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22 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. CHAP. II. appearance of some of the skulls of the English and French killed in the attack on this place in 1845, and fixed on high poles not far from the place where we had anchored, produced a singular and not very pleasant sensation, as for the first time I gazed on this revolting spectacle. Shortly after we had anchored, a large clumsy single canoe, destitute of outriggers and paddled by a number of men, came alongside, when a middle-aged man, followed by three or four others, mounted the ship’s side, and came into the cabin. They had neither shoes nor stockings, but wore white shirts under a cloth bound round their loins, with a large white scarf, the native lamba, hanging in ample and graceful folds over their shoulders, and broad-brimmed hats of neatly plaited grass or fine rushes. As soon as they had entered, the chief of the party, who we understood was the harbour master or captain of the port, inquired in a very official manner, speaking imperfect English, the name of the ship, of the captain, mate, passengers, and crew, with the object of our visit, &c. The answers to all these questions were written down by one of his attendants, and he was explicitly in formed that the vessel was not sent on a trading voyage, but simply to convey the letter of the merchants of Mauritius to the queen, and to wait her majesty’s reply. He said, if it was only a letter, that had been sent before, and the queen had returned her answer to the effect that no trade could be allowed until the money required as compensation for the in sult and the wrong perpetrated in the attack on the country in 1845 had been paid. He asked if it was right to go to a country and shoot down the people because we did not like their laws ? He soon informed us also that he had been a member of the embassy sent to Europe in 1837 ; that he had visited France and England, and knew that whoever went to reside in either of these countries must be subject to the laws of the country so long as they remained there; that the laws of