The hats on the ground were something wonderful. Such a collection of specimens of the genuine British head-piece, it would be difficult to gather in London itself, except amongst the stores of its Semitic inhabitants. They were of all ages, shapes and sizes. They have been kept with extraordinary care. Not one was black: they were all brown. But not the rusty brown of London, with its dust underfoot and its gloomy skies overhead. It was a rich, glossy brown, due to the sun and the fresh breezes of Madagascar. There was the tall hat, an astonishing production; the French hat; the narrow brim; the brim curled up; and the brim sloping off into infinite space. And there were numerous, choice specimens, the original owners of which it was impossible for the initiated to mistake. As he looked with deep interest on those neat low crowns and broad brims, one of the Friends present declared that they could have come from no other place in the three kingdoms than an Essex-Quarterly-Meeting. To me all this was most suggestive. Antiquated hats, tall collars, costumes of days gone by, worn with satisfaction and believed to be perfectly proper, brass bands and the roar of guns, indicate ideas; and show the phases of opinion and of social life through which this most interesting nation is passing. At the upper end of the Andohálo plain had been erected a platform for the Queen: and above it was the canopy which had been employed for her coronation, and which bears the inscription: “Glory to God on high: on earth peace: good will to men: may God be with us.” On the platform had been placed her gilded chair and footstool: and a small table with a crown. The English community stood in a group a little to the right and front of this platform: the Norwegian Missionaries were close by: and the members of the French Mission were a little beyond. Behind was a band of judges and magistrates, in purple and brown lambas; with a small knot of Arab merchants, who spoke Malagasy fluently. The guns were fired all the morning, both on the lower plain and on the Andohálo hill: and from nine o’clock the troops from the camp began to march steadily on to the open green. About eleven, the scarlet umbrella appeared at the western end of the little plain. Soon after the Queen alighted, stood for a few moments on the Sacred Stone: and then walked, attended by the Prime Minister, to the platform, whither the ladies of the Court had preceded her. And when she appeared in front, amid the firing of cannon and the music of the military bands, the people testified their delight with shouts of joy. “May you live long, Ruler of Madagascar,” was heard on every side.