… agreeable, although at times indicating great firmness.” Ida Pfeiffer, who apparently did not see her close to, noted that she was “of strong and sturdy build, rather dark”. Both she and Mr Ellis seem to have thought the Queen rather older than she probably was; there is no reliable evidence of her birth-date, and although the Nouvelle Biographie Générale says “about 1800”, which would make her 44 when Flashman met her, it seems more likely that she was in her early fifties.
Flashman’s virtuosity on the keyboard was either highly eccentric or less memorable than he imagined, for years later when Ida Pfeiffer was invited to play the palace piano, she understood Ranavalona to say that she “had never seen anyone play with their hands”. Mme Pfeiffer found the piano sadly out of tune.
These peculiar divination-boards were known as sikidy. According to Sibree, there were three of them, one of four squares by sixteen, a second four by four, and a third four by eight
An unflattering description of Prince Rakota, although not unlike his portrait, which survives. Oliver described him as being like a Greek god, with dark curls and light gold skin, but agrees with Flashman’s estimate of his character, and confirms that he was a moderating influence on his mother.
Flashman is the only survivor of the tanguin, or tangena, ordeal to have written of the experience. His account varies from other descriptions only on minor points – it was customary, when time was available, to starve the patient for 24 hours before the scraped stone of the tanguin fruit was administered, and some historians say that in order to pass the test the pieces of chicken skin had to be regurgitated in a particular direction. The deposit of 28 dollars (Flashman says 24) was normally put up by the accuser of the person undergoing the test – if the accused failed the test, the accuser got his money back, but if he passed, the accuser recovered only one-third of the deposit, the other thirds going to the accused and the Queen.
As a result of its separate evolution, the plant and animal life of Madagascar is unique, and it has been estimated that ninety per cent of its living things exist nowhere else on earth. Among its more celebrated fabulous monsters was the giant Roc bird which carried off Sinbad. The “apes” which Flashman saw were probably sifakas, a type of lemur capable of prodigious jumps.
It was Flashman’s good fortune to arrive at Tamitave on the very morning (15 June 1845) when three European warships, the French Berceau and Zelée and the British frigate Conway, made a concerted attack on the fort and town. The punitive expedition was in retaliation for Ranavalona’s ill-treatment of Europeans – she had recently decreed that those trading with the island were liable to Malagassy law (slavery for debt, forced labour, trial by tanguin, etc.), there had been fatal incidents between British ships and Malagassy troops, and a British shipmaster of American origin, Jacob Heppick, had been enslaved after his barque, the Marie Laure, was shipwrecked. Captain Kelly of the Conway was sent to Tamitave to demand redress early in June, and when this was not forthcoming the Anglo-French bombardment followed a few days later. (See Oliver, the “Memorial of Jacob Heppick, mariner, to the Governor of Mauritius”, and the Annual Register.)
The unsuccessful storming of Tamitave fort by landing parties from the Anglo-French squadron took place as Flashman says. The outer palisade was carried under a hail of grapeshot and musketry, the battery overrun and guns spiked, but the attackers failed to carry the main fort and retired after a brisk fight. The British lost four dead and 12 wounded, and the French 17 dead and 43 wounded. Both the Zelée and Berceau lost topmasts in the gun-battle with the fort
The incident of the flag is true, although not all the details are clear. It appears that it was shot away from the outer wall, and caught by a Malagassy soldier who put it on a spear. It fell again, and was captured by a British midshipman and two sailors; there was a tussle for it between French and British under Malagassy fire, and the matter was only resolved when someone – the Annual Register says Lt Kennedy, but doubtless Flashman knows best – cut it in two. The French received the half bearing the legend “Ranavalona” and the British the piece inscribed “Manjaka”. Most of Tamitave town was burned during the attack.
After a long period of political unrest and violence in the Punjab, the Sikhs finally invaded British-controlled territory in December 1845, and the First Sikh War began.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
George MacDonald Fraser asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library
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