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356 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. CHAP. XIII. few days after reaching his home. He was a fine noble looking man, in the prime of life, about thirty years of age. He stood six feet two inches high, and told me his father was two inches taller than himself. On the same day, soon after the officers from the palace had left me, I was informed that the family of this chief wished to visit me. I bade them welcome; and the father of him whom I used to call my tall friend, himself an erect noble-looking man, between fifty and sixty years of age; his mother, a matronly woman ; the widow of my friend, a healthy interesting-looking woman about five and twenty, and five children, all entered my apartment. The father seated himself in a chair, the mother and the widowed daughter-in-law sate on the ground; the widow carried a little boy in her arms, and the other children placed themselves on the floor around her. The interpreter, who did not know of my former acquaintance with the chief, said, “Who are you?” The venerable-looking man said, “I am Ea ’s father.” He then looked at his wife, and she said, “ I am his mother; ” and pointing to the young woman by her side, she said, “ This is his widow, and these are his children.” The father then said, “We have come with a small present in token of our love, for our son loved you, and spoke much of you. We shall never see him again, but seeing you seems to bring him back to our thoughts.” His servants then brought in the present, consisting of poultry, eggs, and rice. I thanked him, and told them it was a great satisfaction to me to see them; that I had mourned when I heard of their son’s death, but hoped they were comforted. I had taken several photographic portraits of this chief while in Tamatave, and after conversing a short time I took out of my portfolio a small likeness of my friend, and handed it to the father. He looked at it, and wept. The mother took it, pressed it to her lips and kissed it, for some minutes weeping silently, but profusely. A full-length portrait I