. Round the black man's garden . re presented to him, I saw that hishair and moustache were dyed, and that altogetherhis face was very cleverly made up. After bowingto him, w^e all passed on to the centre of the room,which was divided off by red stanchions and ropes ala Buckingham Palace on Drawing-room days, andwere led to the part reserved for foreign visitors,facing the throne. Harry and I were between Mon-sieur de Vilers and the English Vice-Consul, whoseemed to be the honoured guests. The room w^aseighty feet square, and, like the first, had a big pillarin the centre, with more rubbishy p
. Round the black man's garden . re presented to him, I saw that hishair and moustache were dyed, and that altogetherhis face was very cleverly made up. After bowingto him, w^e all passed on to the centre of the room,which was divided off by red stanchions and ropes ala Buckingham Palace on Drawing-room days, andwere led to the part reserved for foreign visitors,facing the throne. Harry and I were between Mon-sieur de Vilers and the English Vice-Consul, whoseemed to be the honoured guests. The room w^aseighty feet square, and, like the first, had a big pillarin the centre, with more rubbishy presents arrangedround it. In the corner of the room behind us wasthe Queens red velvet chaise-a-porteurs, a greatheavy unwieldy-looking thing that must be veryinconvenient for the men to carry across on our right was a group of native Methodistssquatting on mats. Between them and the throne 174 THE ISLAND OF MYSTERY. were the Queens female relations and ladies of theCourt—most of them young, and some almost pretty. Malagasy Princesses. -also sitting on the floor. The part of the room THE QUEEN. 175 between the throne and the door was railed off forthe native officials, leaving a passage between themand us, which was lined with the latter wore an extraordinary jumble of differentuniforms, red English infantry tunics with yellowfacings, French sailors peaked caps with gold bands—some with anchors, some with crowns, and one withan eagle. Shoes were as varied, but the favouritekind seemed to be the canvas tennis-shoe with blackindia-rubber soles and toecaps. Swords and sword-belts were also of every variety of pattern. The throne, with its three steps covered with crim-son velvet, on which the Queen was seated in anelaborately gilt arm-chair, had over it, flat againstthe wall, an arch of trumpery leaves and white paperroses resting upon pillars of repousse silver. TheQueen was attired in a crimson velvet dress, thetrain being the only part we
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidroundblackma, bookyear1893
