A CRACK REGIMENT OF THE HOVA ARMY.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3830, 25 October 1883, Page 4

A CRACK REGIMENT OF THE HOVA ARMY.

A correspondent of the London Standard thus describes a crack regiment of Hovas, against whom tho French wore recently operating in Madagascar .-—Accompanying tho reviewing - General, a Princo of tho

Blood Royal, wo found the battalion eight hundred strong, drawn up in lino in a pleasant meadow, distant some two miles from the city. Dressed in white and armed with Remingtons, kept scrupulously clean and in good order, they looked a not unserviceable body of men. Perfectly steady thov were as wo rode along the ranks, aud they "presented anus" and saluted the Prince with a precision and smartness that betokened discipline and drill. Ten years ago a Sciwant Lovett, from the battery ot British Artillery stationed at Mauritius, was eim-aged by the Hovas to drill this troop '"lie did not remain long enough with them, nor, perhaps, had he sufficient knowledge of tactics himself, to train the army for movements in tbe field on an extended scale. But minor drill they learned very thoroughly, and the spiritof discipline, ami of implicit obedience to superior officers, seems to have been acquired and maintained in a striking- degree. Indeed, the sergeant was a very martinet, and frequently enforced respect and prompt execution of his orders by the weight of his own arm. A stentorian word of command ho also possessed, and to this day it is the ambition of all Hova officers to come up to his standard in that respect. On taking up our position on a raised platform in front of the troops, the General in command, first taking a good breath, gave an order so energetically as to reduce lmu for a short time to a condition of collapse. A terrible din ensued, every officer on t\ o ground repeating the command at tho topmost range of his voice; a halfdozen files iv the centre of the line stopped back a few puces, and the band marched through the guy playing in quick time as they approached us "There is a Happy Laud." After this salute we had the manual, the platoon, and the bayonet exercises of our own service, which were all done smartly and well, except that the officers who* gave out the eomands had frequently to be relieved, otherwise some of them must have succumbed to apoplexy. The regiment advanced in line in good order. It broke into column. It formed square, troimr through these evolutions in highly creditable style. The skirmishing was not so good. lii this sonic three hundred spearmen co-operated, but their proceedings, though striking and picturesque, were about as much adapted to real warfare as are the battalion movements so assiduously practised from year to year by English troop;. After parade we had lunch, at which wines and English beers were produced in profusion. Bur conversation was limited, most of the ohT-ers having previously shouted themsrive-; hoarse."' Of troops surii as I had seen, the Hovas possess some twelve lliou-.nid men. Then there areas many more armed with old muskets and spears but drilled, and an untold host of irregulars. The regulars have learned niu<-.)i of the letter of European drill, but as yet have failed to comprehend its spirit. Still they ci.uld very easily, in tho hands of a competent leader, become a sufficiently formidable force.