366 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR chap. xm. or ribbon of red and green across his breast beneath his vest, with the gold-fringed ends hanging down by his side. The princess wore a blue dress made in the European style, trimmed with scarlet velvet, and ornamented with rows of small gilt buttons, a pink satin bonnet with artificial flowers, a veil, and lace tippet. One of the ladies wore a cu rious native or Arabic head-dress; the others were in Euro pean costume: all were decorated with a profusion of gold chains and jewellery; and all rode in open palanquins. A few of the officers were in blue uniform; a number wore scarlet trowsers, with the white flowing lamba bordered with the akotso or five broad stripes, while the attendants, and the crowds who followed or scattered themselves by the side of the procession, seemed all to wear their holiday dress. The day was fine, the scene bright, with a light cool breeze. The union of the different modes of travel characteristic of different countries, the officers on horseback as in Europe, the princes in palanquins as in Asia; the light, loose, flowing, and gaily coloured drapery of the East, intermingled with the stiff quiet-toned apparel of the West; the music of Europe, and the language of Madagascar, with the lively and jocund air of the throng: and then the moving along amidst objects new and attractive; the massive rocky base of the capital, the houses and their inhabitants, on one side; and the wide culti vated plain, diversified by hills surmounted with villages, on the other: all these combined to afford new sources of pleasure and excitement. Having proceeded by a somewhat circuitous route from the north to the east side of the capital, the road led to within a few hundred yards of the palace, where a large scarlet umbrella and a number of figures were seen on the terrace in front of the palace. The procession halted, all hats were taken off, and the band played the Malagasy “ God save the queen,” a