Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 I https://archive.org/details/madagascarfranceOOshaw REV. GEORGE A. SHAW. Madagascar # France WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE ISLAND, ITS PEOPLE, ITS RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT. GEORGE A. SHAW, F. Z. S., LONDON MISSION, TAMATAVE. WITH A MAP, AND MANY ILLUSTRATIONS FROM ORIGINAL SKETCHES AND PHOTOGRAPHS. AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. CHAP. PAGE. /. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND . 13 II MALAGASY CIVILIZATION 29 HZ ORIGIN OF THE MALAGASY. . 63 IV. ATTEMPTS TO COLONIZE MADAGASCAR FROM 1643 TO 1814 80 V. THE RECENT FRENCH CLAIMS . . . .117 VI. THE EMBASSY TO EUROPE ... 137 VII. THE BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES . . .171 VIII THE FRENCH ULTIMATUM . 1S7 IX. EFFECT OF THE ULTIMATUM IN ANTANA- NARIVO 202 X. BOMBARDMENT OF TAMA TAVE . . . 220 XI. ACCESSION OF RANAVALONA III. . . ,255 XII. PRESENT CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS STATE OF THE MALAGASY 2S9 XIII. THE FAUNA OF MADAGASCAR . . . 344 XIV. THE FLORA OF MADAGASCAR . . . . 396 XV. METEOROLOGY 433 ILLUSTRATIONS. MAP OF MADAGASCAR Front. PORTRAIT OF MR. SHAW Frontispiece. TAMA TAVE 9 SAKALA VA MEN AND BOATS 19 PALANQUINS 31 GROUP OF HOVAS 53 MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 61 INLAND VILLAGE rjj MADAGASCAR EMBASSY i J9 ROYAL STREET, TAMATAVE 175 RAINANDRIAMAMPANDRY 1S9 ANTANANARIVO 203 QUEENS PALACE 257 ROYAL TOMBS, AMBOHIMANGA 265 RANAVALONA III. 274 MALAGASY CRIMINAL 303 TOMBS OF EARLY MISSIONARIES ... 309 AMBA TONAKANGA CHURCH 317 CHURCH OF THE OLD STYLE 323 TRA VELLERS' TREE 399 PITCHER PLANT 425 PREFACE. For the past two years the English popular feeling has been more or less aroused by the accounts which have from time to time been brought to this country relative to French aggres- sion in the island of Madagascar. A great deal of indignation was expressed on the receipt of the first news of the high-handed action of the civilized nation towards the comparatively weak, but singularly interesting people; and that feel- ing, though dormant, strongly tinges the deep sense of sorrow and pity felt in this country for those who a few years ago were heathen barba- rians, but who have so quickly struggled through the dense cloud of superstition oppressing them into the true light of Christian civilization. These mixed feelings are flavored with no incon- siderable amount of surprise and astonishment, both at the lame and paltry claims put forward by France to justify the present course of action, and at the apparent indifference of the French people to comprehend them. Meanwhile it is found, on inquiry, that really 6 PREFACE. nothing has been done during these two years to ultimately settle the question. Mission work has been upset, trade has been stopped or hindered, neutral merchants have been ruined, property has been destroyed, money squandered, and lives lost, and yet no advance has been made towards peace. The conduct of the Malagasy, however, must have excited the strongest admiration in the minds of all who have followed the history of recent events. They have shown themselves de- termined patriots, clear-headed politicians, good soldiers, and conscientious Christians. In their dossed determination to resist to the last and their indifference to the hardships of the cam- paign, in their watchfulness in the trenches and bravery in meeting death, they have called forth the encomium even of those who have seen active service in other parts of the world; while their practical Christianity and faithfulness under the trying dispensation of Providence have com- pletely silenced those detractors who prophesied that at the first breath of calamity the Malagasy Christians would revert to their ancient idolatry and superstition. At the same time the Government has retained its hold on all the tribes, making its arm felt in quelling rebellion and enforcing the laws of the country in the extreme points of its dominion. PREFACE. 7 Reports from the scene of action are, as might be expected, very contradictory. On the one side we hear of French reconnaissances, in which the enemy have been routed with great loss, with only a trifling casualty on the part of the inva- ders; while from the other camp we hear that again and again the attacking party has been repulsed with heavy losses, the injury suffered by the Malagasy being insignificant. While there has apparently been no successful endeavor made to present the facts to the French * people, their ears have been continually regaled with reminders of the "ancient rights of France in Madagascar." What these " rights" were was never very definitely stated till July last, when, in a report of the Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, on the bill for granting extraordinary expenses connected with the expedition to Mad- agascar, it was asserted, on page 2, that "since 1642, the date at which Richelieu granted to the naval captain Rigault the concession for ten years of the island of Madagascar and the adja- cent islands, France has never ceased to claim possession of Madagascar, and that the claim has never been disputed by any European power." An endeavor is made in the following pages not only to set forth a true historical sketch of the connection of France with Madagascar from 8 PREFACE. the earliest times to the present, by which it will be seen how little claim the former has to the island or to the sympathies of its inhabitants, but also to answer various questions which are arising in the minds of many with regard to the country, its products and adaptability for foreign enter- prise and commerce; and its people, their char- acter, habits, employments, and advance in civil- ization and Christianity. My connection, as a missionary of the London Missionary Society, with Madagascar, for nearly fourteen years, has enabled me to see and fully appreciate the huge leaps which have been made by these people in the scale of Christian civiliza- tion, and I have endeavored to give in the fol- lowing pages an impartial statement. If an undue leaning towards the Malagasy does occa- sionally exhibit itself, it must be placed to the account of the love which one is sure to acquire for those for whom one has been called upon to labor, and especially if that labor has not been all pleasant. MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE. CHAPTER I. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. The East Coast Tribe. The Betsimisaraka. Intermixture of Tribes. Lagoons, advantage for inter-communication. No River Mouths. Harbors. Tamatave. Andovoranto. Ivon- drona. Harbors north of Tamatave. Rivers as a means of Internal Communication. Canoes for the River Navigation, for Sea-going Purposes. The Towns. Fort at Tamatave. The Hova Soldiers' Quarters. Houses. Fires. No Public Works. The Soil. The Land Question as affecting the For- eign Capitalist. Madagascar, one of the largest islands in the world, being about 970 miles long by 300 wide, consists physically of three zones. Around the coast is a low-lying, comparatively flat tract, extending some 30 or 40 miles inland on the east, but somewhat more extensive on the south and west. Inland of this is a zone of forest land, cov- ering the mountainous sides of the central table- land, and varying in width from a few miles on the west to 40 or 50 miles in its broadest part on the northeast. This belt is also not quite contin- 12 MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE. uous on the western side of the island, but is broken into patches with open country between. Above and beyond the forest region is a moun- tainous plateau at a height of 3,000 or 4,000 feet above the level of the sea, bearing upon its sur- face mountains rising 4,000 or 5,000 feet higher, formed into chains running from north to south and composed chiefly of granite, gneiss, and quartz imbedded in a hard red soil very much resembling clay. Generally speaking, the appearance of this table-land is desolate; few trees are seen, and ex- cept round the centres of population where there is cultivation, and in the kloofs between the mountains, the country is bare or only covered with a rough brown grass. "There is, however, an element of grandeur in the landscape, from the great extent of country visible from many points in the clear pure atmosphere, which ren- ders very distant objects wonderfully sharp and distinct."* Politically, there are 22 tribes and provincial divisions in the island, each formerly governed by its own chiefs, but now, in a greater or lesser de- gree, acknowledging the supremacy of the Hovas.f With perhaps the exception of the Sakalava on the west coast of Madagascar, the Betsimisara- * " Great African Island," by the Rev. J. Sibree, p. 23. f The tribe living in the central province of the island, called Imerina, in which is the capital Antananarivo. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. 13 ka occupy the largest extent of the coast line of this great island. On the eastern side, from about the 14th to the 20th degree of south latitude, the entire seaboard was under the authority of this tribe before the time of their conquest by the Hovas. The western boundary is not so easily determined, and in the complete absence of all written history, tradition is of little value, espe- cially in marking the boundary between tribes so nearly related, and at the same time subdivided into so many chieftaincies, as the Betsimisaraka, the Tanala, Taimoro, etc. Besides this, portions of one tribe have insinuated themselves into the territory of their neighbors, and have been al- lowed to select an unoccupied spot and build a town or village quite in the heart of another province. Such is Tetezamalama, about five miles west of Tamatave, the people of which be- long to a tribe south of the Betsimisaraka and a hundred miles distant from the town. Ivatoman- dry, a port in the south, is inhabited by people from two tribes. I think, however, it is correct to say that, roughly speaking, the western boun- dary of the Betsimisaraka is the forest on the slopes of the hill rising to the central table-land of the island. Admitting this to be so, the Bet- simisaraka country would have a length of 360 and an average breadth of 25 or 30 miles. 14 MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE. Nearly the whole of this territory is a flat, well- watered, and highly-fertile country, the lux- uriant highly-tropical vegatation offering a stri- king contrast to the more sterile and rocky pla- teau of the central provinces. The most re- markable physical feature of the district is the succession of large fresh-water lagoons, which extend for one or two hundred miles along the coast, separated from the sea in some instances by a very narrow strip of sand. Here and there the sand is broken away towards the sea, forming an outlet for the rivers which supply these la- goons, but too shallow to be of any commercial utility. Generally speaking, but a small tract of land separates one lagoon from the next, and I imagine that a comparatively trifling outlay, with some engineering skill, would suffice to connect these lakes by navigable canals. Thus would be formed a continuous, safe, and convenient means of communication between some of the chief ports on the east coast, which are now with difficulty reached from the sea, and the transport between which overland is expensive, irregular, and unre- liable. The lakes on the whole are fairly deep, and barges of light draught could at all seasons of the year pass from end to end in perfect safety, although the sea at the same time might be rough and even impracticable for the ordinary coasting GENERAL DESCRIPTION OE THE ISLAND. 15 schooners. If this work is ever accomplished, it will be done by foreign enterprise and money, for it is not the policy of the native Government to make the internal communications of the island any better for the foreign merchant. Although the district is well watered by broad, fine-looking rivers, not one of them is navigable from the sea. Every opening on the east coast, south of but not including Tamatave, is blocked with sand, which forms an impassable barrier for any vessels except whale-boats, decked and used as lighters, and built sufficiently strong to be un- injured by the inevitable bumping on the bar which they are sure to experience. Tamatave harbor is protected from this great drawback by a long reef which joins the shore on the south and stretches away towards the north for three or four miles, having a deep though narrow opening in the centre, opposite to which the town is built. Some efforts have been made to cut an entrance through the bar at Andovoran- to, by means of which small craft might enter the river and find good and safe anchorage; but up to the present time no great progress has been made. Could a permanent entrance of sufficient depth be formed and kept clear, a first-class har- bor would be found inside, and merchandise could be transported by boats or canoes up the l6 MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE. river, as far as Maromby, thus saving nearly one- third of the distance to the capital. Very much the same may be said for the bar and river of Ivondrona, on the banks of which are two or three sugar-making establishments — the largest in the island — the great desideratum of these being an easy and cheap transport from Ivondrona to Tamatave or Mauritius. The sugar from these mills can be carried by water at very little expense to Ivondrona, at the mouth of the river; but there all water communication ceases, from the causes already mentioned; and the bags of sugar have to be carried on men's shoulders, a process both expensive and slow. A few bullock carts are used, but the want of any pretence of a road renders this course only a slight improve- ment upon the system of bearers. To the north of Tamatave are two or three harbors not suffering from the drawback men- tioned, but they are only small; and the trade has been diverted to Tamatave for all vessels of any considerable size. Hence the towns situated near are but insignificant commercially. Among these are Fenoarivo and Mahambo, both of which have harbors that are formed by projecting rocks, but are intricate and in no small measure dangerous. It is said, however, that soon after the Hova con- quest the latter town surpassed Tamatave in the GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. I J number of shipping that visited it. Probably these two ports being the nearest to the Sihanaka country north of the capital on the table-land, and which has always been the great source of the supply of bullocks to this coast, increased their importance, even if it is not true to say it was the cause of their existence as ports. Schooners anchor off Antsiraka (Point Laree), the port for Isoanerana (Ivongo), as under the lee of the French Island of St. Mary a considerable shelter is found from the prevailing south-east winds. But this is a port of no great importance. The same may be said of Mananara (Manahar), the port for Isoavinarivo, where schooners can anchor under cover of the point. In both these places the cargo has to be landed through the surf, which fortunately is not very great in either place. At Maroantsetra vessels of large sise can an- chor, but the harbor is rendered insecure from the heavy squalls which so frequently visit it. These are caused doubtless by the height of the land on the eastern side, down the slopes of which the wind rushes with considerable violence, even in the winter months, when in other parts along the coast there is a steady south-east trade- wind. At Ngontsy and Sambava the same obstacles are found as render the more southern ports places Madagascar and France. 2 iS MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE. of difficulty and danger for those engaged in land- ing and loading cargo, and the rivers in the north- east are just as valueless as a means of communi- cation with the sea as those already referred to at Ivondrona and Andovoranto. But as a means of internal communication the natives are alive to the importance of their rivers, and a considerable amount of traffic daily passes up and down them. Foreigners also have not been slow to appreciate the advantages of establishing their plantations, etc., on the banks of the really fine rivers with which the province abounds. The communication is carried on al- most entirely by canoes formed by hollowing out large trees, and bending them into convenient shape by means of thongs and stakes, and firing the inside, to cause them to retain the shape thus temporarily given. No outrigger is used, and no keel is attached, yet notwithstanding the crazy nature of these craft and their unsteadiness on the water, very few accidents occur in proportion to the number of persons daily employing them. Several seats, according to the length of the canoe, are placed across at intervals, on which the voy- agers sit as they propel the canoe forward by means of paddles shaped like a spade, a longer one of the same shape being used to steer with. In crossing the mouths of some of the larger rivers SAKALAVA PEOPLE AND BOAT. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OE THE ISLAND. 21 oars are used, but they are not common. The canoes for use in the harbors and in Antongil Bay are sometimes fitted with a false keel, and the sides are supplemented by one or two planks, nailed to ribs fixed inside the hollowed tree, thus rendering them more serviceable and safe on the rougher water of the sea. In these oars are used, with a long steering oar. Sails, also, are often employed, under which, considering the rough- and-ready style of making the hull, they behave very well. On the northwest coast the Sakalavas, etc., put an outrigger on their canoes, and are far bet- ter navigators than those on the east coast. In the southeast the people build boats by tying the planks together, using the thwarts as ribs, and filling the holes made for the entrance of the thongs with wooden pegs. In Antongil Bay I found a native engaged in boat-building. With several men who had been taught by a foreigner he had already built several schooners for the coasting trade, and at the time of my visit had another in process of construction. These were made of native wood cut in the adjacent forest, and appeared to be good and really well-built ves- sels. Most of the towns occupied by the Hovas are more or less fortified, and, as far as the character 22 MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE. of the ground will allow, are built upon the most elevated spots. These have doubtless been cho- sen not only because they are more easily defend- ed, but because, from their height above the marshes, they are less subject to malaria, from which arises the fever that proves so deadly to the Hovas who have lived only in the more temper- ate climate of the central plateau. In some parts along the coast, however, this selection has proved, from the nature of the ground, altogether impos- sible; while in others the Hova town and fortress are some miles from the port and custom-house, which presumably they were destined to defend. Their defences consist of rough and very infe- rior imitations of the fort at Tamatave, which, if properly mounted and garrisoned, would prove a powerful defence. It consists of a circular wall of coral and lime about 1 8 or 20 feet thick at the base. The upper part is hollow, forming a gal- lery throughout its entire length, with here and there embrasures for cannon. Stone steps on the inner side lead downward to the interior court- yard and upward to the top of the wall, which is protected on the outer side by a parapet breast high. The wall, which is about 20 feet high, incloses a courtyard 50 or 60 yards in diameter. This is entered by two crooked entrances, closed by three wooden doors in each. In the central GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. 23 inclosure stand the magazine and residences of the governor and his family. Outside the stone wall is an earthwork 15 feet in height, and sep- arated by about 10 feet from the stone wall, thus forming a kind of fosse between. Large gate- ways, corresponding to the outer gateways in the stone wall, afford the means of entrance and exit. The fort and earthwork were both defended by cannon mounted on wooden carriages or on wood- en pivots. But not only were the cannon old and probably useless, but the soldiers who were ex- pected to defend the place never had any more practice than was obtained from the firing of sa- lutes. Even then it was no uncommon occurrence for the pieces to rebound out of their high stands, requiring the labor of a number of men to replace them before the salute could be continued. Other forts along the coast were much worse off than this, and in one I have even seen a wood- en cannon mounted in all solemnity in company with its almost equally useless companions, whose serious work was completed 70 or 80 years ago. Other so-called forts consist of stockades in imita- tion of that around the palace in Antananarivo, consisting of spiked poles and defended by at the most one or two field guns. Of this character are the Hova stations at Maroantsetra, Ivongo, Maha- noro, Ivatomandry, and Mananjara; while at Fe- 24 MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE. noarivo and Mahambo attempts have been made to imitate that at Tamatave, which is said to have been built by Portuguese. Soldiers who have been drafted for the defence of these places are Hovas, whose duty has been considered their share of the enforced Government service to which all the Malagasy are subject. Their houses are inclosed within a stockade simi- lar to that described above, and none but soldiers are allowed to build or live within that inclosure: so that every Hova town on the coast is divided into three parts — the fort, or rova, in which none but the governor and his family live, the soldiers* division, near to or surrounding the rova, and the civilians' town on the outskirts. The best of the houses are built of wood, but the majority of bamboo split and plaited, or of rushes dried and kept in their places by means of two or three long pieces of split bamboo driven through each. Nearly all are thatched with the leaves of the travellers' tree. In fact, this tree in some places supplies all that is necessary for the house-building except a few poles made of the midrib of the rofia palm leaves. A fireplace is obtained by filling a case of wood with sand, on which the trivets are placed for supporting the cooking pots. With such flimsy materials it is matter for surprise that so few fires occur in Mala- GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. 25 gasy towns on the coast; but when one does break out it is seldom extinguished until the whole town is reduced to ruins, each man only caring to se- cure his few domestic utensils and as much wood from the burning mass as he can successfully res- cue. It is only in towns where a sufficiently strong European community exists that any houses are pulled down for the purpose of saving those beyond them. In fact, the want of public spirit, the working for the public good, has been one of the obstacles to advancement in Madagascar; very little is done simply because it may benefit the community at large. Hence one finds no public works in the country, no roads or bridges, no drainage or sys- tem of irrigation ; each man is expected to make what canals are necessary for his own plantations. No accommodation is found for travellers on the roads, although it has been represented that houses (lapd) are built in the villages between Tamatave and the capital for this purpose. But closer in- quiry would have shown that no such public spirit actuated the authorities who caused their con- struction, for they have been built for the sole purpose of giving shelter to the goods of the Queen and Prime Minister while being carried up from the port to the capital. They are certainly often very useful to travellers, but this was not taken 26 MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE). into consideration in the least as a reason for their construction. The soil of the district consists of a sandy belt three or four miles in breadth, bordering upon the sea, and beyond this an alluvial deposit most pro- ductive, as is proved by the rich and luxuriant vegetation. The capabilities of the country be- tween the lagoons and the forest have not been sufficiently tested to warrant any general state- ment. But, judging by the rapid growth of cer- tain kinds of produce, one is compelled to ac- knowledge the great productiveness of the soil and climate. All vegetation requiring a rich mould and a damp, hot atmosphere luxuriates in the Betsimisaraka country; but only a few prod- ucts have received much attention from foreign- ers, probably owing to the difficulty of obtaining land on sufficiently long leases to warrant the out- lay required when first establishing a plantation. Now that difficulty is to a great extent, if not en- tirely, removed, as is shown in Chapter IV. ; and the subject of the capability of the country for rendering a good return for the labor of the plant- er will become one of increasing interest as soon as the political horizon is clear. Whichever way events shape themselves, there is little doubt that the country will be opened up much more rapidly than in the past. If the French secure the coast, GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. 2J or any considerable part of it, they will in their own interests render every facility to capitalists who may feel disposed to embark their capital in plantations or commerce. And there have not been wanting indications of the fact that the most intelligent among the upper classes of the natives have begun to realize that their greatest security is not to be obtained by the closing of their coun- try to foreign enterprise, but by giving every en- couragement to merchants and planters to come there and settle. There has been also a rumor of a projected Government railway from the coast to the capital. Formerly those in authority looked with a jeal- ous eye upon any attempt to facilitate communi- cation between the capital and the coasts. No suggestion for the formation of a railway or tram- way, though several times made by English firms, was ever entertained by the native Government. A constant dread of the effects of the influx of a large number of foreigners on native politics has always been apparent in the treaties made with other nations; and there is no doubt that the law prohibiting mining and prospecting for gold or diamonds has been framed from the same cause. A very indistinct idea of the advantages arising from increased trade and commerce was all that exhibited itself to the mind of the Government 28 MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE. In fact, the question with those in authority seemed rather to be, How can foreigners be de- terred from the desire to develop the resources of the country, thus attracting the attention of the rapacious? This accounts in a great measure for the absence of roads other than tracks worn by the bare feet of the porters. It makes us feel too that we ought not to have been surprised at the answer sent by the Prime Minister to some Creole traders in Tamatave, who asked him to facilitate the cutting of a canal between the lagoons from thence to Andovoranto. After hearing their ac- count of the advantages to be derived from the formation of this cutting, he said that it appeared to be for their emolument only, and so if they wanted a canal they must make it themselves. MALAGASY CIVILIZATION. 29 CHAPTER II. MALAGASY CIVILIZATION. No Roads. Mode of Travelling. Bearers. Crossing the Rivers. Resting-places for Traveller and Bearers. Coinage. Barter. The Food Supply. Native Beverages. The Water Supply. Manufactures. Spinning, Iron Smelting, Forging, and Cast- ing. Straw-plaiting. Native Pottery. Jewelry of Gold and Silver. Cabinet-making. Carving Introduced among the Hovas, but Indigenous in other Tribes. Musical Instruments. Bamboo Drums. Pieces of Iron as Musical Instruments. Skin Drums. Fifes or Flutes. Lyres. The Valiha. Gov- ernment Bands. As there are no roads or railways, the traveller must content himself with the only kind of na- tive conveyance found in the country — the palan- quin. But do not imagine by the name that any- thing like the luxurious arrangement used in India will be forthcoming for your comfort and convenience. A much rougher apparatus, and one better suited to the exigencies of the uneven and broken country, consisting of a couple of poles kept in position by two iron rods, and sup- porting a leathern seat a few inches below the level of the poles, must suffice for the most fastid- ious traveller in Madagascar. Having given our cook notice the previous day that we intend to start on a few days' journey 30 MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE. in the morning, he pnts together into native bas- kets such utensils as he will require for cooking, and a stock of provisions which cannot be pur- chased from the natives in the villages through which we pass. A stretcher and bedding are wrapped in waterproof canvas, some clothes, books, and medicines are stowed away in small tin boxes, and our preparations are complete. Early on the morning of our proposed departure we shall find our yard filled with men, all appar- ently most eager to carry our baggage or our- selves; and as we have taken the precaution to tell our cook the agreement we propose making with them for the journey, we might be pardoned the delusion of believing that all was settled and a start can be effected as soon as we are ready. But the Malagasy bearer is a curious creature, of whom you can never be certain until you actu- ally have him away with you. Probably when all is tied on the poles ready for starting, and sometimes after the baggage has started, the pal- anquin bearers will ask with the most perfect show of innocence what wages they are to re- ceive, as though they had not been bargaining an hour or two the previous day and professedly come to an arrangement. This generally means trou- ble, and the traveller may think himself favored if he is able to leave at all that day. But if all MALAGASY CIVILIZATION. 33 can be satisfactorily adjusted, the palanquin is shouldered, and at the average rate of about four miles an hour the bearers convey their passenger along the sandy trackway, up the steep mountain- side, through the rivers, and across the rice plains, very rarely missing their footing or endangering their passenger or his baggage. The rivers are crossed, when too deep to ford, by very roughly made bridges, consisting gener- ally of a single plank or log, not always level, but slanting dangerously to one side or warped by the sun into all sorts of angles. Without handrail or support below to prevent the vibration of the long plank, the nerves of the newly-arrived foreigner are often terribly tried while making the passage from one bank to the other of a stream roarino- o over the rocks and boulders ten or twenty feet below. In the forest it is no uncommon thins; to find a bridge made by simply felling a large tree on one bank and allowing it to fall across the stream. A few of the inconvenient branches are cut away, and until it rots the native bearer has all he cares for in the way of viaduct. The marshes and bogs are crossed by branches and rushes being laid on the surface and renewed from time to time according to the wants of the individual traveller or band of bearers. If a vil- lage or town is adjacent to a marsh, an attempt Madagascar ami France. <% 34 MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE. is made at supporting a rough bridge upon piles driven into the peat and mud in pairs, and joined together by a cross pole at right angles to the direction of the bridge. Upon these the planks to form the pathway are laid. As the ends do not necessarily overlap, it is no uncommon thing to see a careless bearer tread on a free end and be aroused to proper caution by finding himself in the water and mud below. This was the charac- ter of the bridge at Tetezamalama, destroyed by the Hovas when they intrenched themselves on the west side of the wide marsh at Farafatana. The wider rivers, and rivers with very low banks and far from the forest, are crossed by fer- ries. These consist generally of the canoes already described, larger or smaller according to the dan- ger involved in crossing, although I have found that at some difficult and dangerous river-mouths only very small and miserable craft have been forthcoming to ferry the traveller and his bearers across. At sunset, on one occasion, my party, consisting of myself and ten natives, reached a beautiful broad river, called Onibe or Onive (north of Mananara), on the opposite bank of w T hich is a small village where we proposed to sleep. After standing and shouting lustily all together for some time, varying the monotony by occasional discharges from the gun, we sue- MALAGASY CIVILIZATION. 35 ceeded in making the people on the other side hear, and we were glad to see them coming across in a canoe to paddle us over. When it arrived we found it to be only a small cranky craft that would at best carry but three; so we had to divide, and it was an hour before the last man with his load was safely ferried over. At unfrequented places I have had the pleas- ure of crossing in a canoe with the end broken off, when the only means of keeping afloat was for all to sit at the opposite end, so as to give suf- ficient tilt to the canoe to keep the broken end well above the surface of the water. With such ferry-boats it is no wonder that one occasionally gets an impromptu bath, rendered no more pleas- ant by the knowledge that the rivers swarm with crocodiles. In other places I have had to cross on rafts, called zahitra by the people. These are simply a collection of the largest bamboos that can be ob- tained in the neighborhood, lashed together at one end to a pair of cross-pieces of bamboo, thus forming a kind of bow, while the stern is often as broad as the raft is long. This is not a dry meth- od of crossing, although perfectly safe, as the top row of the bamboos is frequently below the sur- face of the river. These are punted over by men using long poles of bamboo. Occasionally rafts 36 MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE. are made of rushes, the zozoro, or papyrus, and this is said to have been the most ancient method of crossing the rivers. However, all the means of river-crossing seem equally hazardous to the traveller, and for the Malagasy give point to one of their proverbs: "The old woman crossing the river; it's 1 God grant what's for my good, whether I am upset or get safely over' — a touching picture of human helplessness. ' ' * Arrived at the village in which the traveller proposes to rest or sleep, there is very little diffi- culty about accommodation. Any one having a house that appears at all suitable (and often there is very little choice) will resign possession for the night, clearing out all the furniture it may con- tain, and seeking a corner in a neighbor's house, in the hope of a small piece of money in the morn- ing or when the stranger resumes his journey. The housing of his bearers need never trouble the traveller, as by a kind of freemasonry, and per- haps the hope of a budget of news, every door is open to the entrance of a bearer and a hearty welcome waits him round the fire. He uses the cooking-pots, spoons, and plates of the owner, makes himself comfortable for the night in a dry and warm corner, after having borrowed a mat to * Rev. J. Houlder. " Antananarivo Annual," No. V. p. 62. MALAGASY CIVILIZATION. 37 sleep on, but never dreams of paying anything for accommodation. Payments are made in Madagascar generally in money, though I have found some tribes still using the primitive method of barter. The only coin at present recognized as currency is the dol- lar either of France (the five-franc piece in silver), of Germany, Holland, Italy, Russia, or Spain. For smaller payments than four shillings these coins are broken up and weighed. They are cut into all sizes and shapes, having no distinctive value attached to each piece, and the worth is only ascertained by careful weighing. For this purpose every one carries a pair of native scales and weights. These are made with so great ex- actitude that the variation of the 720th part of a dollar can be detected. Buying is a tedious pro- cess, rendered more so by the fact that a single weighing is seldom accepted by the native, who almost invariably puts the money first in one pan of the scales and then into the other, to be quite certain that the balance is perfectly true. But such a cumbersome method, reminding us of the time when Abraham weighed his pieces of silver, must disappear before the onrush of civilization and commerce. At least one offer has already been made to the Prime Minister by an English firm to supply the country with a coinage of its 3 33 MADAGASCAR AXD FRANCE. own. But before this can be accomplished many conservative prejudices have to be overcome and the suspicious distrust of the people to be sur- mounted. After having been accustomed to weigh every piece of silver, and to reject every smooth dollar, it will not be easy to induce these people to accept coins of a nominal value only; more especially as with them time is not an arti- cle of very great value, and haggling a long while over the just balancing of a pennyworth of silver is a daily amusement. The food supply of the coast tribes is abun- dant, cheap, and of good quality. The staple commodity is rice, which is usually boiled in water, in native earthenware or iron pots, and eaten with beef, poultry, or native vegetables, of which there are several kinds wholesome and good. These people have few, if any, distinctively native dishes, and in this way differ considerably from the islanders of the Pacific. The beef or poultry is almost invariably stewed or boiled, and although some of the better classes occasionally present the stranger with a roasted fowl, there is every reason to believe that this style of cooking is not native. Fish is sometimes broiled on the embers or on a roughly-made gridiron held over the fire; but the sweet potatoes, manioc, yams, and arum are boiled, the latter in banana leaves, to MALAGASY CIVILIZATION. 39 extract the acid principle, so injurious if taken into the system. Maize, beans, millet, earth-nuts, pistachios, pumpkins, tomatoes, are also usually boiled by the natives and eaten with their rice. Salt, obtained from the sea and from one or two aquatic plants, chillies, and ginger are also uni- versally used. The bread-fruit, and the cassava made into arrowroot, although tolerably abundant on the west coast, are comparatively scarce in the east, and cannot be looked upon as an article of native diet there. In the central provinces, upon the cooler soil of the table-land, potatoes and other vegetables common on European tables are cultivated and are relished by the people. Here also sheep are successfully reared. These are of a hairy breed, with large fat tails (considered the most delicate portion for eating), and partaking very much of the character of the goat. The flesh is somewhat coarse and hard, altogether lacking the flavor of English mutton. The principal native beverage is rice water, made by boiling some water in the rice pot from which the unburned portion of the cooked rice has been taken, and that part which is burned and that adheres to the sides is allowed to remain. This is drunk hot and without any addition of sugar or salt. A very great number of the people 40 MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE. drink coffee, which they grow and roast for them- selves, and generally sweeten with syrup, sugar, or sugar-cane juice. In some parts of the country a tea is made either from the imported Indian or China leaf, or from the leaves of certain plants growing in the country. The latter is to Euro- pean taste anything but palatable. The water in the interior of the country is, generally speaking, good, although in some districts many tasteless, hard and lime impregnated springs are found. On the east coast the water, which has to be ob- tained by sinking wells in the sand, is decidedly bad, being filled with animal and vegetable or- ganisms, easily detected by the microscope. Most foreigners on the coast carefully collect the rain- water in tanks for drinking, reserving the well- water for washing and cooking purposes. At least two kinds of intoxicating drinks are used by the natives, one a sort of mead, made from sugar-cane juice, honey, and one or other of the aromatic plants used as a flavoring. The other, a spirit distilled from the fermented juice of the sugar-cane, and occasionally scented with the wild anise of the country, is a much more powerful intoxicant, and its use by the people is greatly to be deplored. In Betsileo villages it was no uncommon thing for villagers to be in an almost constant state of intoxication for a week MALAGASY CIVILIZATION. 41 during trie funeral ceremonies of one of their de- parted fellow-villagers. Although somewhat indolent, the average Malagasy is a clever and intelligent workman in the various arts that have been introduced at dif- ferent times among them. The Hovas, more especially, have proved themselves adepts at im- itation of the most intricate developments of the handicrafts they have learned. Given a Hova who has learned a particular art and had a little practice at it, and one may rely upon getting a very clever imitation of any piece of work that can be wrought in that art with the tools he has or can make. Hence it is that specimens of na- tive-made gold and silver jewelry, especially the filigree work, brought to England have excited so much admiration among connoisseurs. The most universal manufacture in the coun- try is spinning and weaving. This is doubtless an introduced industry, but from whom it has come no very clear tradition gives a clew. There is good reason, however, for thinking that the Arabs taught the Malagasy the art. The looms are very similar, and the patterns of the cloths, with their red, blue, yellow, and green stripes, al- most identical with those used by the Arabs. Rofia, flax, hemp, cotton, bark, silk, beside other fibres, are spun with the simplest possible kind of spin- 42 MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE. die, consisting of a thin round piece of the bark of the tree-fern or anivona palm, about a foot long, having a round flat piece of bone attached near one end to give weight. The fibre, held in the left hand, is attached to a small piece of grass stalk tied across the top of the spindle, so as to form a kind of hook. Being spun round with the thumb and finger of the right hand, the bone at the head is sufficiently heavy to give enough momentum to allow of the fibre being drawn and spun to almost any degree of fineness. The thread is dyed with different vegetable and mineral dyes found in the country, for which the people have discovered the proper ingredients; and of late years a number of aniline dyes from Europe have been extensively used. The native loom is of the most primitive construction. The threads having been made into loops of equal length, each is placed upon a couple of cross -sticks about three feet long. These two sticks are then attached at their ends to four stumps driven in the ground, and so the threads are drawn tight. Heelds are attached to every other thread in the centre, and thin pieces of wood are also passed across the threads alter- nately, as in plaiting. By raising the heelds, which are fixed to a cross-piece of wood, a shed is obtained for the introduction of the shuttle, which MALAGASY CIVILIZATION. 43 consists merely of a piece of wood eight or ten inches long with some of the fibre rolled upon it. This is not u thrown," but simply pushed from one side to the other of the warp, often by one woman to her companion, and so the first thread of the woof is laid. The heelds are then low- ered, and the two cross-pieces interlaced are drawn forward, thus reversing the shed. The shuttle is once more pushed through in the opposite direc- tion, and the second thread after being drawn tight is knocked up close to its predecessor by a piece of wood shaped like a large blunt knife in- troduced into the shed. This process is repeated until the whole of the warp is taken up. After the day's work is done, the loom is easily de- tached from the four stumps which hold it and rolled up. It occupies very little space in the corner of the house, and this is no doubt the cause of the failure to introduce the English or Norwe- gian spinning-wheel and hand-loom. When the simplicity of the apparatus is considered, it is wonderful that the natives can produce such fine, regularly- woven cloths as those which have found their way to England, and have been seen by many interested in the progress of heathen and uncivilized nations. The iron manufacture carried on in the coun- try appears to be partly of European origin, and 44 MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE. was doubtless introduced by the artisans sent out by the London Missionary Society at the request of Radama I. The native mode of smelting is very simple. Iron ore (the black oxide) is found very near to the surface in many parts of the country, and is very pure, yielding from 50 to 70 per cent, of iron. This is placed in the form of a semicircular bank in a hole dug in the ground, the concave side towards the pipe conveying the blast, which enters the pit below a large flat stone set up edgeways. Between this stone and the iron ore is the receptacle for the charcoal, which when once alight is banked up to fill the pit, while a continual blast is kept up for several hours by relays of men. Their bellows consist of two upright cylinders of wood about four feet long, in which a piston with a rough kind of valve is made to w T ork, while at the lower extremity the cylinder is closed. At the side near the bottom is a small hole, in which a pipe of bamboo is fitted, convey- ing the blast to the fire. One man works each piston, and by doing so alternately an almost con- tinual blast is kept up. After the usual interval the fire is allowed to go down, and the iron, cooled into a solid lump, is fished out with hooks, and is ready for the smith. In this way, by smelting with charcoal in which the ore is buried, a cer- tain portion of the carbon is absorbed, and a kind MALAGASY CIVILIZATION. 45 of steel is the result, which, when wrought into knives, hatchets, swords, and spears, and properly tempered, is capable of receiving a good service- able edge. The forge very much resembles the smelting apparatus, except that the cylinders for producing the blast are not so long. The anvil is simply a block of iron let into a log of wood laid on the ground; and the blacksmith uses his hammer and tongs while sitting very comfortably on his heels, presenting a strangely different aspect from the brawny-armed men wielding the sledge-hammers in our factories and forges. Castings are made of iron, brass, or copper by melting the metal in crucibles of a peculiar fria- ble sandstone (which when freshly quarried is very soft, but when burned becomes vitrified and extremely hard), and then run into moulds made of a moulding-sand' of good quality found in sev- eral parts of the central plateau. Some of the brass castings in the Chapel Royal will bear close examination, and would be no discredit to the best foundries of this country. Considering too the entire absence of machinery, one is surprised at the highly-finished files, scissors, knives, and needles that can be turned out of the native blacksmith's shop to compete, at any rate in price, if not in quality, with those sent from Eng- 4 6 MADAGASCAR AND FRANCE. land. So abundant is the iron, and of such good quality and so near the surface, that it only re- quires the country to be opened up and greater facilities to be given to the foreigners for introdu- cing European methods and machinery to make this branch of industry a lucrative speculation. The art of plaiting straw, grass, or rushes to make mats, hats, bags, and various domestic arti- cles is universal. In some parts of the country mats made from a soft rush, the harvfo (belonging to the natural order of JuncacecB), are still used as the only clothing of the people; and in very many tribes mats made of this rush are used as sleeping- mats. The zozoro, a rush resembling the papyrus (Cyperus