us again. While we were sitting at table they brought her
little son. I had never seen her in a domestic circle with her child,
and was anxious to see how her feelings would be displayed, so I noticed
the mother and child during the whole evening. Each treated the other as
coldly as if they had never known, much less belonged to, each other.
When the child came into the room he did not even greet his mother, but
went at once toward the table, where room was made for him at Mr.
Lambert’s side; during the whole of supper-time, mother and child never
exchanged a word or a glance, although they were only separated from
each other by Mr. Lambert.
In vain do Mr. Laborde and other Europeans in Madagascar assure me that
strong affection exists here among the natives between parents and
children, but that it is not customary to display that affection. I can
not believe it, with such a display of indifference before my eyes. A
mother who felt real affection toward her child would certainly not be
able to conform to custom so completely as to prevent herself from
giving the little one a loving glance from time to time. And the
observations I made this evening were not the only ones of the same
kind; during the whole period of my stay in Madagascar I did not see a
mother show any affection, or child that seemed to love its parents.
July 2. What will become of us! The carrying out of the design seems to
have become impracticable, for from the day when the commander refused
to open the doors of the palace, one after another of the conspirators
has fallen away, and traitors and spies surround us on all sides. Ever
since the 20th of June hardly any one associates with us; we are looked
upon partly as state prisoners, and we are compelled to remain the whole
day long in our houses, and dare not so much as set foot across the
threshold.
The best proof that the queen is perfectly well informed of the
conspiracy, and only pretends to know nothing about it for the sake of
her son, of whom she is very fond, appears in the fact of her having, a
few days since, forbidden every one, on pain of death, to make any
accusation whatever against the prince, or to impart any surmise of his
guilt to her.
This trait is worthy of the cunning characteristic of her race. Having
taken all necessary measures, and convinced herself that the power of
the conspirators is broken, and that she has nothing to fear, she seeks
to hide her son’s fault from the people.
July 3. To-day sorrow and fear have been spread over all the city. Early
in the morning the people were called together, and ordered to betake
themselves at a certain hour to the bazar, to be present at a great
kabar to be held there. Such an announcement always spreads terror and
apprehension among the people, for they know from sad experience that a
kabar signifies, for them, persecution, and torture, and sentences of
death. There was a general howling and wailing, a rushing and running
through the streets, as if the town had been attacked by a hostile army,
and, as if to strengthen that belief, all entrances to the town were
occupied by troops, and the poor people were torn forcibly from their
houses by the soldiers, and driven to the market-place.
We Europeans, shut up in our house, saw very little of these scenes,
with the exception of Mr. Laborde, who, thanks to his great popularity,
could still venture abroad to pursue his usual avocations. Full of
anxious expectation, we awaited his return; he came home pale and
excited, and told us that the present kabar was the most cruel and
disastrous that had been held since his arrival at Tananariva. The
majority of the inhabitants--men, women, and children--had been
assembled in the great square, and there waited in trembling fear to
hear the royal will, which one of the officials announced in a loud
voice.
The kabar was as follows: The queen had long suspected that there were
many Christians among her people. Within the last few days she had
become certain of the fact, and had heard with horror that several
thousands of this sect dwelt in and around Tananariva. Every one knew
how much she hated and detested this sect, and how strictly she had
forbidden the practice of their religion. As her commands were so little
regarded, she should use every effort to discover the guilty, and should
punish them with the greatest severity. The duration of the kabar was
fixed for fifteen days, and it was announced to the people, in
conclusion, that those who gave themselves up during that period should
have their lives spared, but that all who were denounced by others might
be prepared to die a terrible death.
I can hardly believe that, after the experience the people had had this
very year, any of them will voluntarily surrender. My readers will
recollect a similar case I mentioned among the cruelties of the queen,
in which the unhappy culprits who confessed their crime had their lives
spared, according to the letter of the promise, but were fettered
heavily and perished miserably; and then the accusation was only one of
sorcery, theft, violation of graves, and other crimes, which are in the
queen’s eyes of far less consequence than that of conversion to the
Christian faith. The followers of the Christian religion might expect to
have far worse tortures practiced on them.
Who would believe that the traitor, the denouncer of the Christians, was
a Christian himself, and half a priest into the bargain, whom the
English missionaries had honored with the title “Reverendissimus!” The
name of this miserable creature is Ratsimandisa. He belongs to the race
of the Hovas, and is a native of Tananariva, and has had a semi-European
education, which unfortunately had no effect in ennobling his mind or
his heart. In order to win the favor of the queen, and hoping to obtain
a great reward, he declared that he only pretended to adopt the
Christian religion with the view of getting a knowledge of all the
Christians, and thus giving the queen an opportunity of annihilating
them at one blow. He had really made out a complete register of the
names of Christians residing in Tananariva. Fortunately, it did not
occur to him to request an audience of the queen, and to give this
register into her own hands. He gave it to one of the ministers who
belonged to Prince Rakoto’s party, and was one of the prince’s most
faithful followers. This man would not deliver a document of such
importance to the queen without first telling the prince of the
circumstance. No sooner had the latter read the document than he tore it
in pieces, and announced that any one who dared to make out a second
list, or even to accept one with the intention of laying it before the
government, should be immediately put to death. This action certainly
saved the lives of some thousands of Christians; they gained time, and
had an opportunity of escaping, of which the majority have availed
themselves. But in the wild, inhospitable forests, where alone they can
hide themselves, without a roof to shelter them, without food to eat,
how many of these poor people must fall victims to hunger and misery!
To increase their misfortune, an English missionary, Mr. Lebrun, had
come from the Mauritius to Tamatavé for a few days, shortly before
Ratsimandisa’s treason, and had written letters from Tamatavé to several
Christians in Tananariva, exhorting them to be firm in their faith, and
seeking to strengthen their courage with the assurance that the day of
persecution would not last much longer, and that better times would soon
come for them. The poorer among them also received promises of aid, and
some money was, it is said, distributed among them. Unhappily, a few of
these letters fell into the hands of the government, and others were
found during the search instituted in the houses of those suspected of
Christianity; and as the names of several Christians were mentioned in
these letters, to whom the missionary sent messages or greeting through
the recipients, these at least could be seized. The unhappy people were
tortured in all kinds of ways, like the Protestants of Spain in the days
of the Inquisition, to induce them to give up the names of the
Christians they knew, and the government succeeded in capturing a
tolerable number in the first few days.
July 4. Mr. Lambert had a relapse of the fever, and, indeed, such a
severe one that we are very anxious about his life. My health, too, is
not satisfactory. I have not such violent attacks of the fever as those
from which Mr. Lambert suffers, but I can not get rid of the disease,
and my strength becomes less from day to day.
July 6. More than two hundred Christians are said to have been either
denounced or discovered in the few days that have elapsed since the
kabar was announced. They are being sought for every where. Every house
is entered--every one suspected of Christianity, be it man, woman, or
child, is seized by the soldiers, and dragged to one of the prisons.
Unless the fall of the government be speedily brought about, and this
Megæra deprived of her power before the expiration of the fifteen days
fixed as the duration of the kabar, there will be horrible deeds and
executions here. In spite of all the untoward events that have happened,
Messrs. Lambert and Laborde do not appear to have given up all hope, and
consider the contemplated _coup d’état_ as still practicable. I hope
with all my heart it may be so--less, I can solemnly assert, because my
own life is involved in the question, than for the sake of my numerous
brethren in the faith, and for the whole people, who would awake to a
new life under the mild rule of Prince Rakoto. But, alas! I can not
participate in the hopes of my companions. As things now stand, I can
not see the slightest prospect of success. The commander-in-chief of the
army is not to be induced to act; and it is probable that he never
intended to fulfill his promise of opening the gates of the palace to
the conspirators. The party against Prince Rakoto gains strength every
day, and there is not the slightest chance of a popular revolution. The
poor natives of Madagascar have been too much oppressed, and are too
submissive for that. They have such a wholesome terror of the power of
the queen, and the influence of the nobles and the military, that it
would be useless to try to persuade them to undertake any thing against
the existing powers.
July 7. The queen has been told that Mr. Lambert has had a dangerous
relapse of the fever, and she sends confidential officers five or six
times in the day--different envoys each time--to ask after his health.
The officers always ask to be taken into his room, and to see him;
probably they have been commissioned to find out if his illness is real
or simulated. How the queen would rejoice at Mr. Lambert’s death!
For the last three days Prince Rakoto has not been to see us; for his
mother, the queen, treats him almost as a prisoner. She will not let him
quit her side, alleging that she is in great danger and needs his
protection. Through this really politic course of action she gains the
twofold object of making her son appear, on the one hand, as a
non-participator in the conspiracy, and of taking from him, on the
other, all opportunity of entering into communication with his
confederates, who might, perhaps, induce him to strike a decisive blow.
She has taken farther precautions. The palace has been surrounded with
treble the usual number of guards. No one is allowed to pass near it,
and only those are admitted into the interior of whose fidelity and
loyalty the queen feels quite assured.
July 8. Our prison is closing more straitly around us, and our position
really begins to be very critical. We have just learned that, since
yesterday evening, every one has been prohibited, on pain of death, from
entering our house. Mr. Laborde now no longer ventures to appear in the
streets. I marvel much that our slaves are still allowed to go to the
bazar, and make the necessary purchases; but doubtless this will soon be
stopped; and I am much mistaken if the moment is not at hand when the
queen will throw off the mask, and, openly denouncing us as traitors,
cause our house to be surrounded by soldiers, and thus completely
isolate us. Nobody can tell what this woman purposes to do to us, and
her character gives us no reason to expect any thing good. If we are
once made prisoners, she can easily get rid of us by means of poisoned
food or by some other method.
Our slaves tell us that more than eight hundred soldiers are employed in
searching for Christians; they not only search the whole town, but scour
the country within a circuit of between twenty and thirty miles; but,
happily, it is said they do not take many prisoners. All flee to the
mountains and forests, and in such numbers that small detachments of
soldiers, who pursue the fugitives and seek to capture them, are put to
flight.
July 9. To-day we received fresh news of the persecution against the
Christians. The queen has heard that until now very few prisoners,
comparatively, have been brought in; she is stated to be extremely
enraged at this, and to have exclaimed in great anger that the bowels of
the earth must be searched, and the rivers and lakes dragged with nets,
so that not one of the traitors may escape his just punishment. These
inflated expressions, and the new and strict orders she has issued to
the officers and soldiers charged with the duty of pursuing the
Christians, have, however, I am thankful to say, had no great result.
Her majesty will doubtless be enraged when she hears that the
inhabitants of whole villages have succeeded in escaping from her
vengeance by flight. Thus it happened, a few days ago, in the village of
Ambohitra-Biby, nine miles from Tananariva, that when the soldiers
arrived they found nothing but the empty huts.
To-day at noon another great kabar was held in the market-place; the
queen caused it to be announced that all who helped the Christians in
their flight, who did not stop them, or sought to conceal them, should
suffer the punishment of death; but that those, on the contrary, who
brought them in, or hindered them in their flight, would gain the
especial favor of the queen, and in future, if they committed any
offense, should either be pardoned or subjected to a very mitigated
punishment.
A corps of soldiers one thousand five hundred strong was also dispatched
to-day to a large district, situate on the eastern coast. This extended
region is inhabited by Seklaves, and is only partly subject to the sway
of Queen Ranavola. In a village in the independent portion, five
Catholic missionaries have been living for the last three or four years,
and have established a little congregation. The queen is naturally much
enraged at this, the more so as, boasting that she was queen of the
whole island, she issued an edict some years ago to the effect that all
white men should be killed who landed in Madagascar, or made any stay in
a place where none of her Hova soldiers are stationed. In pursuance of
this law, she intends to have these missionaries captured and executed.
I hardly believe that the attachment of the Seklaves toward the
missionaries will be sufficiently strong to make them refuse to
surrender the latter, and expose themselves to a war against such a
powerful enemy as Queen Ranavola, and even if they risked it there would
not be the slightest prospect of a good result. Yet we cherish the hope
that before the troops can reach the spot the missionaries may have got
off safely, for Prince Rakoto has some time since sent a reliable
messenger to them to warn them of the impending danger.
Though Prince Rakoto is to all intents and purposes a prisoner, and
unable to visit us, a day seldom passes without our receiving news from
him, and he informs us of all the schemes of the queen and her ministers
against us. Like Mr. Laborde, the prince has confidential slaves. These
trusty servants on either side meet, apparently by chance, in the bazar
or elsewhere, and exchange intelligence. Thus he let us know to-day that
the queen had given orders to have our house searched on the morrow,
upon the pretext that it was generally asserted there were Christians
concealed therein, but in reality to obtain possession of our papers and
writings. Of course we immediately concealed these as well as we could.
We have also learned that the queen has in the last few days occupied
herself much about us, and has held long sittings with her ministers, in
which the question of our fate was discussed. If she had consulted only
her own fury, she would long ago have dispatched us into the next world;
but to kill six Europeans at once seems almost too bold a stroke; and
she is said to have told her prime minister, who voted for our death
from the first, that the only reason which deterred her from the measure
was the probability that such severity against persons of our importance
might induce the Europeans to wage war against her. Two fortunate
mistakes for us! The first, in her considering us to be important
personages; the second, that she should suppose the European powers
would take so much trouble in a matter involving only a few human lives
instead of more weighty interests. But, be this as it may, our lives are
certainly in great peril, for they are in the hands of a woman so
governed by her passions that she may at any moment cast aside all
considerations of prudence or policy. Even if our lives are spared, I
fear we shall undergo a long imprisonment; merely to banish us from the
country will not satisfy the queen, or she would have done it long ago.
July 10. To-day our gates were suddenly opened, and about a dozen
officers of high rank, with a large train, came into the court-yard. We
thought they were coming to make the search of which the prince had
warned us; but, to our great astonishment, they explained to Mr. Lambert
that they had been sent by the queen to receive the costly presents
which he had brought with him for her and her court.
Mr. Lambert at once had the chests brought out and unpacked; the
contents were placed, according to their various destinations, in great
baskets, which the slaves who accompanied the officers at once carried
off to the palace. A few of the officers went away with the bearers; the
others walked into our reception-room, conversed for a few moments with
Mr. Laborde and Mr. Lambert, and then very politely took their leave.
This was the first opportunity I had had of examining the splendid
presents Mr. Lambert had brought.
The dresses, of which he had provided a considerable number for the
queen, her sisters, and other female relatives, were really very
handsome. Mr. Lambert had procured them in Paris from the dress-maker
of the Empress of the French, and they were made according to the
empress’s own patterns. Some of these dresses had cost more than three
hundred dollars. To each were added the appropriate sash, ribbons, and
head-dress--in a word, every thing necessary to make the toilette
complete.
Thus bedizened, the fortunate ladies for whom these splendid garments
are intended will doubtless look still more ridiculous than those who
took part in the costume ball. I fancy I see them, with their clumsy
figures and duck-like walk, in these splendid low-necked dresses, with
long trains and short sleeves; and the delicate head-dresses--how
_piquant_ and charming!--stuck at the back of their woolly polls. Truly,
if Mr. Lambert had made up his mind thoroughly to expose the ugliness of
the female world of Madagascar, he could not have found any thing more
suited to his purpose than these handsome costumes.
Not less numerous and splendid were the presents brought for Prince
Rakoto. There were uniforms splendidly made, and as elaborately
ornamented with gold embroidery as those of the Emperor of the French
himself; private suits of the most various fabrics, forms, and colors;
embroidered cambric shirts, pocket-handkerchiefs, shoes of all kinds,
and every conceivable article of the toilet. A great deal of admiration,
and perhaps a little jealousy too, was excited among the officers by a
rich saddle-cloth, saddle, and bridle. The good people could not admire
it sufficiently; and in the reception-room one of them asked me if in
France the emperor was the only man who had such a saddle, or if the
officers had them too. I was wicked enough to reply that only the
emperor used such a handsome saddle, but that, when it became shabby, he
gave it to one of his favorites, and ordered a new one for himself.
Perhaps my querist may attach himself to the party of the prince in the
hope of gaining the confidence of his chief, and with it the reversion
of the saddle-cloth.