Context (CMS Context)
(Bio) Lieutenant Samuel Pasfield Oliver, (Captain: 1871), Royal Artillery, visited Madagascar during 1861-2, and witnessed King Radama II’s coronation at Antananarivo (23 Sept 1861), and returned later in 1863 on HMS Rapid following the King’s presumed assassination, (12 May 1863).

The Annual Report for 1893 notes that Captain S. Pasfield Oliver, late R.A., gave a collection of "fifty-nine sketches and finished drawings in pencil, in;, and water colours, of prehistoric stone monuments, tumuli, and burial places, sketched by the donor in England, the Channel Islands, Brittany, Etruria, Sardinia, Greece, the Troad, Madagasgar, Japan and" as well as a number of books to the library". It is likely that the Madagascan material here accessioned as 2011.96-232 is part of this donation. Transferred from the Haddon library in a card folio in 2010.
'Ambohibohago' may be a mis-transcription of 'Ambohimanga, the royal hill, with walled city and burial gounds. William Ellis, in his History of Madagascar, (1838), notes a kiady as "a pole with a small knot of straw tied to the top... generally
placed near the door, to give notice that entrance is
forbidden."

Event Date 5/10/2011
Author: maa

Description (CMS Description)
Watercolour and pencil painting on paper, mounted on cardboard. Painting shows village with a large house in the middle with a flag pole and a white and red flag. Figures in the foreground. Inscription: 'October 1862 Flagstaff of Ramada II Ambohibohago'. '?A. Kiady or Tabo signal. S. Pasfield Oliver Lieut. R.A., A.D.C'. In pencil '4', on reverse: '417/0'.
Event Date 5/10/2011
Author: maa