THE MADAGASCAR WAR. 754 out of his camp at Andriba. The force with which he was to traverse a difficult mountain country and capture the enemy's capital was composed of the following units:— had entrenched another position on the hillsides, and had thirty guns in their earthworks. On the 19th Metzinger's brigade advanced against their front, and it looked at first as if the Hova army meant to make a real stand. But Voyron's brigade had,allunknown to them, ascended the hills to their right, and suddenly appearedon their flank, threatening theirline of retreat, apparently the most important of all lines for a Hova warrior. Once more theHova army retired without waiting to be really attacked. After this for somedays the expedition advancedwithoutseeinganything of the enemy, though along the hill track there was position after position that might have been easily defended, and the long column with its still longer train of mules climbing the hillsides in single file could havebeen delayedday after day by guerilla attacks onits flanks. Babay, twentytwo miles from Antananarivo,was occupied on September 25th, and here there was a halt for two days to close up the convoy, rest the men, andprepare for the attack on the capital.

Major Graves's army had been reduced by flight, desertion, and losses in action to a remnant of less than 2,000 men, which he had broughtback tothe suburbsof Antananarivo. He saw the Queen's ministers and told them plainly that even with the 40,000 men they had assembled for the defence of the capital, further resistance was now hopeless. He resigned his command, and it was considered prudent for him to go down to the coast and get awayby an English steamer, for the Paris papers had been announcing that any foreign officers captured with the Hovas would be shot. General Duchesne afterwards assured the English residents at Antananarivothat hehadno suchintentions, and would have given Graves a friendly receptionif he had surrendered to him. Probably, however, he was in real danger from the disappointed natives,who at this moment were raging against all the Europeans, so that the BritishVice-Consul had thought it wise to put his house in a state of defence.

ist Brigade.— GeneralMetzinger Men. Foreign Legion (onebattalion) ...» 500 Turcos (two battalions) 1,200 200th Regiment (3rd battalion) .... 430 One Section of Artillery (two guns) ... 40 2,170 2ndBrigade.— General Voyron. Men. 13th Regiment of Marines (ist and 3rdbattalions) 1,200 SakalavaRifles (one battalion) .... 660 Senegaleseand Haussa Rifles (twocompanies) . 340 Two Batteries Mountain Artillery (eight guns) . 130 2.330 This gives a total of 4,500 men besides the staff with its escort, a mountedtroop of the Chasseurs d'Afrique. It was a motley force made up of manynations. Littlemorethan half werewhite troops,and it will be noticed that of the 1,800 menof the 200th Regiment only 430 werenow up at thefront. The convoyof mulesnumbered 2,500 animals. Besides these, herds of oxen weredriven along. But most of the mule train had been devoted to reserve ammunition, and the supplies carried amounted altogether to provisions for twenty days. General Duchesne reliedon finding further supplies for his column in theHova capitalat theend of this period.

The march was necessarily slow. For much of the distance to be covered the beaten track was so narrow that the force had to move in single file after the heights on either side had been securedbyflanking parties. The mountain paths, too, were often so tortuous as to double the distance to be marched. The columnconcentrated at Ampotaka, 2,650 feet above the sea, on September 14th. The enemy were reported to be holding the heightsof Tsinianondry, out in front, a bold mountain mass beneath and round which the road wound and zigzagged, so that it was commanded at shortrange from the rocks above. The Hovas held theposition with 5,000 men and nine guns. Confident in their enormous superiority of numbers, which was at least ten times that of the attacking force, the Hova Queen's army madesomething likeafight for their capital. On the 28th theboomingof cannoncould be plainly heard by the residents at Antananarivo. The French werecoming on. Duchesne had moved his troops in two columns round to the northeast andnorth of the city so as to advance along the high ground. The Hova generals tried to The Malagasy were always careless about outpost duties, and the heights were surprised by the French in the early morning of the 15th. The French had only one of the Sakalavas and two of the Foreign Legion wounded. They found eighty of the enemy dead on the ground and captured one of the guns. The expedition halted for a day to closeup the long convoy of mules. Theenemy hadrallied nearKinajy, they