“All these labours were performed by the people as compulsory service for which they received neither wages nor food. I was told that during the progress of the work fifteen thousand persons fell victims to the hard toil and the want of proper nourishment. But the queen is little disturbed by such a circumstance--half the population might perish if only her high behests were fulfilled. “In front of the principal building a handsome and spacious court-yard has been left. Around this space stands several pretty houses, all of wood. The chief building is in fact uninhabited and contains only halls of state and banquetting rooms. On the left the ‘silver palace’ adjoins the larger one. It takes its name from the fact that all the vandyked ends with which the roof is decorated are hung with innumerable little silver bells. Beside the silver palace stands the monument of King Radama--a tiny wooden house without windows; to this fact, however, and to the further circumstance of its being built upon a pedestal, it owes its sole resemblance to a monument.” The singular custom prevails in Madagascar, that when a king dies all his treasures in gold and silver ware, and other valuables, are laid with him in the grave. In case of need, however, the king can dig up the treasure. “As far as I could ascertain,” says the observant Ida Pfieffer, “this had been done in several instances.” The same lady favours us with a description of the chief national festival among the Malagaseys, the “Feast of the Queen’s Bath.” It takes place on New Year’s Day. “On the eve of the feast all the high officers, nobles, and chiefs, appear at court invited by the queen. They assemble in a great hall; presently a dish of rice is carried round, each guest taking a pinch in his fingers and eating it. That is the whole extent of the ceremony on this first evening. “Next morning the same company assemble in the same hall. As soon as they have all met, the queen steps behind a curtain which hangs in a corner of the room, undresses, and has water thrown over her. As soon as she has been dressed again she steps forward, holding in her hand an ox horn, filled with the water which has been poured over her. Part of this she pours over the assembled company. Then she betakes herself to a gallery overlooking the court-yard of the palace and pours the rest over the military assembled there for parade.