The new queen was proclaimed on the forenoon of the day on which her aunt died. She had been known as Razàfindràhèty, but assumed the name of Rànavàlona III. She was born on November 22, 1861, and was baptized at Ambòhimànga on April 5, 1874. She received the elements of her education in a village school in a country district from one of the London Missionary Society teachers. She afterwards became a scholar in the Congregational school of Ambàtonakànga, the city church of which her father and mother became members. She was for some time in the Friends’ High School for Girls, taught by Miss Helen Gilpin, and afterwards for some years was a scholar in the London Missionary Society Girls’ Central School, taught by Miss M. T. Bliss. She was a member of the palace church. She had been married for some time to a relative of the queen, called Ratrìmoàrivòny, who died in the early part of May, 1883. Her accession gave great joy to the Christian portion of the community. At her coronation on November 22, on the great plain of Imàhamàsina--the Champ-de-Mars of Antanànarìvo, where in former times proclamations against Christianity had often been made--her throne was set up. It was covered by the memorable canopy under which her aunt had been crowned in 1868, with the words: ‘God with us,’ ‘Glory to God,’ ‘Peace on earth,’ ‘Good will to men,’ round the cornice. On her right was a small table on which lay a large Bible. In the first paragraph of her speech she acknowledged that God had given her the kingdom. In the second she said that she hoped the blessing of God might rest upon her people. In the fourth she said: ‘My desire from God is to benefit you ... and govern you in righteousness.’ Again she explicitly declared that she placed her kingdom under the protection of God: ‘For I know,’ she said, ‘that the kingdom which is governed in dependence upon God is strong and progressive.’ ... ‘Remember,’ she added, ‘that it is righteousness alone that exalteth a nation.’ ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.’ She concluded by saying: ‘Whoever forsakes the path of righteousness walks in darkness[32].’ In 1883 I thoroughly revised my translation of the shorter Catechism with proofs, and reissued it at a penny per copy. Some 16,000 copies have been sold. It was taught in the London Missionary Society normal and high schools in the capital, while latterly in the French normal and high schools, and in the local preachers’ and teachers’ classes of the Bètsilèo Mission it has also been taught. [Illustration: THE QUEEN OF MADAGASCAR ON THE WAY TO THE LAST REVIEW. A GARDEN PARTY AT THE QUEEN’S GARDENS.]