The New Year was _the_ great festival of the Malagasy and was observed on the first day of the first month, Alàhamàdy. It was called the _Fandròana_ or “Bathing,” and was kept up until the French conquest in 1895, but since then has been superseded by the Fête of the French Republic on 14th July every year. The ancient customs were, however, very interesting, and were chiefly the following:—(1) The lighting of little bundles of dried grass at dusk on the evenings of the last day of the old year and the first of the new one. These fires, possibly a relic of the old fire-worship, were called _harèndrina_, and formed one of the most pleasing features of the festival in the gathering darkness of the evening. (2) The ceremonial Royal Bathing at the great palace, when all the principal people of the kingdom were present, as well as representative foreigners, was the most prominent of all the ceremonies, giving, as it did, the name to the whole festival. At a fixed time in the evening the queen retired behind curtains fixed at the north-east (the sacred corner) of the great hall and bathed in a silver bath; after which she emerged, robed and crowned, and, carrying a horn of water in her hands, went down the assembly to the door, sprinkling the people as she passed. (She would playfully give some of us an extra splash as she went along.) (3) On the following day came the killing of oxen, doubtless the most important of all the observances in the estimation of the people generally, at any rate of the poorer classes, who then got, for once a year at least, a plentiful supply of beef. Presents of the newly killed meat were sent about in all directions to relatives and friends, and feasting and merry-making prevailed for several days among all classes. (4) For some time previous to the actual festival it was customary for the Malagasy to visit their elders and superiors in rank, bringing presents of money, fowls, fruit, etc., using certain complimentary formulæ and expressions of good wishes. [Sidenote: WILD FLOWERS]