FATAL ELEVATION.

17

got their victim and all his wealth, By a little stratagem, he induced the soldiers who were watching him and hurrying him on to destruction, to consent to be placed in a canoe, just to avoid sea sickness in the large sloop, and to be safely towed along as if in smooth water ;-the rope was suddenly cut, the Arabs made sail, Ramanetaka exclaimed, "Life is sweet, I am off." The vessel was soon out of sight in the Mosambique Channel, and the officers made their way with difficulty to land, and with no little chagrin to the capital. Ramanetaka has established himself at Mohilla, one of the Comoro islands, not forgetting his just claims to the crown of Madagascar, nor ceasing to watch his opportunity for enforcing them.

The principal man in all the events that conducted Ranavalona to the throne, was a young officer named Andriamihaja. He was immediately chosen on her accession as her confidential adviser and prime minister, and raised to the highest rank in the army, in the stead of an English officer, Mr. Brady, who had held the rank of commander-in-chief during the latter years of the reign of Radama. His elevation soon created jealousies among his brother officers, especially among those in personal attendance on the queen. Two of the most formidable rivals and enemies he had to encounter were two brothers, who have since succeeded him in office, and who had been placed with the qeeen by order of the principal idol. Andriamihaja was regarded by the keepers of the idols also with much jealousy, partly because his political influence interfered with theirs, and partly because, as the zealous friend of instruction and civilization, he was evidently undermining their system of juggling,

18

JEALOUSY AND INTRIGUE.

deceit, and superstition. As the two brothers just mentioned, were in constant attendance on 'the queen, they found opportunity to supplant him in her affections and passions; in vain did he, by virtue of his office, endeavour to remove them from the courtyard; their party increased, and they at length succeeded, through the assistance of the diviners, to forbid him the court. After the lapse of some months he became attached to a young woman, who, though never admitted to the rank of a wife of Radama, had been as nearly related to that honour as circumstances admitted. The queen desired him to dissolve the connexion; mortified, however, in being kept out of the courtyard, and confiding too implicitly in her promise, "that he should not be put to death whatever offence he might commit," he determined to marry this young woman. His enemies availed themselves of the circumstance, denounced him as a traitor claiming privileges and rights such as no subjects could possess, adding that he would frequently call himself "Buonaparte," and that he certainly intended to seize the kingdom. He, in company with all the officers in attendance on the queen, had been put to the ordeal of tangena some months previously, in accordance with the general custom of "purifying" those in attendance on the sovereign from any possibility of witchcraft. He was now charged with high treason and sorcery, and on these charges was ordered to undergo the ordeal again; he replied, that he had taken it once by the order of the queen, and was proved innocent; that his being required to take it a second time could not originate, he felt sure, with the queen; that there must be some persons accusing him,

and therefore, according to the custom of the country, he demanded to know who were his "accusers." The officers who conveyed to him the message of the queen were not allowed to enter the courtyard. They delivered his reply to other officers who remained there, among whom were the two brothers, his inveterate enemies. The message that they conveyed was simply that he refused to take the ordeal. It is said, that they had already, by a copious draught of ardent spirits, prepared the queen to pronounce the sentence of death on her former favourite, and they at once obtained her sanction to the deed. The party returned to the officers who were waiting at the gate, and immediately they heard the fatal order, four of their inferior officers, called aides-de-camp, rushed along, seized a knife from the shambles in the public market on their way, and "with feet swift to shed blood," entered the house, and the horrible tragedy was soon completed. The murder was effected in his own residence, while, with cool self-possession, Andriamihaja directed his murderers, with his own finger, to the exact spot where to apply the steel which they were plunging into his throat. Permission was granted to inter the corpse, an unusual favour in the case of criminals. He was buried in the family grave at Namehana. The queen gave three silk robes to wrap the body in. His ashes were not long allowed to rest in peace; his memory haunted the queen, she was scared by the visions of the night, and orders were given that the body should be exhumed. It was then laid in a shallow grave, the head being cut off and placed at the feet, and the head of a black dog being put in its stead at the neck of

the mangled corpse ;-a superstitious custom observed whenever the sovereign happens to dream of a criminal after execution. Still the fearful dreams continued, and the bones were then taken up, burnt, and the ashes scattered to the winds; but even yet the midnight visions returned, and then the house of the unfortunate officer was pulled down and burnt, and, with the earth on which it stood, thrown over the rock at Ampahamarinana, and the foundation sprinkled with holy water to guard it against all future malevolent influences. About the same time his junior wife, (for he had had two wives,) his sister and one of his servants, were subjected to the ordeal to ascertain if they had taken any criminal part with him, in his supposed designs on the kingdom, and being convicted, they were first strangled, and then burnt to ashes. Thus the spell is said to have been dissolved, and the dreams vanished; but the stain of a cruel murder remains, and, "He who maketh inquisition for blood," will not permit the guilty to go unpunished.

There are two or three other circumstances connected with the affecting case of this young man not unworthy of notice. When, on the death of Radama, it was contemplated by the native government to dismiss all Europeans from the country, of course including the missionaries, Andriamihaja defended their continuance as identified with the progress of education and civilization— objects which he strenuously recommended and aimed to promote; and in consequence of his efforts, arrangements were entered into for the manufacture of various articles

by the missionary artizans. By his influence also honours were conferred on the senior teachers and super

intendents of the mission schools as a public approval of their services, and an encouragement to education. He obtained a copy of the New Testament and frequently read it. He would have attended public worship at the missionary chapel, but was dissuaded from it by his friends, as a step likely to give great offence to the queen. He, however, arranged that some of the officers under him should attend in turn, and urged them to cultivate improvement in religious knowledge. On his being forbidden to enter the courtyard, he regarded it as the prelude to his fate, and remarked to a pious officer, that he was persuaded he should not be suffered to live long, and repeatedly asked what he must do in order to be happy after death? He had also applied to a diviner, and inquired what would be his fate. The mpisikidy, or diviner, told him he would die a violent death, blood would be shed. He asked how he might avert the doom. The diviner gave him little reason to expect that anything could avert it, but directed him to mount a bullock, carrying on his head a vessel full of blood, and as the animal moved along he was to spill the blood on his head, and then send it away into the wilderness.*

This was done, but the doom was not averted. death took place on a Sunday afternoon.

His

He had in the

morning received an order not to leave his house that day, as a kabary," or message, was to be sent to him from the queen. In the afternoon he was alone, reclining on a mat, reading the New Testament, waiting the message of the sovereign. A pious officer entering the house,

* Might not this singular direction have had its origin in some obscure tradition or fragment of the Jewish law of the scapegoat. See Leviticus, ch. xvi.