The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-04-09


and How the French Guard Her
Her Gorgeous Coronation and Her
paIaccs-IIow the Queen Lives To-
day-A Pen picture Of Hcr-Nada-
gascar In 1907 and What the
french are Doing Ilicrc-A Re
m%arkablc interview With IL Re
markabic Woman.
Algiers.-Once the ruler Of the third
largest island Of the world, a country
bigger than France, twice as large a.
uaIy and three times as big as New
England, the beloved queen OF more
tnan four million people, with all the
money she could spend, with an army
of her own, "a court the most Drllllaht
Of hat OF any monarch south Of The
equator. and all that she could wish
Tor in the way OF luxury. ponp ana
Eu~cr. Today, dcposed from her
iaronc. a D~enSiOner on the bounty OF
The French government, an exile IN
the hands Of her conquerors, watched
always by spies and guarded by q
muscular French woman, VINO con-
trolls her conversation and actions.
such Is The present condition OF Rama
valJna III, the famed queen OF MAZDA
raqcar. by whom ! was granted the
honor of an audience today.
The story Of Il Qnccn.
Before describe my interview, or
rather my audience. for her majesty
was not permitted To talk, let me give
YOU a few words Of her history. Her
name is RanaValOna, an Imperial cog
nomcn which means "The Grand
daughter Of God" She comes OF the
royal family which ruled Madagascar
tor many years. h is u descendant
of Radama j, who became KING Of al
in 1910. He was u CHIEF
,f tI. IIiU1G nnp Of the largest anG
most civilized tribes of the island, VINO,
after conquering many Of the olnef
tribes. formed a union with the Sakal-
avas by marrying ItoS1limo. Il Saka-
lava princess.
King Radama was the first to in
troduce our civilization into Madagas-
car. He welcomed the ~issionar
and as far back as 1926 introduced
Protestant Christianity among the
IIoVas. During his reign schools were
established, churches We're bullt, the
Bible was printed in Malagasy Ian
suage, and the people were largely
converted. After his death, one of his
wives, R~anavalona |, assume the
throne. She opposed the missionaries,
but her son. Radama II, again gave
the people full liberty as regards re-
ligion, and in 1868 Queen R~anaValona
II, the aunt of this queen. carried on
the good work. n died in 1888, and
was succeeded by the woman | talked
with today, who was then just twenty
one years of age. She is now forty
five, although she looks ten years
younger. l think she is a widow, for.
according to custom, when she took
the throne she married the prime min
lister, who was then seventy years old,
and he must have died long ago.
RanavaIona's Coronation.
When RanavalOna was crowned She
made a change in the coronation cere-
monies of the country. Other mon
archs had always been ttende by
soldiers. She made school children
her chief guard Of honor. She MAD
picked out 500 boys and 400 girls from
the chief schools Of T~ananariVo, and
all the schools, with their teachers,
had excellent places for witnessing the
The day before the school
boys drilled and went through their
spear and shield exercises in her
presence, and at the time of the cor
oration she was attended by regiments
O. boys in uniform and troops Of girls
dressed in white.
The queen, when / met her today,
wore a plain, black silk skirt with a
shirt waist of white silk, beautifully
embroidered. She had at her throat
q star of diamonds set in old silver
and about her neck was a gold chain
as big around as your little finger. Her
clothes were like those that any Amer
leah lazy fIliSiIt NCdl J.
afternoon callers, and were not ex-
Iravagant or striking in any way.
When Ranavalona was crowned she
wore q white brOCaded silk robe, heavy
with gold, and her train was of Grim
son velvet with gold embroidery. She
wore q large crow of a peculiar de-
sign, and she fairly sparkled with Jew
els. and when She left the island of
Reunion, where she was first banished,
h extraordinary statement was made
in the newspapers that the precious
stones she tool with her were worth
more than two million dollars.
As the queen was croWne the peo-
pie fell upon their knees, and then
burst forth into a shout of applause,
while the soldiers flourished their
spears and the cannon fired. AT the
same time there We're cheers from the
boys and girls, and from the 200, 900
natives who are said to have been
present.
The Queens Speech.
After that the queen made a speech
to her people. She mixed Bible quota
tons throughout her address saving,
among other things: The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom and
righteousness eXalteth a nation"
She promised to protect her country
and stand up like a man with her peo-
pie gains any one who might at
tempt to take even Il hairs breadth of
it. h urged her subjects to obey
the laws, and said that she expected to
obey them herself, closing this state
mcnt with the words:
I wish no ones life to be taken.
Whoever f0rSakeS the paths of righte-
business walks in the paths Of darkness.
Is 1t not so. oh! my people?"
Her Wars With the French.
That vas the way the R~anavalona
started. h kept up her good work,
but. Notwithstanding got into trouble
with the French, who had long pro-
claimed their right to the protection
OF Madagascar. War ensued, and at
u cost of many million dollars the
French We're finally victorious. They
kept the queen for q time on the
throne. but found she could not main
tain order under the changed condi-
tons, and they took possession of the
government.
At his time they treated Ranava-
iona rather harshly. Instead of calling
upon her the general of the French
army made the queen call upon him.
When she did SO it was to request thar
he be kind to her people and to say
that she knew he would treat them
well.
shortly after this R~anavalona was
taken away from the capital and eX-
lied to the Island of Reunion. Here
she remained until five or six years