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المسالخانات
تمامتينة "سنه من
احمت
کنن
E DORSCH, M.D.
5 Monroe, Mich.
--- ------
اننا ن نالم
سسسسسسسس
THE DORSCH LIBRARY.
The private Library of Edward Dorsch, M. D., of
Monroe, Michigan, presented to the University of Michi-
gan by his widow, May, 1888, in accordance with a wish
expressed by him.
تحدہ
ہم
استنشن...
.
.
...
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DT
А 9
25
P5
KP3
THE ISLAND
*
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OF
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.
..
.
MADAGASCAR.
A SKETCH,
DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL.
BY
.
.
.
GEN. J. W: PHELPS,
MEMBER OF THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY, ETC.
(Copyrighted 1883, by John B. Alden.)
NEW YORK.
JOHN B. ALDEN, PUBLISHER,
1883.
PREFACE.
Nothing is claimed for this sketch as an original production
by the writer. It has been written with the view of extending
reliable knowledge of African affairs among our American
citizens, who, as their interests and welfare have become pecu-
liarly involved with those of the African race, will have
especial need of all information that may tend to enlighten
them concerning the past history and future hopes of that
race. The facts given have been drawn chiefly from accounts
published by observers of excellent character, often in their
own words, and will enable the reader to form a correct idea
of the present relation in which the people of England and
France stand towards those of Madagascar; and more particu-
larly with respect to the efforts which have been made towards
introducing Christian civilization into that island.
If these labors shall lead our American citizens who are
charged with the affairs of a great and important government,
to a more careful consideration of our moral obligations to-
wards the true interests of Africa, and of the best manner of
serving these interests through our Liberian colony, which
lies on the opposite side of the African continent from Mada-
gascar, the writer will consider himself amptly rewarded. He
has aimed at nothing more, and will regard himself happy if.
he shall have accomplished that.
MADAGASCAR.
CHAPTER I.
Madagascar, the largest island in the world after Australia
and Borneo, is separated from the African continent by tho
channel of Mozambique, which, at its narrowest point, is about
two hundred miles wide. It lies almost wholly between the
southern tropic and the equator, and has a length of nine
hundred miles, running northeasterly, in a general parallel
direction with the African coast. With an average breadth
somewhat exceeding two hundred miles, it contains an area of
more than two hundred thousand square miles, being nearly
twice as large as Great Britain and Ireland, and five times as
large as the State of New York.
The existence of this island was first made known to the
European world by Marco Polo, who, in his travels in the East,
which were performed in the thirteenth century, mentions it
by the name of Magaster. The origin of this name is not
known; nor do the inhabitants of the island recognize it as
applied to their country, for which they have no distinct ap-
pellation. There are evidences that it has been visited by
Moors, Arabs, and Hindostanee from very early times, but the
first arrival of Europeans upon its shores dates from the year
1506, at which time it was discovered by Lawrence Almeida,
son of the Portuguese Viceroy of India. The Portuguese soon
established a settlement upon it, and built a fort, which how-
ever never flourished. Nor did the Dutch, who also found it
a convenient stopping place on their way to the East, ever
make much progress in the island.
The situation of the island seemed to render it a very de-
sirable stopping place and depot for the European vessels that
were beginning to enter upon the commerce of the East. It
ļies about eighteen hundred miles from the Cape of Good Hope,
A SKETCH OF
five hundred and fifty from Mauritius, and four hundred and
fifty from the Isle of Bourbon.
The French made their first attempt to establish a settlement
on the island in 1642. A patent was granted by Cardinal
Richelieu, to Captain Rivault, for the exclusive right of send-
ing ships and forces to Madagascar and the neighboring islands,
to establish a plantation or colony for the promotion of com-
merce. Out of this charter grew the French East India Com-
pany, and their first ship was sent out in 1642 under Captain
Coquet; who had already prepared to sail to the island on his
own account for a cargo of ebony. This expedition, which
was furnished with two governors and directed to take pos-
session of the island in the King's name, first landed and took
possession of the Isle of Bourbon and other small islands in
the vicinity. It chose a point upon the Island of Madagascar
which proved to be exceedingly unhealthy, for the low lands
are subject to a most fatal fever; but it finally fixed upon a
spot on the south side of the bay of Taocanara, and built a
fort which they called Dauphin. This fort is 150 feet above the
level of the sea, and commands the road'; so that no enemy's
ships could escape the fire of its batteries. The landing to it is
rendered difficult by a steep declivity; it is of an oblong form,
and enclosed with strong walls of lime and gravel well cement-
ed. This point is in the southeastern portion of the island;
the anchorage in the roadstead is excellent, and the harbor is
screened by the Isle of St. Clair from the heavy sea gales, so
that the entrance is convenient at all times for large ships.
Though the French colony has never flourished to any con-
siderable extent, yet as it furnished slaves and other supplies
for the Mauritius and Isle of Bourbon, it has been resorted to
by the French with varying conditions and some few inter-
missions down to the present day. It at one time contained a
Catholic bishop, three missionaries and two lay brethren, with a
chapel, monastery, and library. Efforts were made by these
missionaries as early as 1647 to construct a grammar of the na-
tive language, and vocabularies were formed, together with a
catechism for the use of young converts, copies of which are
still extant, interlined with French and Latin. But it does not
appear that letters or the Christian religion ever made much
progress in the island until the arrival of a party of English
missionaries in 1818. At no time has any system of European
colonization prospered there.
The attention of the English was called to the Island of
MADAGASCAR.
Madagascar soon after its discovery. It is stated by Flacourt
that in 1642 the English had an establishment at St. Augustine's
Bay, consisting of 200 men. During the troublesome times of
Charles the First, the English turned an unquiet gaze to some
foreign object to divert their minds from the distractions at
home, and considerable interest was excited in the public by a
report given of this island by an embassy from England to
the King of Persia. A Mr. Richard Boothby, merchant of
London, who had dwelt upon the island for three months, gave
the following account of it: “It is my humble opinion, very
possible, that whatsoever prince of christendom is once really
possessed of, and strongly settled in that brave, fruitful and
pleasant island, by computation three times as big as England,
may with ease be emperor and sole monarch of the East Indies,
with all the multitude of its large and rich kingdoms; which,
no doubt, but the eyes of many European princes are fixed
upon, but that great disturbances in most parts thereof, as at
present unhappily in England, hinder and give impediments
to their wished designs, which, in zeal to God's glory, my
gracious sovereign's honor, and my native country's welfare
and prosperity, I from the bottom of my heart wish that some
more learned and persuasive pen than mine, rude and ignorant,
might prevail with his gracious Majesty, King Charles, the
right honorable High Court of Parliament, and all true-hearted
able persons of the nobility, gentry, etc., to take in hand, even
in these obstructive times, to adventure each man some small
proportion of means throughout this kingdom, which, though
but small to every particular person, ſet, undoubtedly, would
amount to a very considerable sum of money, sufficient to
undertake that action as a business of State. That I may give
the best advice and encouragement in this affair, that my weak
capacity will allow, I shall descend to the following particulars."
The writer then goes into a lengthy detail of the beauties and
advantages of this "second land of Canaan, or paradise of the
world."
“It is a great pity,” says he, “that so pleasant and plentiful
a country should not be inhabited by civilized people, or rather
Christians; and that so brave a nation, as to person and coun-
tenance, only black or tawny, should be so blindly led in their
devotions, being, as some suppose, Mahometans, in regard to
their manner and custom of circumcision; or rather, as some
suppose, descended from Abraham. A happy thing it were,
both for them and this kingdon. if that project had, or should
A SKETCH OF
go forward, which a gentleman in Huntingdonshire, bred å
merchant, in love told me, which he heard from others, or
rather, as I understood it, from Bishop Moreton's own mouth,
that if the bishops of England, lately dismissed from voting in
Parliament, and tyrannizing in temporal authority, should still
continue in disrespect with the King and Parliament, they, or
most part of them, would go and plant a colony in Mada-
gascar, and endeavor to reduce those ignorant souls to Chris-
tianity. God grant that, by them or others, such a pious
design my speedily take effect."
The numerous advantages possessed by the island made such
a strong appeal to the public mind that it was agreed at the
council-board, says Mr. Boothby, that Prince Rupert should go
as Viceroy to Madagascar. He was to have twelve sail from
King Charles, and thirty merchantmen to attend him to the
plantation, and to have supplies yearly sent out from England.
It was likewise agreed upon, and a charge given to the gover-
nor, Sir Maurice Abbot, Sir Henry Garway, and others of the
committee of the Honorable East India Company, to give all
their loving assistance and furtherance to Prince Rupert in
this design, whensoever he came into Asia or India, and all
other parts adjacent to the Island of Madagascar.
Mr. Boothby was present “when this was ordered at the
council-table, and the charge given to the aforesaid governor
and committee of the East India Company; but Prince Rupert
going into France and Germany about his weighty affairs, in
the meantime it was thought fit, and concluded upon, that the
Earl of Arundel, earl marshal of England, should go governor
for Madagascar, it being the most famous place in the world
for a magazine. This honorable earl was in such resolution
and readiness that there were printed bills put up on the pil-
lars of the Royal Exchange, and in other parts of the city, that
abundantly showed his forwardness in promoting a plantation
in Madagascar; but a new Parliament being called, it put a stop
to the design of Madagascar."
The next account of the island which we have in connection
with the English is given in the history of Robert Drury, who
from the year 1702 until 1717 was detained there by the natives
as a slave. Drury had received but a limited education, and at
an early period of life was induced, as many other youths have
been, through love of adventure and romance, to seek his for-
tune at sea. At the age of fourteen he embarked as passenger
on board a ship bound for the East Indies, and sailed from Lon-
MADAGASCAR.
(don in 1701. He was destined to learn that, according to his own
account, wilful persons never want woe; for on his return from
Bengal, the ship, the De Grave, was shipwrecked on the coast
of Madagascar. A large part of the crew escaped, and reached
the shore near the southernmost point of the island; but they
afterwards became scattered, and little is known of their sub-
sequent history. Drury became a domestic slave, and as such
passed from the hands of one proprietor to another, experienc-
ing every variety of treatment, which reminded him with
bitter regrets of his reckless desertion of his own pleasant
home. The first impressions made upon his mind after reach-
ing the shore are given in the following extracts:
“The country began now to be alarmed, and we had already
two or three hundred negroes flocking round us, picking up
several pieces of silk and fine calicoes; the muslin they had
little regard for. Our goods were driven ashore in whole
bales; for, what with saltpeter and other things, we reckoned
there might be three hundred tons left, after all that was
thrown overboard at sundry times before.
“One of the negroes brought an ox to us, and intimated
by sundry signs that we should kill him; but we made signs
to them again to shoot him for us, we having no ammunition;
when one of them perceived this, he lent us his gun, ready
charged, and with it one of our men shot the bullock on the
spot.
“It was extremely shocking to see the negroes cut the beast.
skin and flesh together, and sometimes the entrails also, then
toss them into the fire or ashes, as it happened, and eat them
half roasted. I shuddered for fear they should devour us in
like manner; for they seemed to me to be a kind of Cannibals, of
whom I had heard very dreadful stories. Everything, in
short , appeared horrible to nature, and excited in us the most
dismal apprehensions."
The melancholy fate of that portion of the ship's crew with
which Drury was associated more than confirmed his worst
fears. The chief who ruled over that part of the island where
they were wrecked, having most probably some supposed or
real injury to revenge upon the white people, had them all
bound and brought before him, when they were all butchered
in the most barbarous manner; Drury alone being permitted
to live, for the purpose of attending upon the grand-son of the
chief in the capacity of a slave.
It was a custom in certain parts of the island that the
LL
10
A SKETCH OF
slaughtering of cattle, deemed a highly honorable avocation,
was appropriated by the nobility; and as Drury was supposed
to be a son of the captain of the ship, and therefore a person of
rank, he was treated better than the ordinary run of slaves,
and was appointed to the office of honor and profit of slaughter-
ing cattle. By this means he obtained a more regular supply
of provisions than he could have otherwise received from his
various masters. His duties, in times of peace, consisted
chiefly in tending his master's cattle, and driving them to
water, for which they were frequently sent a distance of six
or seven miles. Digging wild yams and managing bees and
honey were other occupations in which he was employed.
Whether from these qualifications, or from the prevalent ideas,
not only that he was a person of rank, but that white people
ought never to be held in bondage, Drury enjoyed many ad-
vantages as a slave, and was so highly esteemed that the pos-
session of his services was often the subject of envy amongst
the chieftains of that part of the country. His constant
endeavor, however, was to find some means of getting away to
the sea shore, where he hoped to find some vessel in which he
might make his escape. At times the rigors of his lot were
rendered more tolerable by this hope brightening almost into
a certainty, as he listened to those who spoke of the different
sea-ports accessible from the neighborhood in which he was
detained; but often before he could reach one of these ports,
the results of war plunged him into the deepest despair, by
placing him in the power of a more vigilant master, or remov-
ing him, along with the chieftain he served, to some district
more remote from the sea.
Encouraged by the prospect of reaching St. Augustine's Bay,
he made more than one bold adventurous attempt to escape
from his masters. On one occasion, after pursuing his lonely
course for many days, attended with almost incredible hard-
ships, just as the hope of final success was gaining advantage
over the fear of detection, he came to the banks of a river, so
wide and deep as to present an almost impassable barrier to
his progress.
“As I was searching,” he says, “for a proper place to wade
through, or swim over, I spied a large alligator. I still walked
upon the banks, and in a short time saw three more. This
was a mortifying stroke, and almost dispirited me. I went
on until I came to a shallower place, where I entered the river
about ten yards; but seeing an alligator make towards me, I
MADAGASCAR
11
11
ran directly back. He pursued me until I got into very shallow
water, and then he turned back into the deep, for they will
never attack a man near the shore. It nettled me to be stopped
by a river that was scarcely a hundred yards over. At length
I recollected that in the neighborhood of Bengal, where there
are the largest alligators in the world, fires are often made at
the head and stern of the boat, so that they pass the rivers in
safety. Distress puts a man's invention upon the rack; some-
thing like this, thought I, must be done; for it was to no pur-
pose to stay there, neither could I go back. So making choice
of a stick for a fire-brand, I cut it into long splinters, and
waited till it grew dark; then, after I had bound my two fire-
sticks to the top of one of my lances, I went into the water,
and, recommending myself to the care of Providence, turned
upon my back and swam over, with my two lances and hatchet
in one hand, and my fire-brand burning in the other, my lamba
being twisted and tied fast about my loins."
At last the welcome sight of St. Augustine's Bay, with its
road, where ships were wont to touch, presented itself to the
weary and solitary traveler as he stood on the summit of a
hill of considerable elevation. It does not appear, however,
that any means of escape from the country were available at
that time; for he was obliged to place himself under the pro-
tection of a chieftain who had formerly shown him kindness,
and who required his service in the wars in which he was then
engaged.
It is worthy of remark, that although the pirates are con-
sidered to be the originators of the slave-trade in Madagascar,
yet more than one account occurs in Drury's narrative where
the barter of men for foreign goods is spoken of as the custom-
ary trade of the country, even at that time. Drury was
informed by a person who had lived considerable time in the
country, that to a place called Masseelege (probably the Methe-
lege of the pirates) to the northward, there came, once a year,
a Moorish ship, that brought silk lambas and many other things
to trade for slaves. And again, towards the conclusion of the
term of his captivity, he speaks of two ships staying at Young-
oule, where slaves were sent to be sold in exchange for fire-
arms and other goods. It seems probable, however, that these
were but occasional visits, made chiefly by marauding vessels,
and that it was not until after the vessels of the pirates had
been destroyed, that this commerce in human beings became
12
A SKETCH OF
a regular and organized system of barbarous traffic in the
island.
Whilst Drury was residing at a sea-port on the western coast,
called Youngoule, an English ship, the Clapham Galley, Captain
Wilks, commander, arrived there to take in a cargo of slaves;
and a number were accordingly taken down to the coast to be
sold. The master whom Drury served at that time was col-
lecting slaves for this purpose; and he, delighted with the
idea of thus escaping from the country, engaged a friend to
intercede with his master and mistress that he might be sold
with the rest; but being a prisoner of war, and probably too
highly prized for his services, he was denied the privilege of
being sold with the native slaves.
Before the ship set sail, however, Drury (to use his own words)
"endeavored to inform the captain by this stratagem: I took a
leaf, which was about two inches broad and a foot and a half
long, and marked upon it these words: 'Robert Drury, son of
Mr. Drury, living at the King's Headin Old Jewry, now a slave
in the Island of Madagascar, in the country of Youngoule.' I
desired the favor of one who was going to the sea-side, to deliver
this leaf to the first white man he saw; and when he returned,
I asked him what answer he had brought. 'None at all,' replied
he; "for I suppose the white man did not like it, since he
threw the leaf away, though I am sure it was as good, if not
better, than that which you gave me: it is true I dropped yours,
but then I pulled one of the best I could find off a tree.?"
"My heart,” says Drury, "was ready to break at this disap-
pointment; whereupon I turned from him, and went directly
into the woods to give vent to my tears." ..
Some years after this bitter disappointment, Drury obtained
his long wished-for liberation; and the circumstances of this
event are best described in his own words. Aware that two
ships were then waiting for slaves at Youngoule, every intelli-
gence respecting them obtained an interest in his mind, such
as none but a captive could have experienced; and he feel-
ingly relates the circumstance of his final escape from slavery in
the following words:
"I was sitting with my master one evening, when two men
came in with a basket of palmetto leaves sewed up, and de-
livered it to the chief, who opened it, and finding a letter, asked
the men what they meant by giving him that? 'The captain,'
they said, 'gave it us for your white man, but we thought
proper to let you see it first,' 'Pray,' said the chief, 'give it
MADAGASCAR
all to him. Here, Robin, your countrymen have sent you a
present; what it is I do not know, but to me it appears of very
little value. Accordingly I took the basket; and with the
letter there were pens, ink, and paper; in order to my return-
ing an answer: The superscription was this: "To Robert
Drury, in the Island of Madagascar.'
"I was so astonished, that at first I had no power to open it,
concluding I was in a dream; but at length recovering from
my surprise, after a little recollection Ï opened it, and found it
came from Captain William Macket; the contents were to the
effect following:
“That he had a letter on board from my father, with full
instructions, as well from him as the owners of the vessel, to
purchase my liberty, let it cost what it would; and, in case I
could not possibly come down myself, to send him word the
reason of it, and what measures he should take to serve me.”
The chief was astonished to see the change in Drury's coun-
tenance as he read the letter; and when informed of the intelli-
gence it conveyed, his surprise appeared unbounded; and, as
he examined the paper, he said that he had heard before of such
a method of conveying information, but was wholly at loss to
conceive how it could be done without witchcraft: a feeling ex-
actly coinciding with the impression made on the minds of the
Society and Sandwich Islanders, when they first witnessed the
transmission of intelligence by means of writing.
It was not without considerable persuasion and many en-
treaties, that the chieftain and his family could be induced to
part with the English slave; but it was at last agreed upon that
he should be permitted to go with the captain, on the condi-
tion that the latter would provide the chief with a good gun,
which he promised to call Robin, in remembrance of his slave.
The joy experienced by Drury on his happy liberation ex-
ceeded all bounds; though the novelty of his feelings, after
fifteen years' captivity among a barbarous people, rendered his
situation almost too strange and exciting for enjoyment. He
returned to England with Captain Macket, and on the 9th of
September, 1717, again reached the shores of his native coun-
try, after an absence of sixteen years. It is stated by Drury,
in his own account of this joyful event, that, after landing, he
could not set forward on his journey to London without re-
turning God thanks, in the most solemn manner, for his safe
arrival, and for his deliverance from the many dangers he had
escaped, and the miseries he had so long endured.
A SKETCH OF
After the expression of such feelings, and especially after pe-
rusing the history of his protracted sufferings, it is equally
melancholy and astonishing to see Robert Drury (the most un-
likely of all men to be engaged in the same cruel system of
oppression by which he had himself been held in such degrad-
ing bondage) embarking, in less than two years after his re-
turn to England, as a slave dealer for Madagascar, and, by his
own testimony, using all his knowledge of the country in
directing captains and others to the places where the unhappy
captives, whom he was dooming to a harder lot than he had
suffered, were likely to be obtained in the greatest numbers !
He appears to have made extensive purchases of slaves; and,
after a residence of more than a year in the island, proceeded
to Virginia in North America, and there disposed of his mis-
erable cargo. :
The conduct of the pirates, in promoting a war for the pur-
pose of obtaining slaves, which was so long the most terrible
scourge of Madagascar, has been universally stamped with in-
famy, and their proceedings in encouraging this inhuman traffic
are justly and naturally associated with all that is reprobate in
character and fiendish in cruelty, and it might seem congenial
employment to pirates—to men accustomed to kill and destroy
all who held the property which they coveted; but the conduct
of Drury, who in many respects may be regarded as an honest-
hearted Englishman, and who had been taught by sufferings
himself to see the beauty of respecting the rights of others,
gives us another evidence, and of the most impressive kind, of
that false opinion and depraved feeling to which all become
liable who are brought under the nefarious influences of slavery.
With respect to the connection of pirates with Madagascar
and the slave trade, a detailed account is neither practicable
nor necessary. We learn, however, that from the moment that
the commerce of the Western world became active in the East-
ern seas, from that moment European pirates began to make
their appearance there. And for the same reason that European
powers desired a foothold in the island for the better carrying
on their intercourse with the oriental nations, the pirates found
it a convenient depot for striking at European commerce. It
seemed to offer the same advantages in this respect for the
Indian Ocean that the Barbary States did for the Mediterranean
Sea.
Among the more notable pirates who visited the coast of
Madagascar was Captain William Kid, who in the reign of
MADAGASCAR.
15
-
William III had received a commission from that monarch, to
go out in charge of a ship, with “full power and authority to
apprehend, seize, and take into custody all pirates, freebooters,
and sea-rovers, which he should meet upon the seas, or upon
the coast of any country. With this commission Captain
Kid sailed in the Adventure, galley of thirty guns with eighty
men, and directed his course to Madagascar, the great resort of
such marauders as he was in search of. For some time he
cruised about in the neighborhood of the island, but the pirate-
ships being most of them out in search of prey, his provisions
and resources began to diminish, while his hopes of success
became increasingly faint. While he continued in this state,
he began to think of abandoning the object for which he had
been sent out, and finally made known to his crew the design
he had conceived of becoming himself a pirate. The scheme
was but too readily adopted by his comrades, who, under the
command of their unprincipled leader, commenced a course of
lawless cruelty and bloodshed, which terminated in the appre-
hension, trial, and execution of their traitorous leader.
Another leading pirate was a Frenchman by the name of
Misson, who, together with his comrade Caraccioli, established
a sort of republican commonwealth, upon the northeastern
coast. Here they were afterwards joined by Captain Tew, and
being all men of superior education and abilities to those gener-
ally engaged in the profession of piracy, the affairs of their
settlement were for some time conducted with no inconsiderable
degree of political skill, which was attended with a measure of
success. They built a fort and town, cultivated the land, and
had a Senate house in which they made wise laws for the infant
colony. From this colony, which they called Libertatia, they
sent forth their ships on marauding expeditions, and were so
successful as to add greatly to their wealth and power. It was
an infant Rome, of a marine stamp, plundering the treasures
of other people to add to its own. They made friends with the
natives, who through intercourse and barter shared in the
plunder, and thus found it to their interest to assist in building
and navigating vessels for increasing it. On one occasion they
captured a Moorish vessel, bound for Meoca with pilgrims; and
there being on board one hundred women, who were accom-
panying their friends and parents on their pilgrimage, the
pirates detained these as wives for the people of their colony,
with a view to its greater stability, and the contentment of the
men under their command,
16
A SKETCH OF
The pirates continued their depredations with success until
the year 1721, when the nations of Europe, alarmed at the
enormous losses sustained by their commerce, finally united to
clear the Indian Ocean from these depredators. The capture of
two Portuguese vessels of war. by the pirates on the same day,
on board of one of which were the Count Receisa and the Arch-
bishop of Goa, aroused the attention of Europe to the formid-
able proportions which the power of the pirates had assumed.
Elated with their past successes the pirates made a long re-
sistance. Considerable squadrons were required to oppose
them, and the most rigorous and exemplary punishments were
inflicted upon them. Their vessels were pursued to the most
secret recesses of the coast and there destroyed by fire.
The loss of their ships deprived the pirates of the means of
interrupting the commerce between India and Europe, and con-
fined them to their settlements on the coast of Madagascar.
Forced to give up their wandering and predatory life, they plung-
ed into a different kind of villainy, which has left upon their
memory a deeper stain. The source of wealth which they had
lost in being shut out from the plunder of richly freighted ships,
they might compensate for by a sale of the natives as slaves.
And in the pursuit of this plan, they were favored and protected
by European powers, since it was a common source of enrich-
ment to all.
· As a means of procuring slaves the pirates stimulated their
former friends the natives to frequent wars, and for the cap-
tives which either party made they gave in exchange fire-
arms and ammunition, which, while being much coveted by the
natives, served to incite to further wars and bloodshed among
them. And in this respect we can hardly see any difference
between the wars thus got up and the recent war of rebellion
among us, since that war originated in the avowed purpose
of maintaining the system of slavery which these Madagascar
pirates were thus laboring to build up.
Before that period, the trifling divisions among the natives,
arising from their peculiar social yet barbarous habits, never
lasted long, nor left traces of deadly animosity behind them; but
by this double system of treachery and bloodshed, the whole
country was involved in all the miseries of violently agitated
and ferocious passions, which have since diffused over the
entire population every species of suffering, outrage and crime.
The pirates did more than merely instigate the islanders to
these internecine wars. Numerous instances are related, in
MADAGASCAR
17
which they actually engaged themselves in the treacherous
and sanguinary wars of the natives. On one occasion two ships
took in a cargo of six hundred slaves, as the reward of their
assistance in a military expedition against some towns which
a chief of the district wished to subdue.
Some of the persistent efforts of the French to colonize the
island are not without interest. In 1767 the French Minister,
the Duke de Praslin, presented a plan for the establishment of
a colony at Fort Dauphin, which received the royal approba-
tion. This plan was founded on the conviction that a purely
military establishment was unsuitable; and that it was only
by conciliatory means that the confidence and attachment of
the natives was to be gained. It laid down as leading ideas
that-" There was no necessity for sending troops and squad-
rons for conquest, nor for transporting a whole society at great
expense: better arms and better means will promote the
establishment, without expending much money. It is only by
the force of example, morals, religion, and a superior policy,
that we propose to subdue Madagascar. The society there is
already formed; and nothing is necessary but to invite it to
us, and to direct it according to our views, which will meet
with no obstacles, as they will interest the Malagasy them-
selves, by the advantage of a reciprocal exchange."
Monsieur Maudave, who was sent out to establish this colony,
reached the island in 1768, took formal possession of the govern-
ment of Fort Dauphin, and made immediate preparations for
the execution of the plan. It was not long, however, before
this equitable and benevolent project was entirely relinquished,
on the plea of having discovered that the establishment was
founded on impracticable principles. It was doubtless found
to be very difficult to make a barbarous people the chief
means of their own civilization and refinement, without first
converting them to the Christian religion.
The next effort made by the French at the colonization of
Madagascar was through the agency of an extraordinary
character by the name of Count Benyowsky, a Polish noble-
man. This person was distinguished by an adventurous career
and a life of romantic incident which bordered on the marvel-
ous. In early life he had taken an active part in the political
affairs of his own country; and falling under the displeasure
of the Russian government, was banished to Siberia, whence he
speedily effected his escape, by engaging a number of his fel-
low-sufferers in a conspiracy, of so daring and extensive a
18
A SKETCH OF
nature that they finally left Kamtschatka in possession of two
ships, and at the head of more than a hundred men, of whom
he was elected commander.
After enduring all the strange vicissitudes incident to a
voyage commenced under circumstances so unusual, and
touching at several places, Benyovsky at last sold his ships at
Canton, and, embarking himself and his crew on board two
French trading vessels, arrived at the Isle of France in the
year 1772. From there he set sail for France, with the view
of receiving a commission to colonize the Island of Madagas-
car. This, after much trouble, he finally accomplished, and
returning, he landed with a small expedition at the Bay of
Autougil, in the island, on the 4th of February, 1774.
The Count was favorably received by the chiefs, and it
would appear that he was animated with the most benevolent
designs in their behalf. Among other measures he succeeded
in gaining their assent to the abolition of an old custom of
infanticide which prevailed in the island. But though opposed
to the slave-trade, there are instances where he yielded to its
baneful seductions himself. He drew up and designed for the
inhabitants of the island a very liberal form of government,
and succeeded in having himself solemnly recognized by three
of their kings sovereign of the whole country. Soon after
this event he again set sail for France, in order to form a treaty
of commerce and friendship with the king, and to obtain
thence proper persons to instruct the natives in the various
arts of civil life. On his arrival in France he had a long and
violent altercation with the government; at the close of which,
however, he so far gained his point, as to obtain swords for his
conduct during his command of Madagascar. While in France
his cause was ably advocated by Dr. Franklin; but as the
French Minister would have no further transactions with him,
he entered the service of the Emperor of Germany, to whom
he made proposals respecting his scheme of colonization. Not
meeting with success, he left the service of the Emperor and
went to London, where he drew up a declaration with pro-
posals to his Britannic Majesty, offering "in the name of an
amiable and worthy nation, to acknowledge him lord para-
mount of Madagascar; the interior government, and all the
regulations of civilization, police, cultivation, and commerce
remaining independent; the chiefs and people being only vas-
sals to his Majesty."
Meeting with no encouragement from the British Ministry,
MADAGASCAR.
íð
the Count set sail for America in the Robert and Ann, with a
cargo suitable for the Madagascar market. He reached Balti-
more in July, 1784, obtained another vessel and cargo, and
sailed for Madagascar in the following October.' On the 7th
of July, 1785, he again cast anchor in Autougil Bay. He re-
newed his former friendship with the chiefs; seized a store-
house belonging to the French, and commenced building a
town, intending to establish a factory there. Whilst thus en-
gaged he was attacked by an expedition from the Isle of
France, and fell mortally wounded while defending a fort
against an assault.
It was in 1776 that Benyowsky abandoned the French settle-
ment which he had formed in Madagascar, and for some years
afterwards the French government appear to have given up all
idea of establishing a colony in that island, confining their
efforts to the maintenance of military posts and factories, for the
purpose of trade with the natives, to obtain supplies of rice and
bullocks for the Isle of France. It was made an auxiliary to
the Isle of France as an important depot for those engaged in
the slave-trade, which continued to be carried on to a great ex-
tent throughout the whole island, notwithstanding the de-
clarations of the French Minister, that he considered the ten-
dency of the traffic to be prejudicial to the Isle of France.
The French revolution, which took place soon after Benyow-
sky had abandoned the colony, so fully engaged the attention of
the French government, that, amidst the tragical and appalling
events which crowd the page of history, it was scarcely possible
to entertain any new project relating to the occupation of a
distant island. St. Domingo was a scene to which much of
the public attention of France was at that time directed, and
its subsequent separation from that country was an alarming,
indication of the power which such colonies possess, when they'
have acquired a practical knowledge of their own physical
strength and resources.
In the year 1792, the French National Assembly deputed Mons.
Lescallier to visit Madagascar, in order to ascertain whether
it would be practicable to establish a colony once more in the
island. In a report rendered by him he said that “ Europeans
have hardly ever visited this island but to ill treat the natives,
and to exact forced services from them; to excite and foment
quarrels amongst them, for the purpose of purchasing the
slaves that are taken on both sides in the consequent wars: in
a word, they have left no other marks of having been there,
20
A SKETCH OF
but the effects of their cupidity. The French government has,
at long intervals, formed, or rather attempted to form, estab-
lishments amongst these people; but the agents in these enter-
prises have attended exclusively to the interests and emolu-
ments of the Europeans, and particularly to their own profits;
while the interests and well-being of the natives have been en-
tirely forgotten: some of these ministerial delegates have even
been dishonest adventurers, and have committed a thousand
atrocities. It cannot, therefore, excite surprise, that sometimes
they have experienced marks of the resentment of the Malagasy,
who, notwithstanding, are naturally the most easy and soci-
able people on earth.”
After the visit of Lescallier, no other attempt was made by
the French to establish a settlement in the island; the wars
which succeeded the revolution giving full employment to the
national resources; so much so, that it was at one period in
contemplation to extend the conscription law to the Isle of
France, for the purpose of supplying the army at home; and
during the short peace of 1801, Borg de St. Vincent was sent on
an errand of this kind to Madagascar. The island, he said, "is
capable of being made the first colony in the world, and would
supply the loss of St. Domingo, if the French government
chose. It possesses advantages far superior in many respects
to that unhappy country. It would form a fine military posi-
tion in any war that might ensue in the Indies. Its produc-
tions are infinitely more various, labor would be cheaper, its
extent is more considerable, and it would afford a good retreat
to those Americans, who, having lost everything by the revo-
lution, are now dependent on our government, who might dis-
tribute lands amongst them, with the means of conveyance,
and temporary existence there."
The French government had often been interrupted, as will
have been seen by the perusal of these pages, in its plans for
colonizing Madagascar. After the lull in the revolutionary
tempest of 1801, the war broke out in Europe with greater vio-
lence than ever, and notwithstanding her successes at home,
France saw her colonies fall, one after another, into the hands
of her persevering rival. It was, however, a long time before
Great Britain could effect the reduction of the Isles of France
and Bourbon. Engaged in extensive enterprises in the European
seas, her fleets were fully employed, and the squadron sent
against those distant islands was too weak to effect the pur-
pose. Great bravery was displayed in the engagements be-
MADAGASCAR.
tween opposing squadrons, and a landing was at length ef-
fected by the English on the Isle of France; but an unfavora-
ble circumstance having occasioned the destruction of some of
the British ships, the troops on shore were thus cut off from
all hope of relief, and were compelled to surrender. The
French therefore remained triumphant in those seas some
years longer; and in 1807, an attempt was made to form a
settlement at Foule Point in Madågascar by some Frenchmen
from the Isle of France; but unfortunately having chosen the
sickly season for the expedition, they were carried off almost
to a man, by the fever incident to that part of the island.
But the continual interruptions which the British East India
trade experienced from the French cruisers, rendered it ab-
solutely necessary for the English to effect the reduction of the
French strong-hold in the Isle of France. The French con-
tinued their annoyance from this favored island long after their
power in India was extinct. It was calculated that the value
of the prizes carried into the Isle of France during ten years,
amounted to over 12,000,000 of dollars. The vessels thus taken
were emptied of their cargoes, and sold to the Arabs, by whom
they were afterwards taken again to Calcutta and sold.
It was not until the year 1810, that a competent expedition
was fitted out, and dispatched by the English government
against the Isle of France. On its arrival, the resistance it
met with was comparatively feeble, and, after a short contest,
the governor offered to capitulate, and finally surrendered the
place. There were at that period in the harbor, six frigates,
three Indiamen, and twenty-four large merchant vessels, all
of which fell of course into the hands of the victors. Soon
after this, the Isle of Bourbon was also taken possession of by
the British; and immediately upon the conquest of these
islands, the English sent a detachment to Foule Point, and an-
other to Tamatave, to take possession of the forts formerly
occupied by the French in Madagascar.
When the peace of 1814 was arranged, the Isle of Bourbon,
which had changed its name to Reunion, was by treaty ceded
You the French; but the Isle of France, or Mauritius, as it is
more generally called, a name given to it by the Dutch when
the island was in their possession, remained in the posses-
sion of the English, to whom it still belongs. .
Soon after this period, a proclamation was issued by the
governor of the Mauritius (Sir Robert Farquhar) taking posses-
sion of Madagascar in the name of the King of Great Britain;
22
À SKETCH OF
but this act was loudly protested against by the French govern-
or of Bourbon. It is probable that amongst other reasons for
objections to this measure, the Frenchi governor was influenced
by the fact, that the Isle of Bourbon, as well as the Mauritius,
was deeply involved in the slave-trade, which the British gov-
ernment had recently renounced, and to which governor Far-
quhar was avowedly and openly opposed. The abolition of the
slave-trade by the British, in 1807, during the prevalence of the
French revolutionary war, may in fact be regarded as a strong
distinctive difference in favor of liberty in the struggle between
the English and French, and which had no small effect in the
direction given to the successes of the war.
The efforts of Governor Farquhar to introduce civilization
and Christianity into Madagascar, and to suppress the slave-
trade there, aided by the London Missionary Society, and
thwarted mischievously by fellow officers of his own govern-
ment, much to the injury and discredit of the national service
-would furnish an interesting history of themselves. We shall
give a succinct account of them; but before doing so, and to
their clearer understanding, the reader will desire to form
some idea of the island, its productions and inhabitants.
CHAPTER II.
In a geological point of view the island exhibits primitive
formations, chiefly granite, sienite, and blocks of exceedingly
pure quartz. Of this latter mineral, the natives make use to
ornament the summits of their tombs. Grey-wacke, schist,
clay slate, suitable for roofing, chalcedony, lime-stone, includ-
ing various kinds of marble, basalt, sand-stone, are common in
the island. Finely crystalized schools frequently occur, and
in the lime-stone of apparently fresh water formation are
found imbedded fossils, including serpents, lizards, chameleons,
and several kinds of vegetables.
No subterranean fires are known to be at present in active,
visible operation, yet indications of volcanic action frequently
occur, and are strongly marked. Many of the rocks, for
several miles together, are composed of homogeneous earthy
lava; scoria and pumice are also occasionally discovered.
Rock-salt, nitre, and pyrites yielding a valuable percentage of
sulphur, are met with.
MADAGASCAR.
23
The country next the shore is generally flat and exceedingly
low, in parts marshy and incapable of culture. The margin of
level land along the sea-coast, consisting of rich meadow lands
or rice grounds, extends on the eastern coast ten or fifteen
miles inland; on the western side of the island it is from fifty
to one hundred miles, and sometimes more, in width. In some
parts of the eastern coast, the country becomes suddenly moun-
tainous at the distance of about thirty miles from the sea. In
the interior, beyond this margin of level ground, the country
is diversified with hills of varied elevations, and extending in
every direction. But in some parts of the island immense
plains stretch, in comparatively cheerless solitude, over a wide
extent of country, small spots here and there alone being under
cultivation. Groves, with pleasing frequency, adorn the land-
scape; shrubs and brushwood decorate and clothe many parts
of the island. The vast extent, the unbroken solitude and
gloom of its impenetrable forests, where, under the continued
influence of a tropical sun and a humid atmosphere, the growth
and decay of vegetation, in its most uncontrolled spontaneity,
has proceeded without interruption for centuries, present
scenes of extensive and gigantic vegetation, in sublime and -
varied forms, rarely, perhaps, surpassed in any part of the
world. Immense forests traverse the island in all directions,
within which may be expected and realized all that is impos-
ing, and wonderful, and venerable in the vegetable kingdom,
where, for thousands of years no ax has been laid to their
giant trunks, nor even have the footsteps of man ever broken
the deep and impressive silence. It is with exceeding diffi-
culty that their dark masses can be penetrated, owing partly
to the insalubrity of the deep recesses, where the air itself can
hardly circulate, and partly to the very situation of the forests
themselves, stretching up the sides of precipitous mountains,
spreading over hills broken by sudden and deep chasms, or
tenaciously occupying an under soil, from whence the upper
has been washed away by heavy rains and torrents, leaving
merely a net-work of roots and fibres, with fallen and decayed
timber, to support the foot of the passenger.
The country is diversified with mountains, lakes and rivers.
The mountains of Ankasatra attain the height of 8,000 to 12,000
feet. Their summits rise from a broad table land in the inte-
rior, which, like that of Mexico, is itself considerably elevated.
The summits of Ankasatra are generally basaltin various stages
of decomposition, many of them being hard and solid within,
24
A SKETCH OF
while the external surface is soft and earthy, and evidently
losing a portion every year by the action of the atmosphere.
Several of the smaller elevations are sugar-loaf in form, and in
these granite predominates.
Lakes lie among the mountains as well as in the low lands
along the sea-coast. Some of them are remarkable for their
natural beauty, others are esteemed for their utility, and many •
of them are large, being often a hundred miles in length, though
they are quite narrow, sometimes not more than a mile in
breadth. Saririaka, the name of one of the lakes signifies
“image of ocean." There is a highly bituminous lake which is
five miles in width and sixty miles in length. On the eastern
coast of the island a series of lakes extends for a distance of two
hundred miles. Several of these are remarkably beautiful, be-
ing spotted with islets of various dimensions, some of them
clothed with verdure, and others enlivened with the habita-
tions of men.
The rivers of Madagascar are numerous, and many of them
are of considerable width, the greater number flowing into the
sea on the western coast. But they are all less favorable for
the purposes of trade and commerce than from their magnitude
a traveler might be led to expect. At their junction with the
sea they are generally choked with sand, and their course is
often obstructed with cascades, falls, and rapids, rendering
navigation dangerous if not impracticable. The sublime,
gloomy, and unbroken solitude of some parts of the mountain
scenery of the island is enlivened by cataracts of varied size.
The climate is exceedingly diversified, both in the range of its
temperature, and the degrees of its salubrity. The heat in the
low lands and on the coast is often intense, but in the interior
and elevated parts of the country it is mild, the themometer
seldom rising above 850. In the different sections every va-
riety of temperature may be met with, from the oppressive heat
of the coast, to the cold of the loftly Ankasatra range, on the
summits of which ice may often be found; or the elevated
regions in the northern part of the island, where showers of
sleet are frequently encountered.
The temperature of the principal province, Ankova, in which
the capital is situated, is agreeable to the European, the great-
est heat being about 85°, and the lowest 40°. Though it is often
sultry in the middle portions of the day, yet the mornings and
evenings are always pleasant. In the winter months, from May
to October, when the ground is frequently covered with hoar
MADAGASCAR
25
frost, the thermometer sometimes does not rise above 44• for
days together. At other seasons, the fluctuations in the heat of
the atmosphere are extreme and sudden. Often in the morn-
ing the thermometer is at 40º, or even at 38°, and rises to 75°
or 80° between two and three o'clock in the afternoon of the
same day.
The effluvia arising from the lakes and swamps near the
coast, is extremely prejudicial to health; and by incautious ex-
posure to this, either early in the morning or late at evening,
the fatal seeds of the Malagasy fever may be so deeply received
into the human system as never to be eradicated. But in
Ankova, which is some five or six thousand feet above the level
of the sea, and in the interior, the fever does not exist, except
in the state of a relapse from the disease contracted on the
coast.
The rain, during its season, usually commences every day
at from two to four or six o'clock in the afternoon and con-
tinues for a few hours, sometimes lasting through the night.
It is generally accompanied with heavy thunder and much
lightning. The trade winds prevail during the greater part of
the year, and blow from the east or southeast; but the rains
are often accompanied by high winds from the west, occasion-
ally northwest, and not unfrequently from the southwest.
The rain is occasionally mingled with hail; and showers of
hail stones, at times as large as walnuts, have proved exceed-
ingly injurious to vegetation. The Rambondanitra, “tail of
heaven,” that is, waterspout, and the Tadio, “twist,” that is,
whirlwind, are not uncommon, and often exceedingly destruc-
tive both to houses and plantations in the interior of the island.
Houses are at times struck by lightning, and scarcely a year
passes without several lives being lost from the same cause.
Meteors are occasionally seen, and earthquakes are not un-
known.
Among the numerously varied vegetable productions of the
islana we may mention the following:-The baobab, ebony,
the tapia edulis on which a native silk worm is extensively
reared, the tamarind, Indian fig, Indian betel, dragon tree,
bamboo, the trees from which gum copal and gum elastic are
derived, etc., etc. The island abounds in spices, in ginger,
wild pepper, capsicums, tumeric, etc., and also in the sugar-
cane, cotton-plant, tobacco, hemp, indigo-plant, and several
kinds of dye-woods. :
Among the articles of food may be mentioned, first, rice,
26
Å SKETCE OF
which is the principal edible of the natives, and of which there
are eleven varieties. It is the general belief of the people that
this plant is of comparatively recent introduction into the island,
although it has been known there for several hundred years.
So also with the cocoa-nut, which is supposed to have been
washed ashore on the island by the waves some hundred and
fifty years ago. The bread-fruit tree is of more recent intro-
duction still. Plantains and bananas have been known from
time immemorial. There are several kinds of yams, the mani-
oc plant, Indian corn, large millet, beans, gourds, melons, pine
apples and earth-nuts. Lemons, oranges, citrons, limes,
peaches, and mulberries have long been introduced, and they
flourish luxuriantly. Coffee has been found to succeed well.
Wheat, barley, and oats have been produced, but are not much
prized by the natives, and do not seem to flourish in their soil.
The common potato is extensively cultivated and highly
esteemed.
Honey and wax are abundant, and many kinds of oil, includ-
ing that from the palma Christi, are obtained from the numer-
ous vegetable productions of the country.
The ornithology of the island is but comparatively little
known. Domestic poultry is abundant, and pheasants, part-
ridges and guinea-fowl, both wild and tame, are common. Be-
sides the birds which appear to be natives of the island, pea-
cocks, turkeys, geese and ducks have been introduced. There
are pigeons, turtle doves, eagles, owls, kites, crows, hawks,
paroquets with their gay plumage and querulous voices, etc.,
etc. Wild geese, ducks and other water-fowl abound in the
lakes and rivers.
Although the quadrupeds of Madagascar extend to but few
varieties, they comprehend the kinds most useful and essential
to a nation in the early stages of its civilization. Horned
cattle are numerous, both tame and wild. Many of the latter
resemble in shape and size the cattle of Europe. The former
are of the zebu, or buffalo kind, and have a large hump or
bunch on the back between the shoulders. Herds of cattle
constitute the principal wealth of a number of the chiefs or
nobles, and not only furnish a considerable portion of their
means of subsistence, but are exported in large numbers to the
islands of Bourbon and Mauritius, and furnished to the shipping
visiting the coast for supplies. Besides cattle, sheep, swine,
and goats are also abundant. The sheep, which appear to be
aboriginal, resemble those of the Cape of Good Hope, covered
MADAGASCAR.
27
with short hair instead of wool, and having large tails weigh-
ing from ten to twenty pounds each.
Dogs and cats, both wild and tame, hedge-hogs, badgers, ba-
boons, monkeys, foxes, squirrels, rats and mice abound in the
island.
Among the amphibious animals the crocodile is the most con-
spicuous. As it is held in veneration by the inhabitants, its
numbers are not diminished by the destructive agency of man,
except in the use of its eggs, and in consequence the fresh waters
of the island abound with it. In some parts, the natives affirm that
they are so numerous as to cause the place to resemble a plain
covered with bullocks. They shun brackish and salt water, and
their favorite places are the deep, rugged banks of a river or lake
overhung with trees, and containing numerous cavities in which
they can hide themselves, having also a gradually sloping sand-
bank, 'up which they can crawl to deposit their eggs. They
feed principally upon fish, and may be seen and heard chasing
their prey in the waters of the lake with astonishing velocity,
and apparently in concert with each other. Bullocks are often
seized as they are swimming across the water, and sometimes
successfully attacked while drinking. But besides preying upon
the animals that venture within their reach, they seize and eat
with great voracity their own young. They have the sagacity
to watch at those places where the females deposit their eggs, for
the appearance of the young, which, on bursting the shell,
usually run directly to the water. There a close-formed file of
old crocodiles lie in wait, ready with their terrific teeth to de-
vour these young as soon as they reach their genial element.
Many of the crocodile's eggs are destroyed by birds, especial-
ly by vultures, and also by serpents, but many more by the
natives, who take off the shell, boil them, and dry them in the
sun; after which they are preserved for use or sale. A single
family have been seen to have as many as five hundred eggs
drying at one time.
The laws by which life preys upon life, both animal and vege-
table, in a tropical island left wholly to itself without the in-
fluence of divine revelation, the rank-growing swamps, teem-
ing amidst their own decay, the darkling superstitions of man
by which human life is destroyed, the struggle of the germ of
life everywhere against the principle of decay, present one of
the most curious and interesting subjects for the consideration
of Christian man.
We shall now proceed to give some account of the natives of
28
A SKETCH OF
Madagascar, and of the efforts which have been made to Chris-
tianize them.
of the number of inhabitants which occupy the island, but it is
supposed that they amount to five millions. But this is evi-
dently less than the island has contained at former and not
remote periods of its history. The embankments spread over
large tracts of country, now overgrown with grass or brush-
wood, show that these parts were once regularly cultivated
rice fields; and the scattered ruins of villages, or whole ranges
of villages, now totally deserted, mark, though imperfectly, to
what extent the country has been depopulated.
The island is not inhabited by one single race, but by a
number of distinct tribes, more or less numerous, evidently
derived from more then one source; differing also in many
respects from each other, and remaining, though nominally
comprised in one political empire, distinct and peculiar nations.
There are points, however, in which they bear a general
resemblance to each other. They are all rather below the mid-
dle stature, which but few exceeded; and their countenances
the European and most of the Asiatic nations. The men are
more elegantly formed than the women, in whom there is
a greater tendency to corpulency than in the other sex. The
beards of the men are but slight, and are plucked out in youth.
Their hands are not so warm to the touch as those of the Euro-
peans, and their blood by the thermometer is colder. But the
distinction between them the most strongly marked is that of
color; and this, though presenting slight variations in each tribe,
separates the population of Madagascar into two great classes,
and is by some supposed to allow of its being traced to only
two sources—the one distinguished by a light, exquisitely
formed person, fair complexion, and straight or curling hair;
the other more robust, and dark colored, with woolly hair. In
one or the other of these two classes, the several tribes inhabit-
ing the island may be included. In fact, so far as color is any
indication, there are but two distinct races in Madagascar, the
olive and the black; and the people may be supposed to be
derived from a mixture of these two, forming all kinds of
varieties of which their complexion, hair, and features are
capable. From the character of the language, it may be
presumed that the population is composed partly of the Malay
and partly of the African race. But how the mixture came
MADAGASCAR.
29
12
about, whether by colonization from the Malayan peninsula,
the darker ràce being aboriginal to the island, or else intro-
duced by emigration from the African continent, or perhaps
brought in as slaves by the Malay settlers, or by Arab traders,
we are left solely to conjecture.
As a means of throwing some light upon this subject, the
language of the people is the only one upon which we can at
present rely. It belongs, beyond a doubt, to that class of lan-
guages frequently denominated Malayan, but to which the term
Polynesian appears far more appropriate. The fact that there
was a great similarity in all the languages spoken in the islands
of the eastern seas had been remarked by Cook and other
voyagers, and from the commercial and political ascendency
formerly held by the Malays in those parts, the name “ Malay-
an” was given to all which resembled that language. A more
extensive acquaintance, however, with them, has led to the
conclusion that these dialects are not to be regarded as descend-
ed from the Malay, but as sustaining the relation of sisterhood
to it, and to each other.
The living Malay language now spoken, or the vernacular
dialect in the Malayan peninsula, and other parts of the East-
ern Archipelago, is itself only related to the great and compre-
hensive Polynesian language, just as that of New Zealand,
Tahiti, or Madagascar, may be related to it. The two most
remarkable circumstances, belonging to this Polynesian lan-
guage are, the wide extent to which it has been carried and the
tenacity with which it has retained its hold, even in the con-
tiguity of other more copious and cultivated languages, spoken
by immensely larger numbers, such as the Arabic, Hindoo,
Chinese, and Indo-Chinese.
With regard to the extent of region over which it has tra-
versed, and still prevails, it is scarcely needful to do more than
to glance at the fact, that from Madagascar in the West, to
Easter Island in the East, embracing more than half the cir-
cumference of the globe at the equator, and from the Sandwich
Islands in the North, to the extremity of New Zealand in the
South, being 4,000 miles of latitude, there is a manifest con-
nection between many of the words by which the inhabitants
of these islands express their simple perceptions, and in some
instances of places the most remote from each other, a striking
affinity; insomuch that we may pronounce the various dialects,
in a collective sense, substantially one great language. One
original language seems in a very remote period to have per-
30
A SKETCH OF
vaded the whole Indian Archipelago, and to have spread
(perhaps with the population) towards Madagascar on one side,
and the islands of the South Sea on the other.
The origin of this one great language is veiled in an impene-
trable obscurity; nor are there any satisfactory data on which
to build conclusions respecting the era when, or the circum-
stances under which, it obtained so wide a dissemination. An
attempt to ascertain which of the Polynesian dialects should
be considered as the parent stock, from whence the others
branched out, must prove as fruitless as would be that of de-
termining which of the Teutonic dialects gave birth to the
others. Some have been inclined to fix upon Java as the seat
of this Polynesian language, but its original seat, may, for
aught that is known to the contrary, have been buried, by some
great convulsion beneath the sea. If we reflect how few feet's
subsidence of the British Isles would entirely obliterate the
center of the English power and language, leaving no trace
save in the colonies that have sprung from that center, we can
see how easy it might have been for a similar event to have
occurred with the central source from which the people of
Madagascar may have derived their native tongue.
We give a comparison between a few Madagascar and Malay
words, so that the reader can judge himself of their resem-
blance and afinity:
Malagasy.
Malay.
English.
anaka,
anaka,
a child.
alona,
alun,
a wave.
ompa, .
ompat,
calumny.
ova,
ubah,
change.
tahotra,
takout,
fear.
olitra,
a worm.
voa,
buah,
fruit.
helatra,
kulut,
lightning
taolana,
tulang, bone.
hoditra,
kulit,
skin.
nosa,
nusy,
island.
lanitra,
langit,
sky.
tomotra,
tumit,
heel.
taona,
taun,
year.
There are many dialects spoken in the island, but that of the
province of Ankova, the country of the Hovas, may be regard-
ed as the standard one. The inhabitants of this province are
industrious, ingenious, and comparatively wealthy. It is the
ulat,
MADAGASCÁŘ.
31
center of the empire, the seat of the government, and the scene
of the principal efforts hitherto made in the country to intro-
duce education, European improvements, arts and sciences, and
to promote civilization. Its climate is the most healthy in the
island. In the external characteristics, the greater part of
Ankova may be considered hilly, rather than mountainous.
Few of its eminences rise above five or six hundred feet above
the general level of its surface. The capital itself, Tananarivo,
is situated on the summit of a long, irregular hill, about five
hundred feet in height. The summits in the neighborhood are
distinguished as the scenes of legendary tales, recounting the
mighty achievements of giants, and other monstrous beings,
supposed to belong to a fabulous age. The altars built by
former generations on the summits of these heights, to the
memory of such extraordinary personages still exist, and are
visited by the people as appropriate places for prayer and
sacrifice to the manes of the mighty dead. On the tops of some
of these hills are still existing the vestiges of ancient villages.
Altars are also met with throughout the whole of Ankova,
and frequently the sites chosen for them are high places and
groves, such as we may suppose existed in Judea in the days
of Solomon. The usual name for these altars is Vazimba,
i. e., altars raised to the Vazimba (Phoenicians)? the supposed
aborigines of the central parts of the island. One of the most
celebrated vestiges of antiquity is situated on the summit of
the mountain Ambohimiangara. It is the ancient tomb of the
renowned giant Rapeto. An altar is connected with the tomb,
on which sacrifices are still offered.
The population of Ankova is widely scattered in numerous
villages over the surface of the country, which usually contain
from fifty to one hundred houses each. The capital, Tananari-
yo. was supposed to contain in 1836 about 20,000 inhabitants.
but at the present time the population is probably somewhat
larger. It is at the distance of some two hundred miles from
Tamatave, the principal sea-port on the eastern coast of the
island, between which two points the roads are kept design-
edly bad for the purpose of rendering the interior of the coun-
try difficult of access to Europeans. Most of the villages are:
situated on eminences, and are generally encircled, for security,
by a deep fosse; the earth from which being thrown up on the
inner side, forms a bank round the village, which renders it
difficult to scale the sides of the ditch, and adds to the safety
of the people. The Hovas Lynlong to one of the tribes of
A SKETCH OF
straight hair and olive complexion. But there are some evi-
dences that the dark colored tribes were the earliest settlers in
the island, and may perhaps therefore be considered as the
aborigines of the country, as tradition respecting the settle-
ment of the fairer race invariably represents them as having,
at the time of their arrival, found the country inhabited.
The peculiarities of the dark race are, a black complexion,
and a taller stature than the olive colored tribes, stouter body,
thick and projecting lips, curly or frizzly hair, a frank and
honest bearing, or a grave or timid expression of countenance,
exhibiting a full bust and resembling the Africans of the
Mozambique shore:
The fairer race are distinguished by a light olive or copper
skin, smaller stature, long hair, hazel or black eyes, erect fig-
ure, courteous and prepossessing address, active movements,
with an open, vivacious aspect.
Although the intellectual capacities of the people of Mada-
gascar appear equal to their physical qualities, which are equal
to those of other portions of the human race, yet they are gen-
erally characterized by apathy, want of decision, and excessive
indolence. And these qualities, taken together with the oppres-
sion of the government, may be regarded as the fruitful source
of much of the extreme poverty that prevails in the country,
and of many of the seasons of famine from which they suffer
so severely. The mass of the people seem alike destitute of
forethought and en .-prise, and hence are unprepared for any
failure of their crops, and unable to extricate themselves from
any unforseen calamity. Nothing is a greater impediment to
the advancement of civilization than indolence; and nothing
shows this more distinctly than the state of starvation in which
the people are sometimes found, while a small amount of labor
on the rich soil of the country around. them, would supply
provisions in abundance for a greatly augmented population.
They are also far from being cleanly in their persons, and bathe
but seldom. They are not quick in avenging injuries, but
cherish for a long time the desire of revenge for the most tri-
fling insults, while they exult in the distress of others. The
public executions exhibit more painfully, not only the absence
of all the finer sensibilities of our nature, but the worse than
brutalized state of the public mind. The unhappy victims of
the treacherous ordeal of poisoned water which is used for
detecting wickedness and witchcraft, are savagely dragged
away, their bodies mutilat" a most horrid manner, or they
MADAGASCAR.
33
are hurled down à fearful precipice, in the presence of multi-
tudes of spectators, who look on without the least emotion of
pity; while the children who mingle with the crowd, amuse
themselves by throwing stones at the lifeless bodies, which the
dogs are rending to pieces. Yet this species of savagery would
be likely to attend slave institutions, or a belief in witchcraft
among any people.
They are exceedingly attached to their homes. The Hovas
often, when setting out on a journey, take with them a small
portion of their native earth, on which they often gaze when
absent, and invoke their god that they may be permitted to
return to restore it to the place from which it was taken.
When returning from a foreign land to their native island, or
from a distant province to their own, every countenance beams
with gladness, they seem to be strangers to fatigue, and seek,
by singing and dancing on their way, to give; vent to the full-
ness of their joy.
It is curious to see how many traits in common these bar-
barous people have with those people of Christendom who
boast of having the highest order of refinement and civilization.
Duplicity is one of their most conspicuous traits of character.
the most plausible air, to impose on the credulity of others,
and ingratiate themselves into favor, while their real designs
are hid for weeks and months in their own bosoms. If they
wish to make a request, they will preface it by so compliment-
ary a speech, and so many thanks and blessings for a kindness
yet to be done, and by such servile flattery for a virtue to be
illustrated in the forth-coming gift, that one might imagine
the whole nation a tribe of office seekers and politicians. It is
often impossible to understand their object for an hour or more,
as they will talk on the most apparently dissimilar subjects,
but with a visible restlessness, until, after all the windings of
plausability are traveled through, they hit, as if by accident,
on the point designed from the beginning.
In bartering, every trader asks, at least, twice as much as
stance of successful fraud. The best sign of genius in children
is esteemed a quickness to deceive, over-reach, and cheat. The
people delight in fabulous tales, but in none so much or uni-
versally as those that relate instances of successful deceit or
fraud, though involving loss of life, as well a property, to the
injured person.
34
A SKETCH OF
Falsehood is a common vice among all. To lie, is esteemed
clever and pleasant, and more likely to serve one's purpose of
interest or pleasure than to tell the truth. Their constant aim
in business is to swindle, in professed friendship to extort, and
in mere conversation to exaggerate and fabricate. The laws
regard the testimony of witnesses as mere circumstantial
evidence. There seems to be no idea of vice unless it is defined
by law. Their sensuality is universal and gross, though gener-
ally concealed; continence is not supposed to exist in either
sex before marriage, consequently it is not expected, and its
absence is not regarded as a vice.
Many of the Malagasy seem to think that expediency alone
determines the character of actions, and act as if they had no
conception of what is vicious. But while they regard theft
and other acts of darker moral turpitude as almost harmless, in-
numerable, unmeaning ceremonies, such as abstaining from this
or that habit, or from sitting in this or that particular posture,
are enjoined as a duty and the neglect of them regarded as
criminal. And in this respect the degeneracy of civilized
man touches hands with the barbarian. Involved in the
snaky folds of our own cunning, we forget the necessity of
moral principle, and ascribe all our calamities to the departure
from some mere expediency, and seek to attain to all good by ex-
ternal and demonstrational observances, which are often puerile
and absurd, and worse than useless to those who perform them.
The Malagasy are also great talkers and speech-makers.
Often even when about to cross a river they have to make a
long oath, or enter into an engagement, to acknowledge the
sovereignty of the crocodile in his own element, and make a
speech to deprecate his ire. An instance is related of an old
man, who, having spent nearly half an hour upon the banks of
a river in pronouncing an oath, then addressed the crocodile in
"a neat and appropriate speech," urging him to do him no in-
jury, because he had never done him, the crocodile, any; as-
suring him that he had never engaged in war with any of his
species; but on the contrary, that he had always entertained
the highest veneration for him, and if he came to attack him,
sooner or later vengeance would follow, for all his relatives and
friends would declare war against him. After about a quarter of
an hour of such speechifying as this, the old man then plunged
into the stream, feeling as fully assured, probably, that he had
averted an impending evil, as modern speech-makers often do
when they descend from the stump.
MADAGASCAR.
35
CHAPTER III.
The manners and customs of the Malagasy are interesting as
being chiefly of native growth, and as showing the strange
developments of the human mind when not directed by those
moral axioms whose exercise are absolutely essential to the
higher order of civilization. Even before the birth of an infant
there are ceremonies in anticipation of “the hour of nature's
sorrow,” which are as unmeaning as they are unnecessary.
After the birth, the friends and relatives of the mother visit
her, and offer their congratulations. The infant also receives
salutations, in form resembling the following: “Saluted be
the offspring given of God !may the child live long !-may
the child be favored so as to possess wealth!” Presents are
made to the attendants in the household, and sometimes a
bullock is killed and distributed among the members of the
family. Presents of poultry, fuel, money, etc., are at times
also sent by friends to the mother. A fire is kept in the room
day and night, frequently for a week after the birth of a child.
After this period the child is taken out of the house by some
person whose parents are both living, and then taken back to the
mother. In being carried out and in the child must be carefully
lifted over the fire, which for this purpose is placed near the
door. Should the infant be a boy, the ax, large knife, and
spear, generally used in the family, must be taken out at the
same time, with any implements of building that may be in
the house. Silver chains, of native manufacture, are also
given as presents, or used in these ceremonies, for which no
particular reason is assigned..
One of the first steps of the father, or a near relative, is to re-
port the birth of the child to the native divines or astrologers,
who are required to work the Sikidy for the purpose of ascer-
taining and declaring its destiny. The Sikidy consists in mix-
ing together a number of beans and small stones, and from the
figures which they form, predicting either favorable or unfa-
vorable results. If the destiny is declared to be favorable, the
child is nurtured with that tenderness and affection which
nature inspires, and the warmest congratulations are tendered
by the friends of the parents.
At the expiration of the second or third month from the birth
of the child a ceremony called "scrambling" takes place. A
mixture of beef tallow, with rice, milk, honey, a sort of grass,
36
A SKETCH OF
and a lock of the infant's hair is cooked together in a rice pan,
and when it is done, a general rush takes place upon the pan,
and a scramble after its contents, especially by the women, as
it is thought that those who are fortunate enough to get a por-
tion may hope to become mothers.
With respect to names for children, these are bestowed with-
out ceremony, and are generally descriptive, as they usually
are among uncivilized tribes.
When the destiny of the child is pronounced unfavorable by
the Sikidy, it is generally exposed to death, or else murdered
outright, although an offering may sometimes avert the evil.
The exposure is usually effected in this way: An infant-a
new-born, perfectly helpless, unconscious infant-smiling per-
haps in innocence, is laid on the ground in the narrow entrance
to a village or cattle yard, through which there is but just
room enough for cattle to pass; several cattle are then driven
violently in, and are made to pass over the spot where the
child is placed, while the parents stand by with agonizing feel-
ings waiting the result.
If the oxen pass over without injuring the infant, the omen
is propitious, the powerful and evil destiny is removed, the
parents may without apprehension embrace their offspring
and cherish it as one rescued from destruction. But should
the child be crushed to death by the feet of the oxen,
which is likely to be the case, the parents return to mourn
their loss in the bitterness of grief, with no other consolation
than that which the monstrous absurdities of their delusions
supply-that, had their beloved infant survived, it would have
been exposed to the influence of that destiny which now
required its exposure to destruction.
In this sacrifice of infant life the radical idea would not
seem to be greatly different from that which led to the worship
of Moloch, in which human beings were offered to a god in the
form of an ox, the ox being a principal source from which our
physical life is derived and maintained. If we derive our life or
sustenance from the ox, it seems fair to give to it of our human
life in return. Such would seem to be the darkling mode of
reasoning that leads barbarous nations to the practice of
infanticide.
But there is a gloomier cast still to the divinations by the
Sikidy, where the child is doomed to inevitable death, without
the possibility of escape. When this inhuman decision of the
astrologers has been announced, the death of the innocent
MADAGASCAR
37
victim is usually effected by suffocation, The infant's head is
held with its face downwards in the rice pan filled with water,
till life becomes extinct. Sometimes a piece of cloth is placed
on the child's mouth, to render its suffocation more speedy.
The remains of the infant thus murdered, are buried on the
south side of the parents' house, that being superstitiously re-
garded as the part which is ill omened and fatal. The parents
then rub a small quantity of red earth into their clothes, and
afterwards shake them, as if to avert or shake off from then-
· selves the evil supposed to be incurred by their slight and
transient contact with that which had been doomed to de-
struction.
Another mode of perpetrating this unnatural deed is by tak-
ing the infant to a retired spot in the neighborhood of the
village, digging a grave sufficiently large to receive it, pouring
in a quantity of water slightly warmed, putting a piece of
cloth on the infant's mouth, placing it in the grave, filling
this up with earth, and leaving the helpless child thus buried
alive, a memorial of their own affecting degradation, and the
relentless barbarism of their gloomy superstition. Yet such
seems to be one of the natural traits of man in his native con-
dition, and wherein does it differ from the unconscious act of
the crocodile in devouring its own young ? Nature has thus
constituted man; and it would seem as if besides the deadly
fever, and frequent wars between hostile tribes, she had provided
additional means to check the tendency to a superabundant
overgrowth of population in one of her fertile tropical islands.
When the Malagasy child has escaped all the dangers to
which its infant life is exposed, it is then beloved with addi-
tional tenderness by its parents. At a very early age, fre-
quently before the sixth or seventh year is completed, girls and
boys engage in the occupations of their parents respectively.
The amusements of the children resemble on a smaller scale
those of the adults. Bull-fighting is one of those held in the
highest estimation among the latter; and children spend many
hours in setting beetles to fight, and watching them while
employed in destroying each other.
Children are betrothed at a very early age, and they marry
at 12 and 14, becoming parents soon afterwards. There are
certain degrees of relationship within which the laws prohibit
marriage. The marriage ceremonies are very simple, and not
very uniform. Great feasting takes place; the betrothed
couple appear in their best dress, and their friends and relatives
38
Á SKETCH OF
meet at the houses of the parents of the two parties. At the
appointed hour, the relatives or friends of the bridegroom ac-
company him to the house of the bride. These either pay or
receive the dowry agreed upon; he is welcomed by the bride
as her future husband; they eat together, are recognized by
the senior members of the family as husband and wife, a
benediction is pronounced upon them, and a prayer offered to
God that they may have a numerous offspring, abundance of
cattle, many slaves, great wealth, and increase the honor of
their respective families.
Polygamy is common among the Malagasy, the only restric-
tions upon it being that no man shall take twelve wives ex-
cept the sovereign. There are many more ceremonies attend-
ing the taking of a second wife than the first, which it is need-
less to mention. The very name by which polygamy is de-
signated-famporafesana, that is, “the means of causing en-
mity," implies the evils of which it is the fruitful source. It
is the chief cause of nearly all the domestic disputes and
jealousies existing among the Malagasy; wives become jealous
of each other, and the husband suffers from the jealousy of all.
In a word, polygamy is a curse to the land, and its final ex-
tinction is a consummation devoutly to be desired by all who
prefer peace to wrath, affection to bitterness, domestic comfort
to domestic strife, and Christian virtues to the jealousy, malice,
and uncharitableness of the excited and turbulent passions of
depraved human nature. It is a cause, among other evils, of
numerous divorces. The divorced woman can marry again in
twelve days, though it is possible for the husband to give a
divorce of such a character that she can never marry again.
A widow forfeits all claim to respectability of character if
she marry within twelve months of her husband's decease, and
would, were she thus to act, be marked and shunned in society.
The ceremony of circumcision has been long practiced in
the island, and as no one seems to know whence it came, it
may possibly be regarded as indigenous. It dose not appear
to have much religious significance, but would seem rather to
be a mark of manhood, and to be more assimilated to the
ceremony observed on assuming the toga virilis among the
Romans, than to the institution of circumcision as practiced
by the Semitic race. If the Malagasy are asked why they
practice it, their answer is, because their ancestors did. And
when asked why their ancestors did it, they reply, “Who
can tell that ?"
MADAGASỮAR
: 39
The time of performing this ceremony does not depend upon
any particular age of the child, but upon the will of the sover-
eign, who, in consequence of an application from parents
and friends of any number of children, appoints a time and
orders the observance of the rite.
Great preparations are made for the occasion; the women
plait their hair and ornament their persons, oxen are slayed
for a feast, and chanting and singing and feasting are ob-
served for a week preceding the ceremony. A calabash or
gourd, for holding the holy water used on the occasion, is taken
to the king or his representative for consecration, in which a
large procession in the fullest ornament and dress is formed.
In consecrating the gourd, the King, holding a shield in his
left hand and a spear in his right, imitates the action of a
warrior, and exhorts the fathers of those children who are
about to undergo the rite, to enforce upon their attention the
duty of loyalty and devotedness to their sovereign, that they
may serve, honor, and do homage to him.
The vessel having been duly consecrated by the King's strik-
ing off with his spear the top of the gourd and binding it with
plaits of a particular kind of grass and herbs, it is borne in pro-
cession, amidst dancing and shouting to the fields whence the
water is to be taken. A stem of the banana-tree is planted there
in the earth, and a tent is erected, wherein the party remain for
the night. A fatted ram, purchased for the occasion, is killed
and eaten with bananas, sugar-cane, etc., during the time the
party is waiting for the sacred water.
While one party is procuring the holy water, another party
is preparing the house in which the chief part of the rite is to
be performed. All the furniture, the cooking utensils, and the
mats are removed, and the inside of the house hung with new
mats to the very roof. A distribution of bullocks, sheep,
poultry, rice, fruit, and vegetables is also made to the strangers
who may be visiting at the time, and thus the day on which the
party goes for the holy water ends.
As soon as the morning dawns, those lodging in the fields pro-
ceed to the pool whence the water is to be taken, and when
they reach its margin, one of their number whose parents are
both living descends into the water with the gourd in his hand
and lowers himself in the water until the vessel is filled. An-
other standing opposite to him poising a spear, hurls it as if in-
tending to kill him, but takes care merely to strike the earth
near the place where he stands. This part of the ceremony
40
À SKETCH OF
may remind the reader of that passage in the Scripture where
it is stated that God met Moses in the way and sought to kill
him. When the calabash is filled with water, the bearer leaves
the pool, and the procession moves towards the village, decorat-
ed with all the ornaments and finery which those who compose
it have been able to procure. Stems of the banana-tree, ripe
bananas, sugar-canes, bamboos, small canes, and silver chains,
with various articles used during the ceremonies are also borne
in the procession.
From day-light in the morning those in the village are all
astire in preparing to go forth to meet the procession. Both
sexes are ornamented with gold and silver chains, trinkets,
silken robes, etc. Dollars, strung together by means of a strong
line passed through holes near their edges, are worn like bands
or fillets on the heads of the females, and over the shoulders of
the men. This latter ornament is used as an indication of the
wealth of the wearers or their families. In the procession,
fathers take precedence, mothers follow, and friends and rela-
tives bring up the rear. At about half a mile from the village
they met those bringing the sacred water. The latter proces-
sion advances slowly, singing and dancing, and the leader, with
his spear and shield, asks. -"What water is this?" The fe-
males then advance dancing, and sing-"Bless the water, the
consecrated water that wearies."
On reaching the village, the whole procession moves three
times round the house where the ceremony is to be performed,
bearing the holy water and its accompaniments; after which
they enter the house and wait till the amusements commence.
They consist of bull-baiting, dancing, singing, beating drums,
etc., and are kept up by alternate parties with considerable
energy and hilarity until about sunset, when the people again
enter the house. There, the females employ themselves in
plaiting split rushes, for the purpase of forming small baskets.
They sing and chant during the time they are thus employed;
and the baskets, when finished, are suspended in a line extend-
ing northward, the basket intended for the eldest child being
placed first.
While the females are employed making the baskets, the
master of ceremonies kills a sheep in front of his house.
This is called fahazza, "causing fruitfulness." After cutting off
the head of the animal, the body is given to the multitude,
who scramble for it, and in a few minutes tear the whole to
pieces. The use of a knife or any sharp instrument is forbid-
MADAGASCAR.
41
den. Every female obtaining a portion is supposed to obtain
fruitfulness with it. No sheep, however, possesses this potent
efficacy, that is not of a certain kind and color, decided by the
Sikidy.
The boys on whom the rite is to be performed are next led
across the blood of the animal just killed, to which some idea
of sacredness is attached. They are then placed on the west
side of the house, and as they stand erect, a man, holding a
light cane in his hand, measures the first child to the crown of
the head, and at one stroke cuts off a piece of the cane meas-
ured to that height, having first dipped the knife in the blood of
the slaughtered sheep. This knife is again dipped in the blood,
and the child measured to the waist, when the cane is cutat that
height. He is afterwards measured to the knee with similiar
observances. The same ceremony is performed on all the
children successively. The meaning of this, if indeed it has
any meaning at all, seems to be the symbolical removal of all
evils to which the child might be exposed-first, from the
head to the waist, then from the waist to the knees, and
finally from the knees to the sole of the foot.
A hole is now dug in the northeast corner of the house, in
which a stem of the banana-tree is planted, and on it an
earthen lamp is fixed to burn during the night. Great atten-
tion is paid to the fixing of the stem, that the height may be
proper, and the lamp made fast. The stem of the banana is
consecrated by water sweetened with honey, being poured
into the hole and upon the stem. Large silver chains are
placed in a rice-pan, and a portion of the sacred water and
honey is poured upon them, by which they are supposed to be
consecrated for the ceremony. Rice powder is also introduced.
A small quantity of the honey and water is then given to each
of the children, and the person presenting it pronounces bene-
dictions on them, the silver chains in the meantime being
rattled in the rice-pan. The benedictions are of this kind :
"May the children prosper in the world !may they have
spacious houses well filled with silver and slaves !--may their
cattle be too numerous for their folds, and may their property
be great!-if stones are thrown at them may they not be hurt,
and when stoning others may they hit!—if attempted to be
seized, may they escape !—and if seizing others, may they
catch !-if pursued by others may they not be caught, and if
pursuing others may they overtake!—and may they be beloved
by the King and people!"
42
A SKETCH OF
These benedictions are repeated several times; and the peo-
ple all the while repeat the national sound, "OO, 00, 00,” in one
continued note, as long as the breath can sustain it. This is a
usual expression of pleasure, the significant sound of approba-
tion, and conveys as much to the Malagasy as the heartiest
thrice-repeated cheer does to the Englishman.
It is also repeatedly asked during this part of the ceremony
-"Is it not well ? Is it not admirably well? Is it not good ?”
with many other equally important inquiries.
Having advanced thus far, some one, accustomed to speak in
the public assemblies of the people, then addresses all who at-
tend on the occasion, and charges them to behave with proper
decorum during the proceedings, to avoid levity of conduct,
and to enter the house with their heads uncovered, lest by any
neglect or impropriety they should desecrate what is holy, and
so render unavailing the ceremony. The lamp is then lighted,
the drums beat, and dancing and singing commence, which are
continued during the whole night.
The next morning the fathers of the children who are to be
circumcised, fetch the baskets plaited on the preceding day, and
in which bananas are placed as offerings to avert future evils.
These offerings (called Faditra) are placed first on the children,
and are then carried away by the fathers, who prostrate them-
selves, as they leave the house, at a spot a short distance from
the village, where they are cast away. No one dares to touch
these bananas; they are deemed accursed, and are devoted to
bearing away evil.
The ceremony of fetching the Ranomahery "strong water"
now takes place. Early in the morning the double calabash is
brought out of the house, a hole is struck through the center,
and silver chains are put in. It is then carried to a running
stream, and carefully filled by passing the vessel up the stream
in a sloping direction, that the water may flow into it. In fetching
it, the bearers must run with the utmost rapidity, having first
girded up their loins. The leader of this party also carries a
spear and a shield. The people collect at the entrance of the vil-
lage, and await the return of the water-bearers, each one holding
reeds and stones in his hands, with which, in a playful man-
ner, they pretend to assault the water bearers on their return.
A song is repeated on this occasion, consisting of these few sim-
ple expressions--Zana boro mahary Manatody ambato-"the
young eagle lays her eggs on the rock;" implying, that in like
manner the children will attain places now deemed inaccessible,
MADAGASCAR.
and deposit their property beyond the reach of danger and
spoliation. After walking round the house three times as be-
fore, the party enters, bending forward as they approach the
door.
A young bullock of red color, selected for the occasion, being
now brought into the court-yard of the house, the person who
is to perform the rite advances, cuts a slit in the animal's ear,
and dips his knife in the blood which flows therefrom. At the
dropping of the blood from the ear of the animal, the children
are supposed to be placed under a guarantee from future harm.
A small drum is then placed near the threshold of the door,
and the boy on whom the ceremony is now to be performed,
being seated upon it, is firmly held by several men, and his
ears stopped by those around him. The father stands close to
the door outside, with his spear in his right hand and his
shield in the left, performing with them the actions of a war-
rior; and while at this moment the act is performed, the
father exclaims: “Thou art become a man, mayst thou be.
loved-loved by the sovereign and by the people !-may the
sovereign continue to reign long !-may there be mutual con-
fidence between thee and the people!—be of good report among
the people!—be facile of instruction, and of a docile disposition !".
The father exhorts the child to take courage, declaiming,
that now he has become a man, he should have a gun, a spear,
and a shield, and should follow the King; that now he be-
longed to the King, he should henceforth serve him, and do
homage to him, but that if he cried, he should not be the child
of the King, but would be stigmatized as effeminate, and re-
spected by no one.
The rano mahery, “strong water," is immediately em-
ployed in washing the children. While the rite is performing,
the mothers are crawling about on the floor, touching the
earth with their hands, and throwing dust and ashes on their
hair, as tokens of humiliation on account of their children.
Each mother rises from the ground at the moment her child
has received the rite, and endeavors to assuage its grief, nurs-
ing it beside the fire.
The rite being thus performed, there is usually a distribu-
tion made by the chiefs of the district, and by the heads of
families, of a number of oxen, to be killed and divided among
the strangers and visitors. The parties then return to their
several homes, when a fowl is killed, and some bananas are
given to the children. In the course of two or three weeks the
44
Å SKETCH OF
whole ceremony terminates by feasting, and rude signs of
rejoicing, accompanied with dancing and singing:
Another popular institution of the Malagasy is that of form-
ing Brotherhoods, which is a species of masonry, though it does
not appear to be based upon secrecy. Its object is to form a
strict bond of friendship between two or more individuals,
and is called fatidra, i.e., "dead blood," either because the bind-
ing oath is taken over the blood of a fowl killed on the occa-
sion, or because a small portion of blood is drawn from each
individual when thus pledging friendship, and drunk by those
to whom friendship is pledged, with execrations of vengeance
on each other, in case of violating the sacred oath. To obtain
this blood, a slight incision is made in the skin covering the
center of the bosom, significantly called ambarafo, "the mouth
of the heart."
There are many ceremonies connected with the formation
of this bond of brotherhood, all of which are designed to impress
upon the minds of those entering upon it the sanctions of the
oaths which are taken. These brotherhoods are not sufficient-
ly numerous in their membership to prove dangerous to so-
ciety or to the government, and are beneficial to the individ-
uals who belong to them. They are specially beneficial to the
slaves, between whom the obligations can be formed as well
as between their masters.
This engagement of brotherhood, accompanied with solemn
Oaths ánd the drinking of each other's blood, has also been ob-
served to prevail in the Island of Borneo; and this fact furnish-
es another evidence besides a common language, that the people
of Madagascar have some affinity, not understood, with those
who inhabit the wide-spread islands of Polynésia.
It is needless to enter into details with respect to the charac-
ter of slavery in Madagascar, since it resembles in so many par-
ticulars the institution as recently witnessed among ourselves.
Its mingled guilt, degradation and misery are the same there as
they have been among us, and from which, long years, and
perhaps still farther suffering and bloodshed, will be necessary
to enable us to recover, and to place ourselves once more upon
that elevated and Christian ground upon which we began our
national career.
ī Some of the nobles possess several hundred slaves each, and
these are employed in all the varied ways, and under similar
conditions that they were formerly in the United States.
. Like all other barbarous people, the Malagasy are generous
MADAGASCAR.
and hospitable, their own modes of living being so miserable
that they are very willing to share freely with others. Where
people rely upon the spontaniety of nature, or upon the labor
of slaves for their food and shelter, it becomes an easy matter
to manifest the ruder semblances of hospitality; but as for im-
parting Christian solace and comfort they know nothing:
These they rather persecute and expel.
Should one be content to dine on locusts and silk worms, hé
could be highly entertained. Large swarms of locusts are
often seen in Madagascar in the spring and summer. They
generally approach from the southwestern quarter of the
island, and pass like a desolating scourge over the face of the
country, leaving trees and shrubs entirely leaflėss, and destroy-
ing the plantations of rice and manioc, and whatever the gar-
dens contain. Their appearance on approaching is like a dense
cloud of considerable extent, the lowest part of which is about
two feet above the ground, while the upper part rises to a great
elevation. The natives, on the approach of the locusts, fly to
their gardens, and, by noises and shouts of the most tumultu-
ous kind, endeavor to prevent their alighting. In the unculti-
vated parts of the country they often dig holes, of large dimen-
sions, and nearly a foot deep, in which great quantities are col-
lected and taken; or they arrest them in their flight by wide
shallow baskets, or by striking them down with their lambas,
after which they are gathered up in baskets by women and
children. The locusts form at times an important element of
food; for this purpose they are caught as above described,
slightly cooked, and eaten, after the legs and wings have been
picked off; or they are partially boiled in large earthen or iron
vessels, dried in the sun, and repeatedly winnowed, in order to
clear the bodies from the legs and wings; they are afterwards
packed up in baskets, and carried to the market for sale, or
kept in large sacks or baskets in the house for domestic use,
similarly to the manner practiced by the Indians who inhabit
the deserts of Utah.
Locusts are usually cooked by frying them in an iron or
earthen vessel; and the natives say that they resemble shrimps.
Silk worms, in the chrysalis state, are also cooked and eaten.
Considerable quantities of them are gathered in several prov-
inces of the island, where the tapia edulis grows, the plant on
which the silk worms feed, and are exposed for sale in the
markets.
How long the art of distillation has been known in the island,
40
Á SKETCH OË
cannot be ascertained; but spirituous liquors are made from
sugar-cane; honey; berries, and other native productions.
French wines are also known; and as a caution to etymologists
it may be stated that the native word for wine is "divray,"
which one might be slow to expect to come from the French
du vin. This native word hardly resembles its original so
nearly as Važimba would the word Mitzraim, the name for
the ancient Egyptians, between which, however, there may be
no connection.
The greatest scourges that afflict the island in the form of
disease are fever and the small-pox: This latter disease is so
much dreaded by the natives that they have been known to
drive away and kill with stones one who may first become
attacked by it. Thousands have been swept off by it at a time.
With respect to the fever, which seldom prevails in the high-
lands, the best time for Europeans to land upon the island is in
the months of July, August and September.
The ceremonials attending the burial of the dead are numer-
ous and interesting; but we confine ourselves to a passing
notice. The Malagasy, like the Jews and some other nations,
attach ideas of uncleanness or pollution to touching a corpse.
No corpse is permitted to be carried to the grave along the
principal thoroughfare of the capital, which is thought to be in
some measure sacred. Nevertheless the same street is some-
times stained with the blood of human victims destroyed in
obedience to false and cruel divinations. No one who has attend-
ed a funeral is permitted to enter into the court-yard of the
palace till eight days have elapsed, and then he must bathe be-
fore he can be admitted. In all cases, a total or partial ablution
of the garments of the mourners must take place on return from
the grave.
The tombs of the Malagasy are placed sometimes in front of
their houses, or occupy a place by the road-side. Atothers,
they are built in the midst of a village, or where two roads
meet. Often a person begins to erect his tomb in early life,
and makes its completion through a series of years one of the
most important objects of his existence, deeming a costly re-
pository for his mouldering remains the most effectual
remedy of being held in honorable remembrance by posterity.
In constructing a tomb, a large excavation is made in the
earth, and the roofs and sides of the vault are made of im-
mense slabs of stone. Incredible labor is often employed in
bringing these slabs from a distance to the spot where the
· MADAGASCAR.
47
tomb is to be constructed. The sides of a vault six or seven
feet high, and ten or twelve feet square, are often formed of
single stones of these dimensions. A sort of subterraneous
room is thus built; which, in some parts of the country, is
lined with rough pieces of timber. The stones are covered
with earth, to the depth of from fifteen to eighteen inches.
This mass of earth is faced with a curb of stone, and upon this
a second and third mound or mass of earth is formed, each of
smaller dimensions than the lowest one, but faced with stone
in the same way, and being from twelve to eighteen inches
in height, thus forming altogether a flat pyramidal mass, com-
posed of successive terraces, and resembling in appearance the
pyramidal structures of the aborigines of South America.
They are, indeed, like the rough state of the Egyptian pyra-
mids as they are supposed to have been before the last ex-
terior coating of stone was added in order to render the pyra-
midal slant unbroken and complete. The summit of the grave
is ornamented with large pieces of rose or white quartz. The
stone-work exhibits, in many instances, very good workman-
ship, and reflects great credit on the skill of the native ma-
sons. Some of these rude structures are statel to be twenty
feet in width, and fifty feet long.
The large slabs used in forming the tombs, as described, áre
usually of granite or sienite. The natives have long known
how to detach blocks of stone from the mountain mass by
means of burning cow-dung on the part they wish to remove,
and dashing cold water along the line on the stone they have
heated. Having been thus treated, the stone easily separates
in thick layers, and is forced up by means of levers. Mysteri-
ous “ odies," or charms, are employed in marking out the de-
sired dimensions of the slab, and to their virtue is foolishly
attributed the splitting of the stone, though they well know
that all the “odies" in the island could not split a stone unless
heat were applied. Yet this is a species of speculative masonry
which appears to belong to the recondite art of stone-work.
When the slab is detached, bands of straw are fastened round
it, to prevent breakage in the removal. Strong ropes are at-
tached to the slab, and, amidst the boisterous vociferations of
the workmen, it is dragged away from the quarry. In as-
cending a hill, wooden rollers are placed under the stone, and
moved forward as it advances.
Sometimes five or six hundred men are employed in drag-
ging a single stone. A man usually stands on the stone, act-
48
A SKETCH OF
ing as director. He holds a cloth in his hand, and waves it
with loud and incessant shouts, to animate those who are drag-
ging the ponderous block. At his shouting they pull in con-
cert, and so far his shouting is of real service. Holy water is
also sprinkled on the stone as a means of facilitating its pro-
gress, till at length, after immense shouting, sprinkling, and
pulling, it reaches its destination.
When the tomb is erected for a person deceased, but not yet
buried, no noise is made in dragging the stones for its con-
struction. Profound silence is regarded as indicating the re-
spect of the parties employed. The tombs are occasionally
washed with a mixture of lime, or white clay, and thus fur-
nish to the eye of the traveler a pleasing variety in the objects
around him. The entrance to the vault is covered by a large
upright block of stone, which is removed when a corpse is
taken in, and fixed in its former position at the termination of
the ceremony. Small native fans are used in driving insects
from the corpse, while it remains in the house, and on the
road to the grave; these are left stuck in the earth over the
grave. High poles are often planted around the tomb, upon
which the skulls and horns of the bullocks slaughtered at the
interment are stuck, the number of these showing the wealth
of the family, or the value of the tribute thus rendered by sur-
vivors to the memory of the departed. Sometimes the horns
are stuck in the earth at the corners of the tomb, or fixed in
the form of a fence around it. This is considered highly orna-
mental.
: Those who are desirous of paying great respect to their de-
ceased relatives, and of preserving their tombs in good repair,
keep the ground immediately around the graves in neat and
excellent order, preserving it perfectly smooth and level, and
free from weeds. In the tombs of the wealthy much treasure
is often buried.
· Though the Malagasy are exceedingly kind and attentive to
their sick, and exhibit the most grand and solemn manifes-
tations of respect on the death of noted persons among them,
yet they leave the bodies of criminals at the foot of the preci-
pice from which they have been thrown, to be torn to pieces
by the dogs, and to litter the earth with their bones.
Some of the amusements of the Malagasy are quite curious.
The wife in saluting her husband, or the slave his master, on
his return from war or from a journey, crawls on the ground
and licks his feet.
MADAGASCAR.
49
One of their common amusements is to form themselves into
two parties in order to abuse each other in the most violent
language that their imaginations can invent; and those who
excel in the most abusive vituperation, obtain the plaudits of
the spectators.
Another game is called Mamely dia manga, “kicking back-
wards,” or, what may be literally translated, striking blue
with the sole of the foot.” The game consists in two parties
kicking each other in the same manner as horses, asses, or other
animals. This accomplishment is sedulously cultivated, from
youth to manhood, and many become desperately expert at it,
broken ankles and legs often being the consequences. Hun-
dreds at a time occasionally join in this rude sport, forming
themselves into parties on opposite sides and driving at each
other with amazing force, each seeking to mantain its advanced
position and repel its antagonist by kicking backwards.
One of the most abhorrent customs of the Malagasy is the
administration of a poison called the tangend, for the purpose
of expelling wickedness and witchcraft. The tangena is an
exceedingly poisonous nut of the Tanghinia Veneniflua which
grows in the island. In order to ascertain whether any one is
overwicked, or practices witchcraft, three pieces of skin from
a fowl's back are taken, and the nut scraped into them in a fine
powder; they are then rolled up, and the suspected person is
made to swallow them. The poison acts as a powerful emetic;
and if all the pieces of skin are thrown up the accused is
acquitted; but otherwise he is condemned and executed. Some-
times permission is granted by the sovereign to administerit to
the persons of a whole district at a time, and it is performed
with a degree of barbarous and absurd ceremony, with an air
of mysterious solemnity, and at the same time with such a
horrid destruction of human life, as to cause one to contem-
plate it with a shudder of the deepest disgust. So savage do
the people become under the influence of this abominable cere-
mony, that they shun their own relations who become accused,
and not unfrequently the unfortunate victim who fails to vomit
up the three pieces of skin, is hurried while yet alive, to his
grave, and is thrown in and there crushed by the stones that
are piled upon him. Nothing could compare with the mon-
strous deformity of this custom, in civilized countries, unless it
was the ante de fe of Spain, or the incidental burning of slaves
in the United States; and one looks on in wonder at the dark-
50
A SKETCH OF
ling operations of the human mind when not aided by power
from an outer source beyond itself.
The Sikidy, or process of divination, we have already men-
tioned. It is regarded with the greatest popular favor, and is
used on all occasions. It shows how prone the Malagasy mind
is to rely upon some power beyond its own reason, and is an
indication of the great facility with which they meght be led, if
properly managed, to accept the tenets of the Christian religion.
Such rank superstition may be regarded as a rich, tropical soil,
in which an enlightened faith might be trained to grow in the
greatest perfection.
The directions of the oracle called the Sikidy respect two dif-
ferent kinds of offerings; the sorona being intended to obtain
favors, and the faditra to avert evils. Both, perhaps, partake
more of the nature of charms than strictly of sacrifices, and
the sorona especially. The faditra is a thing rejected; and
in throwing it away, the offerer believes he averts some dread-
ed evil. There is, in this ceremony, something analagous to
the institution among the ancient Jews, of sending away into
the wilderness the scape-goat, bearing on its head the weight
and curse of the confessed iniquities of the congregation of Is-
rael. The material of the ceremony differs, and so does the
mode, but the spirit and design have a resemblance; and hence
the idea which first occurs to a Malagasy, in connection with
such texts of Scripture as represent Christ bearing the sins
of the world, is that of a powerful faditra—the taking away
of evil—the averting of suffering or death,
CHAPTER IV.
We have thus given but an imperfect outline of the charac-
ter of the population of the island as exhibited in their pagan
condition. Numerous illustrations of their condition and
modes of life, of a highly entertaining nature, might de added,
but we have presented enough to enable the reader to form
some idea of the state of the island at the time when, at the
close of the French revolution, the English authorities at the
Mauritius began a systematic course of action to introduce
the benefits of Christian civilization, To this end, the Govern-
or of Mauritius and its dependencies, Sir Robert Farquhar,
directed his first efforts towards the suppression of the foreign
MADAGASCÀR.
61
slave-trade of Madagascar. The particular juncture of affairs
in the island was propitious. The king of the Hovas, Radama,
had succeeded to his father, whose intentions had been to bring
all the tribes of the island under his own sway, and thus to es- :
tablish but one government for the whole country. The son,
Radama, proved to be a worthy successor of such a sire: He
was warlike; enterprising; intelligent; eager for instruction,
and was taking lessons in French, having already learned to
write his own language in the Arabic character. But the ob-
jects of the English governor are so lucidly explained in his own
words, that we can do no better than to give these words them-
selves. In a letter from the Mauritius dated September 12th,
1816 to Earl Bathurst, Governor Farquhar says:-
“I beg leave to state to your lordship the arrival, in this
island, of two young brothers of Radama, King of the Orahs,
the most powerful of the princes of Madagascar; an event which
may be of considerable importance to the inhabitants of these
colonies, and which may be followed by advantageous results
for the ultimate civilization of Madagascar.
" The different chiefs and sovereigns of the island had been
inspired with much jealousy and distrust of the British gov-
ernment, by the artifices of such of the French traders as had
been interested in the slave-trade, and whose traffic was sup-
pressed by the establishment of the British government in these
islands.
“I therefore thought it indispensably necessary for preserv-
ing the harmony which should subsist between the British
merchants and other subjects settled at Madagascar, and the
native princes, to send a person properly qualified to the latter,
in the hopes of forming a lasting peace, and procuring protec-
tion to his Majesty's subjects in that island.
"One of his Majesty's subjects, a Frenchman, of the name of
Chardeneaux, was indicated to me as peculiarly adapted for
the accomplishment of this service, from his long and intimate
acquaintance with the different native chiefs, and particularly
from the friendship which had subsisted between him and
Radama, King of the Orahs, for many years.
“As my desire was, at the same time, to endeavor, by every
amicable means, to cut off one great source of supply for the
slave-traffic, and as such a mission would at first appear as emi-
nently embracing the interests of the native princes, I was the
more disposed to accept the services of M. Chardeneaux on this
occasion.
52
Á SKETCH OF
“Subjoined is the copy of a private instruction on this head,
which I furnished to M. Chardeneaux, and his answer.
“Of the brothers of Radama, now arrived here, one is the
presumptive heir of his authority; they are accompanied by
! two of the chief ministers of their prince, by a son of one of the
nobles of the nation of Betanininies, three ministers of the
King of Tamatavé, two chieftains of the South, and a numer-
ous suite.
“We have reason to look on the persons now here, on the
part of their respective sovereigns of Madagascar, as represent-
ing all that is powerful in the center and on the coasts of that
vast island.
“Of these sovereigns, the most warlike, most intelligent, and
possessing the greatest means, is Radama. His people are the
most industrious, and further advanced in the arts of life
than any other nation of Madagascar; and he has incorporated
into the mass of his subjects, and reduced to his authority,
all the surrounding petty States; his army consists of 40,000
men, armed with fire-arms.
..","It therefore appears that the friendship of so powerful a
chieftain cannot fail in being eminently useful in assuring the
safety, and facilitating the commerce which may be undertaken
with a view of replacing that traffic in slaves abolished by the
legislature.
“These friendly bonds will, no doubt, be strengthened, and
the prospect of growing civilization opened, by the opportuni-
ty now given to the young princes to learn the arts and cus-
toms of European life, and the principles of our religion.
“The king Radama is himself eager for instruction; writes
his language in Arabic character, and is learning to write
French in Roman letters. His brothers, who are arrived here,
appear very intelligent for their age, which is about nine or
ten years, and capable of acquiring every requsite principle of
morals and religion.
"There is a British missionary here, of the name of Le Brun,
who has been remarkably successful in the education of the
numerous class of free colored people with which this island
abounds; and he has conducted himself with so much discre-
tion, as not to have given the smallest offence to any of the in-
habitants, although his employment is of that nature to be
viewed with jealousy by colonists in general. It is my inten-
tion to propose to this man to proceed to the court of Radama,
and reside there; by which means I shall have constant com.
MADAGASCAR
53
munication with the interior of Madagascar, and be able to
make the best use of the friendship of that prince, for the mu-
tual interests of our respective countries. .
“I trust your lordship will not disapprove of those peaceful
and inexpensive overtures to a more constant and safer inter-
course with the island of Madagascar; means of this nature
will enable us to push our commerce further than the forts
and garrisons which have hitherto afforded protection to the
merchants who traded thither. The former governors of these
islands have, in every period of their history, in vain en-
deavored to obtain that friendly footing which is now sought
and offered to us by the native princes.
“I shall not intrude longer upon your lordship’s time, by
any exposition of the political value of Madagascar, as form-
ing an appendage to the British sovereignty in these seas, as
my former letters have been sufficiently explicit on that head;
but I may be allowed to observe, that it appears to me, that
the means are at present in our hands of cutting off, in a great
measure, at its source, the slave-trade in these seas, and that
I shall not neglect so favorable an opportunity of availing my-
self of them to the fullest extent."
Such were the means adopted to induce Radama to send over
to Mauritius two of his younger brothers, Ratifikia and Rahovy,
for the purpose of receiving an European education. At the
close of the same year a mission was sent by Governor
Farquhar, with the intention of forming a treaty of friendship
and peace with Radama. The party sent for this purpose con-
sisted of Captain Le Sage, as agent, a medical gentleman, about
thirty soldiers, a Monsieur Jolicoeur as interpreter, several
artificers who had been sent to Mauritius as convicts from
India, Verkey, who was at that time in the employment of the
traders, but afterwards sent to England, and some others.
The soldiers were sent with a view of exhibiting to Radama
the military manoeuvres of disciplined European troops. A
considerable number of this party unhappily fell victims to the
Malagasy fever, in consequence of having traveled through the.
country during the rainy season, which has been found by
experience to prove fatal. Yet notwithstanding a severe
attack of this fever, Le Sage reached the capital, gave the
presents with which he was charged to the King, Radama, and
on the 14th of January, 1817, performed the ceremony of.
taking the oath of blood with that monarch. On the 4th of
February following a treaty was concluded with which Le
54
Å SKETCE OF
Sage and his party set out on their return to Tamatavé, wheñcê
they set sail for Mauritius.
Mr. Brady and another soldier were left behind at the capital,
by Radama's particular request; for the purpose of instructing
his people in European tactics. The latter of the two soldiers
rendered himself odious by his severity, not an uncommon
fault from the Saxon race towards other races which they
despise, unless controlled by a higher order of Christian
sentiment than usually prevails among soldiers; but Mr. Brady
secured the good-will of the natives, and continued long to
enjoy the esteem both of the people and of their sovereign.
Although no plan for the abolition of the slave-traffic had yet
been matured, yet care had been taken, by the proper argu-
ments, to dispose the King's intelligent mind in its favor. The
two youths, younger brothers of Radama, sent for education to
Mauritius, were placed under the immediate superintendence
of Mr. Hastie, with detailed instructions on the most en-
lightened principles, carefully drawn up by his Excellency the
Governor of Mauritius. In the month of July, 1817, they
returned to Tamatavé, accompanied by Mr. Hastie, and were
received there by Radama himself, who had gone down to the
coast at that period with about 30,000 of his people, partly for
the purpose of receiving his brothers, and partly to suppress
some provincial disturbances, as well as to form some political
arrangements on the coast, and to prove that he was not "a
beardless boy," as some of the chiefs of the island had called
him.
Mr. Hastie took with him on this occasion some horses as
a present to the King. He arrived in the capital on the 6th of
August, 1817, and was received at Court as assistant agent with
great demonstrations of favor, where the King appeared in a
scarlet coat and military hat which had been sent to him from
Mauritius, and in blue pantaloons and green boots. The King
introduced to him Mr. Brady as his captain, and no longer a
private soldier.
At length, on the 23rd of October, 1817, and after many
difficulties had been overcome, a treaty was agreed upon
between Governor Farquhar and King Radama, from which
the following extracts are given in order to show its character:
"Article 2nd. It is agreed, and the two contracting parties
hereby covenant and agree, that, from the date of this treaty,
there shall be an entire cessation and extinction, through all
the dominions of King Radama, and wherever his influence
MADAGASCAR.
55
can extend, of the sale or transfer of slaves, or other persons
whatever, to be removed from off the soil of Madagascar, into
any country, island, or dominion of any other prince, po-
tentate, or power, whatever; and that Radama, King of Mada-
gascar, will make a proclamation and a law, prohibiting all
his subjects, or persons depending upon him, in his domin-
ions, to sell any slave to be transported from Madagascar, or
to aid, or abet, or assist in any such sale; under penalty that
any person so offending shall be reduced to slavery himself.
“Article 3d.-And in consideration of this concession on the
part of Radama, the king of Madagascar, and his nation, and
in full satisfaction of the same, and for the loss of revenue
thereby incurred by Radama, King of Madagascar, the com-
missioners, on the part of his Excellency the Governor of
Mauritius, do engage to pay Radama, yearly, the following
articles:
“One thousand dollars in gold; one thousand dollars in silver;
one hundred barrels of powder, of 100 lbs. each; one hundred
English muskets, complete, with accoutrements; ten thousand
flints; four hundred red jackets; four hundred shirts; four
hundred pairs of trowsers; four hundred pairs of shoes; four
hundred soldiers' caps; four hundred stocks; twelve ser-
geants' swords (regulation) with belts; four hundred pieces of
white cloth, two hundred pieces of blue cloth,—India; a full-
dress coat, hat, and boots, all complete, for King Radama; two
horses—upon a certificate being received, that the said laws
and regulations, and proclamations, have been enforced the
preceding quarter; which certificate shall be signed by King
Radama, and countersigned by the agent of his Excellency,
Governor Farquhar, resident at the Court of Radama.”
Mr. Hastie hastened to Mauritius with this treaty, and
arrived there on the 9th of November, just at the moment
when his Excellency, the Governor, wasembarking for England
on a leave of absence. Mr. Hastie was appointed to see that
the conditions of the treaty were duly observed by Radama,
re-embarked the same day and returned to Tamatavé, where he
found the slave-dealers already selling off their possessions,
and preparing to leave Madagascar. The King issued a pro-
clamation, preventing his people from being carried off the
island into slavery, and prohibiting attacks being made upon
the Sultan of Johanna and the Comoro Islands, for the purpose
of getting slaves, under the penalties of piracy.
Thus far things had gone on well, under the direction of an
LT
56
A SKETCH OF
enlightened, philanthropic governor; but unhappily, the slave-
trade of Madagascar was not to die without a struggle, and as
is not unfrequently the case, its adherents found a powerful
ally in one whose duty it was to suppress it, and who oc-
cupied a position powerful for good or evil. That we may
give a clearer idea of how this event happened, we must make
a somewhat detailed statement.
As the first payment of the articles agreed upon in the
treaty was to become due in May, 1818, Mr. Hastie repaired to
Tamatavé, on his way to Mauritius, to get them. But what was
his disappointment to learn, by a vessel which arrived with
several slave-dealers on board, that the acting Governor of
Mauritius, Governor Hall, had relinquished farther inter-
course with the chieftains of Madagascar, that he refused to
pay the equivalent stipulated by Governor Farquhar, and in-
tended to recall the agent stationed at the capital. A letter
from the Governor at Mauritius was at the same time presented,
with much formality, to Mr. Hastie, by a deputation of the
slave-dealers, recalling him from Madagascar. The deputation,
having delivered the letter, put the taunting question-
“Who, did Mr. Hastie think, possessed the purer sense of
honor—the enlightened English, or the savage Radama?"
Governor Hall seems to have done his work radically. He
prohibited Missionaries, who had been sent out by the London
Missionary Society at the request of Governor Farquhar, from
proceeding to Madagascar, and he sent back to the island six
youths who had been under instruction in the Mauritius since
1817. At a later period, when efforts were resumed to mend
the serious mischief which Governor Hall had done, Radama
asked, “Why would not your government at Mauritius permit
these boys to be instructed, whom I had sent for that pur-
pose ? Although your government violated the treaty, and
discontinued intercourse with me, I would gladly have paid
for the education of the boys !"
Under the auspices of Governor Hall, Radama permitted
the slave-trade to recommence; and that it was again carried
on extensively, is obvious from General Hall's letter to the
Right Honorable Lord Bathurst, in 1818, wherein he states that,
“three cargoes had been imported during the preceding fort-
night, notwithstanding all his efforts to forbid such illegal
importation of slaves into the colony." The conduct of
Governor Hall brought lasting disgrace on the British name,
and added another to the melancholy catalogue of events
MADAGASCAR.
.
.
illustrative of the calamitous results of even temporary power
in the hands of weak or wicked men. It is but due to the
British government to state, that the conduct of the acting
governor was severely condemned.
Governor Farquhar returned to the Mauritius in July, 1820,
and soon took measures to repair the great injury done to the
public service by Governor Hall; but it required much labor :
and pains to again restore Radama to his former confidence.
“I am not independent,” said he to Mr. Hastie. “The support
of a King, is his subjects; and you have told me that unlimited
power over them is not invested even in your civilized King,
whose representative has occasioned me to risk my ascendency
in Ankova. What am I to say to my subjects? They obtain
everything they want by the sale of slaves; and how can I ask
them to renew a treaty with a nation that has deceived them?
They will naturally say, that I, individually, am to reap the
benefit of it; and that stopping the trade will cause them, in a
short time, to lose all the advantages they now derive from it."
However, the treaty was at length publicly renewed, and its
execution this time was pursued with vigor and earnestness
by bcth parties. This event took place on the 11th of Oct.,
1820, and in describing it Mr. Hastie says-"The moment ar-
rived when the welfare of millions was to be decided : I agreed !
- and I trust that Divine Power which guides all hearts, will
induce the government to sanction the act. The Kabary (coun-
cil) was convened, the proclamation published, and received
with transports by thousands. The British flag was unfurled;
and freedom,-freedom from the bloody stain of slave dealing-
hailed as the gift of the British nation. I declare,” adds this
generous-hearted man, “the first peal of Radama's cannon, an-
nouncing the amity sealed, rejoiced my heart more than the
gift of thousands would have done.”
The King forwarded orders for the immediate return of all
slaves sent down to the coast and not then sold. He published
an edict, that if any of his subjects were indebted to the slave-
traders, they must without delay pay them in money, as on no
pretext whatever could a deviation from his orders for the en-
tire suppression of the slave-traffic meet a milder punishment
than death. He at the same time sent off orders to Mazanga
on the western coast, forbiding both the Arabs and natives
there from carrying on the trade, although that part of the
island had not yet acknowledged his sovereignty.
In the meantime the missionaries and soldiers were actively
!
58
Å SKETCI OF
engaged in performing their part of the work of civilization.
The former had established schools which were largely attend-
ed, and on the part of the military an entire regiment had been
modled and disciplined on the European system, by means of
which the King was fast subduing the entire island to his single
control. The Sakalavas, a powerful tribe of blacks, had form-
erly been the leading tribe of the island, but by means of the
European system of tactics now used in the army of Radama,
they were forced to succumb to his power.
A number of Malagasy youths were sent to England to be
educated, two of whom were put into a government establish-
ment to learn the art of making powder, while the others were
confided to the care of the directors of the London Missionary
Society, by whom they were placed under kind and attentive
instructors. The King established a large school in the court-
yard of his palace, consisting of officers of the army and their
wives, who were instructed by his own secretary. The orthog-
raphy of the language of the country was established, and by
the authority of the King the English consonants and the
French vowels were adopted. Mr. Hastie brought from Mauri-
tius a band of music which had been instructed there. A
printing press was finally introduced into the island, and in
course of time large editions of spelling and other elementary
books were printed, amounting to five thousand copies each,
but yet not enough were supplied to meet the growing demand.
The printing and book-binding of the mission was performed to
a considerable extent by the natives, and no fewer than 15,000
copies, and portions of the Scriptures, and other books, were
furnished, and upwards of six thousand of them put in
circulation.
Among the useful arts and other elements of civilization
introduced by the missionaries, not the least admirable one to
the Malagasy was the horse. In consequence of the great
care and kindness which the people bestowed upon the two
horses that had been presented to the King, the animals began
to suffer from being overfed on rice. It required all Mr. Hastie's
skill to restore them to health; and when they were again in a
condition to be used, the King asked to mount one of them.
As soon as he was in the saddle he put a charm in his mouth in
order to protect him against the dangers of his novel situation.
This fear, however, soon abated, and nothing could exceed the
joy and satisfaction that he evinced at having accomplished
the feat of riding around the court-yard. He laughed loudly,
MADAGASCAR.
59
screamed and danced, declaring that he had never received so
much pleasure before. As he grew more accustomed to the
exercise, his enjoyment of it every time increased; and like
most learners who have attained a slight degree of proficiency,
he evinced a consciousness of his own superiority, by wishing
to see others placed in the situation which had lately appeared
so perilous to him. Several of his officers were accordingly
ordered to make the experiment, while he laughed heartily at
their awkwardness.
But one day Radama fell from his horse, and, though not
seriously injured, great confusion prevailed among the at-
tendants on the King's person and the inmates of the palace.
The domestics ran for the missionary, but were all too much
alarmed to state what they wanted, or do more than inform
him that the King was injured, and perhaps dying. Mr.
Jones, the missionary, followed them and entered the palace,
where the King was lying on the floor, his face and neck being
covered with blood. Fearing the worst consequences from the
loss of royal blood, especially if the supply was not kept up, a
number of live fowls were brought, and some of the attendants
were busily employed in cutting off the heads of the fowls, and
and pouring the blood from their decapitated trunks into the
King's mouth; others were making loud lamentations, em-
bracing and kissing his feet; and others were fanning him,
and wailing over him as already dead. Mr. Jones recom-
mended their not adding any more blood from the fowls, and
proposed instead to take some from the King. Violently op-
posing this, the attendants exclaimed, -"What! take away
more blood, when the King has lost so much already! No, -
let the Sikidy be consulted !” The King, though feeble, heard
what was going on; and such was his confidence in the mis-
sionary, that he said, in a low tone, “Bleed me; let the Sikidy
not be consulted: bleed me immediately.” This the attend-
ants refused to allow, and still continued cutting off the
heads of the fowls, and pouring their blood into the King's
mouth. Aided by Messrs. Robin and Brady, the King was
placed in a chair facing the door, and Mr. Jones prepared to
bleed him; but when about to open the vein, a principal offi-
cer standing by, seized his arm, and prevented it. Mr. Jones,
however, kept his hand so firmly fixed, that the moment his
right arm was released, he accomplished his purpose. When
the blood appeared, a cry was raised to stop it. This was re-
fused, The King fainted, and the cry was repeated with frantic
60
Å SKETCH OF
distraction. Radama, however, soon revived, appeared better,
and was put to rest. The Sikidy was then consulted, to ascer-
tain who might enter the house, and approach his Majesty.
The deviners declared that the Sikidy directed that none should
enter but Mr. Jones, two other foreigners, and about twelve
attendants, including the King's mother and three of his wives
-the Sikidy evidently being shaped by the success already at-
tained. The King continued to improve; and when the benefits
resulting from bleeding were thus apparent, the people poured
their benedictions on the missionary as heartily as they had
before opposed him; and in order that the advantage might
accrue to themselves also, they strongly solicited Mr. Jones to
bleed them too, in anticipation of a fall, or other accident,
which might render it necessary!
But at length, some years after this event, while the mis-
sionaries, aided by this strong-minded man, were in the full
tide of successful effort, the King took sick and died. This
melancholy event occurred on the 1st of August, 1828; and on
the 3d of that month the official proclamation was made that
the King “had gone to his fathers.”
He was succeeded in the kingdom by Ranavalona, his senior
wife, and an enemy to the missionaries and Christianity.
The reign of Radama constitutes an epoch in the history of
Madagascar, too important ever to be lost sight of. Important
as regards its alliance with Great Britain, the suppression of
the slave-trade, the adoption of a general system of education,
and the introduction of Christianity into the very heart of the
country ; while the subjugation of nearly the whole island,
the formation of a large native army on the European model,
the reduction of the language to considerable form and order,
the establishment of a printing press at the capital, and the
diffusion of numerous branches of art and science from en-
lightened countries, are events which give a marked character
to that period, and to the history of the country, and of the
sovereign under whose auspices they occurred.
In 1823 the King had visited Tamatavé with the expectation
of meeting Sir Robert Farquhar there, but the Governor had
already left on his way to England before the King's arrival.
Proceeding to Foule Point he there had an interview with
Captain Moorsom, of the British Man-of-War, Ariadne ; who,
in return, invited him on board his vessel. English officers
were left on shore as hostages, for he had some trouble to
satisfy his people about his safety, the French having spread the
MADAGASCAR.
report that the English were in the habit of entraping chiefs on
board their ships and carrying them off.
“Radama,” says Captain Moorsom, “is an extraordinary
man. His intellect is as much expanded beyond that of his
countrymen, as that of the nineteenth century is in advance
of the sixteenth. But his penetration and straight-forward
good sense would make him remarkable under any circum-
stances. With all the impatience of a despotic monarch,
exacting the most prompt and implicit obedience to his will,
jealous of his authority, and instant to punish, he is yet saga-
cious, and cautious in altering established customs. His :
power is founded on popular opinion : his game is to play the
people against the chiefs, and he understands it well ; for these
fear, and those love him."
During these interviews, in reply to a toast to his health, the
King said "When you drink my health, I am gratified and
can thank you; but when you drink the happiness of my
people, I feel as unable adequately to express my feelings as I
am incapable of uttering the sound of all their voices.”
He then remarked, in reference to toasts, "that the senti-
ments were not expressed in order that wine might be drunk,
but that, under pleasurable excitements, the heart dictated
utterance to the mouth."
Captain Moorsom presented him with two Bibles, one English,
and the other French, and remarked that the covering of the
books was not splendid, but the inside was valuable. To which
the King replied, if the books contained what was straight and
not crooked, he should be glad to have them; and with regard
to the outside, he did not regard a man for the beauty of his
countenance, but for the qualities of his heart. The captain
then wrote the King's name in one of the Bibles; and it is re-
markable that the same book, after being faithfully preserved
during the King's life-time, was buried with him amongst other
treasures in his splendid tomb.
On leaving Foule Point, Radama took advantage of the kind
offer of Captain Moorsom to convey him round the Bay of
Antongil. He took with him about two hundred soldiers,
while the main body of the troops proceeded by land; and
while on board, his mind seemed to be much impressed with
the rapidity with which he was conveyed, and the consequent
power that was imparted. As the vessel sailed out of port, the
female singers on land saluted the magnificent object in their
usual manner, -Soa, soa, Rabé, mairana. “Beautiful, beauti-
62
'A SKETCH OF
ful! Lightly floating! Large but light! Gone is she, large,
and lightly floating!”
During Radama's stay at Foule Point, a French vessel had
touched there with communications for him. He, however,
refused to see the embassy, or to hold any correspondence with
its members, beyond telling them that he was sovereign of the
island, and that they were strangers, and had no right to a
single foot of the soil. The vessel left the port, threatening
vengeance on Radama and his country.
It is stated by Captain Moorsom, that Radama's chief object
in visiting Foule Point was to put a final conclusion to an idea
long entertained by the French, that they had an equal claim
with Radama to the whole of the eastern coast of Madagascar.
Monsieur Roux, at that time stationed at St. Mary's, had been
active in bringing forward this claim; and in reply to his last
communication, the king had sent word to him, that he would
talk about it.” “And he now,” says Captain Moorsom, "took
with him his 13,000 disciplined troops, as a medium of conver-
sation not likely to prove very satisfactory to the other party."
To show the King's idea of discipline, on the return of the
troops from an expedition on one occasion, several were
charged with having disgraced themselves by cowardice in the
field. Under this charge nine were condemned to capital punish-
ment, and suffered the appalling death of being burnt alive.
With the death of the King, the whole aspect of missionary
affairs was changed at the capital of Madagascar. Ranavalona,
on ascending the throne, gave the missionaries and foreigners
residing at the capital, assurances of her intention to govern the
kingdom upon the principles adopted by Radama, to carry
forward the great plans of education and public improvement
which he had commenced, and to continue all the encourage-
ment he had shown them; she had also repeated this on re-
ceiving the oath of allegiance of the people; but it soon became
evident that these professions were not to be depended on.
She was either insincere when she made them, or, what is more
probable, the counsellors of another line of policy, those who
were in favor of restoring the idolatry of the country had
gained the ascendency in the government. These evil counsel-
lors, imagining themselves sufficiently firm in the position
they had taken, proceeded, as their first public act, to annul
Radama's treaty with the British government. All who were
in favor of idolatry and the slave trade, whether natives or
foreigners, were of course opposed to this treaty.
MADAGASCAR.
63
Twelve months was the usual period of mourning in Mada-
gascar; but for special reasons the mourning for Radama was
caused to cease at the end of ten months. The people then re-
sumed their usual avocations, and preparations were made for
the coronation of the Queen. This event was celebrated with
the most barbaric pomp and splendor. It was attended by
sixty thousand persons, including eight thousand of the mili-
tary with all their display of uniforms, parade and martial
music. The spirit of British discipline, method and order
seemed to pervade the whole ceremony. The royal family and
all the judges and high officers of the State were present in full
estate, and the royal chair or throne shone bright with the
royal scarlet and gold. The Queen, having saluted at the
tombs of her ancestors the scarlet flags of the idols Manjak-
atsiroa and Fantaka-the idol of the sovereign and the idol of
the oaths, was then conducted, in her palanquin, to the sacred
stone. Surrounded by five generals, each holding his helmet
in one hand and a drawn sword in the other, the band playing
the national air, she ascended the stone. Standing there, with
her face to the east, she exclaimed-Masina, masina, y'aho-
“Am I consecrated, consecrated, consecrated ?" The five gen-
erals replied-Masina, masina, masina, hianao!-"You are con-
secrated, consecrated, consecrated!" Then all the crowd shout-
ed—“Trarantitra hianao, Ranavalomanjaka!“Long may you
live, Ranavalomanjaka!” The Queen, then descending from
the stone on the east side, took the idols Manjakatsiroa and
Fantaka into her hands, and addressed them, saying, "My pre-
decessors have given you to me. I put my trust in you; there-
fore, support me.” She then delivered them into the hands of
their keepers, entered her palanquin, and was borne to the
platform, which she ascended on the east side. She then ad-
dressed the immense assembly, and stated, among other things,
that she would not change what Radama and her ancestors
had done, but that she would add to what they had accom-
plished.
After the address various tribes came up to acknowledge her
sovereignty and assure her of their fidelity. Then followed
Arab merchants from Muscat, then the Europeans, and last of
all the generals, as representatives of the army. Probably
never before had so brilliant a pageant been displayed in
Madagascar. The dress of the Queen, on the occasion, is not
without interest. On the crown of her head she wore an
ornament, resembling a piece of coral, called in French,
1
A SKETCH OF
" troches,” but in Malagasy "volahevitra;” it consisted of five
branches, to each of which a red stone, and a small piece of
gold, resembling a bell, were attached. The end of the coral
was fixed in a round mother-of-pearl shell, placed above the
forehead. With this was connected a fine gold chain of native
manufacture, which, after being wound several times around
the coral, encircled the brow of the Queen, and passed from
the forehead over the crown to the back of the head. The
Queen wore three necklaces, the first of fine red coral; the
second of red stone, ornamented with gold; and the third of
red carnelian. Besides these, she wore a scarf, adorned in a
curious manner with carnelian stones, called vakantsilehiby.
On each arm her Majesty wore three braclets, one of white
crystal beads, called vakamiarana; one of oval pearls, orna-
mented with gold; and the other of fine coral. According to
the custom of the country, she also wore anklets of colored
glass or precious stones. A white picture, ornamented with
gold, was suspended from each of her ear-rings; and on the
third and fourth fingers of each hand, she wore rings of gold,
ornamented with precious stones, having on the third finger of
her right hand a massive gold ring, beautifully polished. Her
upper dress was of purple silk, richly ornamented with gold
lace, having round the wrists, and on the back, a row of gold
buttons. Her lower dress was of white silk; her mantle, or
robe, was of superfine scarlet cloth, ornamented similarly to
her upper dress; her stockings were white silk, her shoes yel-
low morrocco, and her forehead was marked with white clay,
(tanisave) called, when thus used, “joyful earth.” The other
members of the royal family were dressed in the European
manner.
Reports of an expedition being sent from France against
Madagascar, reached the capital in the month of August, 1829,
and in fact, six French ships, under the command of Com-
modore Gourbeyre, arrived in the roads of Tamatavé in the
middle of October. Prince Corroller, the officer in command
of the station, was taken completely by surprise; the vessels
opened their fire on the battery, and in the space of a little
more than a quarter of an hour the magazine was blown up,
many of the houses were destroyed, great numbers of the
people killed, and Corroller with his troops were obliged to
retire to Hivondrona, where he remained with a small force,
almost destitute of ammunition.
The French followed up the flight, and attacked the prince at
MADAGASCAR
65
Hivondrona, killed a number of the people, forced them to fly
still further into the interior, and then returning pillaged the
town; after which, they repaired to their ships, and proceeded
northwards towards Foule Point. This was the next port they
attacked, but they met with the most determined resistance,
and, after losing a considerable number of their men, retired to
the Isle of St. Mary's. The French made great efforts, through
attempts at negotiation, to establish their claims over the east-
ern part of the island, but what from the determined resistance
of the islanders and the unhealthiness of the climate, they were
compelled to leave the coast without effecting any definite re-
sults. They sailed from the island in October or November,
1830.
It soon became evident that the regards of the government
towards the missionarieswere no longer so kindly as they had
been under the reign of Radama. A friendly disposition was
still manifested towards them, but it seemed to spring rather
from a desire to secure the friendship of the English against
the French, than from a design to forward the objects of the
missionaries. A stimulus to the most vigorous activity in
military preparations for the defence of the country, produced
by the attack of the French, continued long after they had
retired from the coast; and the expectation of its being renewed
was accompanied by an equal degree of activity and determi-
nation, on the part of the chief officers in the government, to
revive superstition and idolatry in the island. The power of
the idols was acknowledged as supreme in almost every trans-
action; public offerings and acts of homage to the idols were
multiplied in the capital; and the movements of the govern-
ment in many of their minute details were regulated by the
pretended orders of the Sikidy, or divination, and the use of
the tangena was restored with most destructive consequences.
In obedience to the orders of the Sikidy, the Queen removed
to the village of Ambohimanga, about twenty miles from the
capital, where she remained for some months during the early
part of 1830. A number of civil and military officers were
required to drink poison at the capital; and a general purifica-
tion of the country, by the same ordeal, was enjoined. Under
the latter, many hundreds, if not thousands, of the Malagasy,
are supposed to have been sacrificed.
Under such circumstances, the missionaries could not help
but consider their stay in the island of very doubtful contin-
uance, and they therefore devoted themselves with renewed
por
tony na to
66
A SRETCH OF
efforts towards printing and putting in circulation books of in-
struction and portions of the Scriptures. A degree of earnest-
ness and attention on the part of the listeners to Sabbath in-
struction, surpassing any that had before existed, was observed,
and a chapel was erected in the northern Suburbs of the
capital.
The efforts of the artisans were at this time highly prized
by the government. Mr. Cameron, who was engaged in the
construction of machinery and other public works, had nearly
six hundred youths under his charge in constant employment;
and while instructing them in the mechanic arts, he encouraged
their regular attendance on divine service. On the 29th of
May, 1831, twenty of the first converts to Christ in Madagascar,
were publicly baptized, in the presence of a highly interested
and deeply affected audience. Among these was a former
juggler and diviner in the service of the idols, a revealer of
destiny, who had made considerable money by the practice of
his art. At his baptism he took the name of Paul. These con-
verts gave every evidence of entertaining a thorough apprecia-
tion of the Christian religion.
The spirit of that religion, however, is so utterly opposed
to idolatry, that there cannot long be a settled state of
harmony between them. The Christians began to be hated
and despised by the idolaters, as they had been in the earlier
days of the church. This opposition on the part of the govern-
ment soon began to manifest itself in an open, unmistaken
manner. Radama, in the earlier part of his reign, had estab-
lished a law prohibiting the use of wine or spirituous liquors,
and though it had never been rigidly executed, especially against
the Europeans, it was now taken advantage of by the heathen
party to embarass the Christians. It was not allowed to them
at the Lord's supper, and the Christians, strangely enough,
concluded to celebrate that sacrament by the use of water in-
stead of wine! The persecution was already carried to the ex-
tent of prohibiting the scholars at the public schools and the
members of the army from receiving the rite of baptism, or
joining in the fellowship of the church; and this order was
subsequently extended to all other subjects of the Queen. And
true to the spirit of slavery, as exhibited not only among
barbarians but also in Christian America, the benefits of read-
ing and writing were withheld from every slave in the country.
The government still valued the services of the missionaries,
and held a high appreciation of the schools, but it was
MADAGASCAR.
67
for their material advantages, and not for the Christianity
that they taught. This fact became very evident on the occasion
of finishing a canal under the direction of the missionary,
artisans, between the river Ikiopa and an extensive lake at
Amparibé, in the neighborhood of the capital. The lake was
made use of as a reservoir of water for mills erected under the
superintendence of Mr. Cameron. It was for such uses as
these, and for supplying the ranks of the army with intelli-
gent youths, the advantages of which the natives were not
slow to perceive, that the schools were encouraged by the
government. But the government could no more make use
of Christian efforts in this way, than the slave power of the
United States could make use of the government for its pur-
poses. The irreconcilable antagonism between sordid self-
interest and the purity of Christian principle, the government
of Madagascar was wholly unconscious of. Other and more
civilized governments are aware of this antagonism, and
weakly seek to reconcile it; but the barbarous government of
Madagascar did not even suspect its existence.
Again it was reported, in 1831, that the French designed to
attack the island, and it was proposed to add 25,000 men, to
the forces already enrolled. For this purpose, every one in
the schools, both pupils and teachers, upwards of thirteen
years of age, was drafted into the army. This proceeding ren-
dered parents averse to sending their children to the public
schools, and many of them sent slaves to the schools in-
stead.
Shortly after the report of the arrival of a French expedition
at Bourbon, an emissary from the Court of Rome landed at
Tamatavé, bearing, as he stated, propositions for introducing
the Romish faith among the people. The ecclesiastic repre-
sented himself as Count Henry de Solage, vicar apostolic. He
had been to India and New South Wales, and stated that he
was charged with a special communication from Charles X. of
France, and the Pope, He wished to proceed to the capital, but
was detained by Prince Carroller on the coast, until the pleas-
ure of the Queen could be known; and letters announcing his
arrival were sent up to the capital. In the meantime he persist-
ed in proceeding on his journey, and after advancing a few
days, being met by the Queen's officers, his bearers, apprehen-
sive of the consequences of governmental displeasure, left him.
He refused to return to the coast, and remained at Ambatoha-
ranana, where, while waiting permission from the Queen
A SKETCH OF
to advance, he died suddenly, not without strong suspicions of
having poisoned himself.
Anxious to afford any facility for printing the entire Script-
ures, and multiplying books, the directors of the London Mis-
sionary Society, sent out a new printing press and types; and
these the Malagasy government ordered to be taken up to the
capital, free of expense to the missionaries. The carrying of
packages for the government was often an extremely severe
service, and sometimes proved fatal to the bearers. On one
occasion several were injured, and two died. When the occur-
rence was reported to the Queen, she replied, with the heartless
indifference of one whose political creed is that the people exist
for the sovereign, not the the sovereign for the people "And
what then? Was it not in the service of the government that
they died.”
The labors of the artisans who taught the natives to work in
wood and iron, continued to be highly prized by the people,
and Mr. Cameron, who had just finished the erection of a mill,
was applied to by the government to undertake the estab-
lishment of an iron foundry and a glass manufactory. He
acceded to the proposal; and it was arranged that, before com-
mencing the foundry, he should proceed to England, accom-
panied by two or three native youths, who were not only
desirous of visiting that country, but had been selected by the
government as eminently qualified to derive great advantage
from a visit to the manufactories of Great Britain.
But the divergent tendencies of Christianity and the spirit
of idolatry that animated the government, became more mani-
fest every day. The Queen personally did not appear to cher-
ish any unfriendly feeling towards the missionaries, but on the
contrary, often seemed disposed to tolerate their exertions ;
but she was the zealous votary of the idols, on whose favor
she was taught to believe her continuance in power depended.
Among her ministers were three brothers; the eldest was com-
mander-in-chief of the forces, the second first officer of the
palace, and the third a judge; two of them were the Queen's
paramours, and all were pledged to raise the idols and former
superstitions of the country to their original importance.
These brothers exercised in the name of the Queen supreme
power in Madagascar; they appear, from the time of Radama's
death, to have seized every occasion for impeding the progress
of Christianity, and to have aimed at the ultimate expulsion
of the missionaries, and the extinction of Christian faith.
MADAGASCAR.
69
Complaints were made against the Christians, such as that
they deprived the idols of the land; were always praying;
would not swear by the opposite sex; their women were chaste;
they observed the Sabbath, which in their total unconscious-
ness of the excellence of these qualities, remind one of the inno-
cent dullness of the refined Pliny the younger in his report of
the Christians to the emperor Trojan.
The Queen at length addressed a communication “to all Euro-
peans, English and French,” in which she stated that they
might observe the customs of themselves and their ancestors,
but that her people must observe the customs of Madagascar,
“With regard to religious worship,” she said, "whether on the
Sunday or not, and the practice of baptism, and the existence
of a society, those things cannot be done by my subjects in my
country; but with regard to yourselves as Europeans, do that
which accords with the customs of your ancestors, and your
own customs. But if there be knowledge of the arts and sci-
ences, that will be beneficial to my subjects in the country,
teach that, for it is good; therefore I tell you of this, my friends
and relations, that you may hear of it. (Saith) Ranavaloman-
jaka."
To this a reply was returned by six missionaries, manifest-
ing regret at the Queen's determination, and requesting that
the teaching of the word of God, together with the arts and
sciences, might not be suppressed.
At length the Queen's determination was announced to an
assembly of 150,000 persons, including 15,000 troops under
arms. The following extract from a long edict addressed to
the people in that occasion will serve to show the tenor of the
whole:-“As to baptism, societies, places of worship, distinct
from the schools, and the observance of the Sabbath, how
many rulers are there in this land? Is it not I alone that rule?
These things are not to be done, they are unlawful in my
country, saith Ranavalomanjaka; for they are not the customs
of our ancestors, and I do not change their customs, excepting
as to things alone which improve my country.”
She denounced death against all her native subjects who
disobeyed this edict. The name of Jesus was not to be in-
voked except in connexion with the national idols, the sun,
moon, etc. The Queen was undoubtedly encouraged to this
course, in part, by the expectation of receiving instruction in
the manufacture of muskets, and in other arts, from some
natives of France, who engaged to teach all that the English,
70
A SKETCH OF
had taught, without associating with it any religious instruc-
tion; and partly to a fear of becoming dependent on the
British government, of whose ēnroachments in India, Ceylon,
and South Africa she had received very highly colored ac-
counts. The government had indeed always manifested ex-
treme jealousy of foreigners residing in the island, and a fear
of all foreign intercourse with the country.
Deprived of much of their means of usefulness among the
people, the missionaries directed all their energies to the com-
pletion of the holy Scriptures. Assisted by native youths,
they also completed a Dictionary of the English and Malagasy
languages, to which a second part of Malagasy and English
was added. But as the spirit of the government naturally
became more and more hostile, the missionaries were com-
pelled gradually to withdraw, until finally the last of their
number left the capital, with deep regret, in the month of July,
1836, eighteen years after their first arrival in the country.
Fresh idols were now continually brought to the capital;
new altars were erected in several places; tombs, altars, and
other objects of superstitious veneration, that had been lying
in ruins, were repaired; new ceremonies were appointed, and
offerings more frequently presented. In all these attempts to
restore the influence of idolatry, the Queen seemed to take the
lead, being at times occupied for several days together in the
observance of idolatrous ceremonies, and inaccessible to any
excepting those who were engaged in the service of the idols.
In the early part of 1837, great scarcity prevailed in many
parts of the country, and multitudes, it was feared, died from
want. The sufferings of the people induced no relaxation of
the oppression and severity of the government. Between the
departure of the last of the missionaries in 1836, and the
month of March, 1837, nine hundred criminals, charged with
various offences, were put to death, having been declared guilty
by the tangena; fifty-six were burnt to death, and sixty
killed by spearing and other means, making a fearful total of
1,016 executions in the short space of eight months. That the
country under these circumstances should prosper, was im-
possible; and it is not surprising that agriculture was neglect-
ed, and that multitudes driven by despair had recourse to vio-
lence and plunder; universal anarchy and complete desolation
was only prevented by the military forces of the government.
In the year 1836, the Queen determined on sending an em-
bassy to England and France. It is probable that reverses
MADAGASCAR
71
which the army had met with in the southern part of the
island, the favor shown by English vessels to those which her
army had attacked, and the fear that some chief, thus aided,
might wrest the government from her hands, led the Queen to
the adoption of this measure.
The embassy, consisting of six officers, left Madagascar in the
summer of 1836. The French ship Mathilde, Captain Garnot,
was chartered by the Queen to take them from Tamatavé to Eng-
land and France, and back to Madagascar. The embassy ar-
rived at Port Louis, in Mauritius, early in October. They
were courteously received by his Excellency Sir William
Nicolay, the Governor; and, after a short delay, proceeded to
the Cape of Good Hope, where respectful attentions were also
paid them by the Governor, Sir B. D'Urban.
· Leaving the Cape, the embassy proceeded to Havre de Grace,
and from there were conducted, by Captain Garnot, in a steam
packet to London, where they arrived in February, and took
up their lodgings at Radley's hotel.
After an interview with Lord Palmerston, Secretary of State
for foreign affairs, they were presented to the King at St.
James on the first of March.
During their stay in London they visited several national
establishments, and some of the principal manufactories.
In company with some of their old acquaintances, the mis-
sionaries, they visited the Bank, the Mint, the Tower, the
London Docks, Woolwich Arsenal, and Dockyard, the Thames
Tunnel, St. Paul's, the Museum, the Monument, Galley of
Practical Science, Apollonicon, Colosseum, Zoological Gardens,
London Gas-works, the British and Foreign School, Borough
Road, the National and the Infant Schools, Baldwin's Gardens,
etc., etc. They were also much gratified by the inspection of
the paper manufactory of Messrs. Pewtress & Co., the Iron
Foundry of Messrs. Maudsley & Co., the Pottery of Mr. Green.
at Lambeth, and the Glass-works of Mr. Pellatt, at Bankside.
On Monday, the 6th of March, they attended a meeting of
the Directors of the London Missionary Society, at the Mission
House, to which they had been invited. They were received
with kindness and respect; and to the address of the Direc-
tors they made a brief but appropriate reply.
On the 7th of March they had an audience of the King at
Windsor. On this occasion the Rev. Mr. Freeman presented
the King a copy of the holy Scriptures in the Malagasy lan-
guage, which had been printed at the Mission press in Madagas-
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A SKETCH OF
car. The King received the Bible in a manner that could not
fail to impress the embassy with a deep sense of the high re-
gard entertained by the British Sovereign for this volume of
divine revelation, and the satisfactory result of missionary
effort its existence in the Malagasy language afforded.
During the interview, his Majesty graciously introduced the
embassy to the Queen, who addressed them with great cour-
tesy and kindness. Afterwards, while passing through the
appartments of the castle, they again met her Majesty, who
again entered into conversation with them. Having learned
that, although many of the Malagasy had been instructed by
the missionaries, yet, in consequence of an edict of the Queen
of Madagascar, no native could profess Christianity, her
Majesty said to them, “Tell the Queen of Madagascar from
me, that she can do nothing so beneficial for her country as to
receive the Christian religion."
On the 19th of March, 1837, having had their final interview
with the government, and received a written communication
for their sovereign, the embassy sailed for Calais, on their way
to Paris. After concluding negotiations with the French
government, they embarked for Madagascar, and arrived at
Tamatave in the month of September following. Thence they
proceeded to the capital.
About the time that the embassy returned from Europe, the
forces of the Malagasy government returned from an unsuc-
cessful expedition against Adriansolo, Chief of the Sakalavas,
in which they had been utterly defeated and put to rout. The
government, however, was in no way disheartened by it, and
proceeded to fit out another expedition. · The same jealousy
of European influence continued to be exhibited. Captain
Garnot, who had conveyed the embassy to Europe, repaired to
the capital, on his return, charged with proposals, it is said,
from the French government, to enter into commercial and
other relations with the government. These, it is reported,
were refused by the Queen, who closed her transactions with
the French captain, paying him in dollars for the expenses
incurred on account of the embassy, and declined any mercan-
tile dealings with himself, or those whom he was deputed to
represent.
The last of the missionaries, as we have already stated, left
the island in 1836, eighteen years after they had commenced
their labors there. But from the island of Mauritius they still
watched for an opportunity to return. Mr. Johns visited
MADAGASCAR.
73
Tamatavé in July, 1837, and though he found the door shut
against farther missionary effort, he was pleased to find that
the native Christians still continued in the faith and purity of
the Gospel, shining as lights in the midst of a perverse and
benighted generation. Though repeatedly annoyed by the
government, they were accustomed to read the Scriptures at
the hour of midnight in their own houses, or other places of
concealment, and to meet in small companies for singing and
prayer. They were closely watched by the government,
though no infringement of the edict of the Queen was dis-
covered until about the first Sabbath of August, 1837, when a
number of them were discovered on a mountain, not far from
the capital, engaged in religious exercises. Among these was
a woman by the name of Rafararavy, on whose premises some
Bibles and other Christian publications were discovered. She
was apprehended and imprisoned, her home given up to plunder,
and her hands and feet manacled with irons. She was men-
aced in vain during a period of from eight to ten days, to induce
her to impeach her companions. She remained firm and per-
fectly composed, and was put to death by spearing on the 14th
of August, 1837, thus suffering a martyrdom as pure, simple,
and unmixed with alloy as any that have characterized the
earliest ages of the church.
Thus gloomily falls the curtain over the first act of protestant
missionary labors in the Island of Madagascar. Nor was it
to rise again until after the lapse of a dreary period of some
eighteen years more, during which time the people were sub-
ject to a reign of idolatry, wretchedness, and blood.
Executions, poisonings, reduction to slavery, plunderings,
and other punishments, bad as they were, did not complete
the catalogue of the people's woes. In devising plans of
cruelty and malignity, Queen * Ranavalona seemed highly
gifted. For instance, in the year 1845 it is known that she
made a progress to the province of Mancrincrina, ostensibly,
to enjoy the sport of buffalo-hunting, and that she was ac-
companied by more than 50,000 persons. All the officers
and nobles, far and near, in and around Tananarivo, were in-
vited to attend, and that the procession might appear as
magnificent as possible, every one had to bring with him all
his servants and slaves. Ten thousand soldiers accompanied
* Ranavalonamanjaka means Queen Ranavalona, manjaka signifying, like the
Hebrew Melek, King, or Chief, and with the feminine termination, Queen.
74
A SKETCH OF
them, and nearly as many more bearers, and 12,000 men were
kept a day's journey in advance, to repair the roads and make
them wider. The inhabitants of the villages through which
the Queen passed were forced to furnish a number of men to
go forward and prepare the night's lodging for the royal
family, which had to be surrounded with intrenchments
against possible attacks from enemies. As she made no pro-
vision except for her own support, all her followers, under the
most disadvantageous circumstances, were obliged to provide
for themselves. This was an exceedingly difficult task to
perform, for even the majority of the nobles had to suffer the
greatest privations; for, wherever a little rice was left, it was
sold at such a high price that only the richest were able to
purchase it. In consequence, it is supposed that during the
four months of the progress 10,000 persons, including women
and children, died from starvation.
Previous to this, in 1837, the Queen, having received a re-
port from her ministers that there were many magicians,
thieves, violators of graves, and other evil-doers among the
people, convened a Kabary on the occasion, and proclaimed
that all who delivered themselves up should have their lives
spared to them, but all who failed should suffer the punish-
ment of death. Nearly sixteen hundred men gave themselves
up accordingly. Of these, ninety-six were denounced; and of
these, fourteen were burnt alive, some were thrown from the
rock, others were put into holes and had scalding water
thrown upon them, others again were speared or poisoned,
some were beheaded, and some few had their limbs cut off.
But the most barbarous punishment of all was to sew up vic-
tims in sacks, with only their heads protruding, and thus
leaving them to die and rot. Yet, in total disregard of the
word given by the government, those who had been their own
accusers, suffered a worse fate, if possible, than all the rest.
Fastened together in gangs of four or five, with heavy irons
around their necks and wrists, they were permitted to go free,
only being watched by guards to see that their irons were
not filed off, When one of the group died, his head was cut
off in order to free him from the rest of the gang, leaving
his irons to weigh upon the others, until finally the whole
group perished.
It is needless, however, to dwell upon the practices of barba-
rism in the absence of Christianity. We give these darker
shades of human nature merely to add another to the numer-
MADAGASCAR.
75
óus proofs which we already have, of the great blessings
which a Christian people enjoy, and of the source from which
those blessings are derived.
In 1853 the condition of Madagascar was such as to induce
the London Missionary Society to send out agents to see if the
missionary work of former years could be resumed there. The
Rev. Mr. Ellis, from whose excellent writings the most of this
account has been taken, and Mr. Cameron were the agents
chosen, and they arrived at Tamatavé in July of that year.
They found that the state of sentiment in the country had
assumed a distinct party shape, and that while the govern-
ment and its supporters were decidedly in favor of maintain-
ing the idols, the Sikidy, tangena, slavery, coerced labor, and
all the other customs of their ancestors, there was another
party which was equally decided in favor of learning, of hav-
ing the schools reopened, and of Christian improvement gener-
ally. Though many Christians had been put to death, driven
into exile or reduced to bonds and degradation, yet there were
found to be at least one thousand persons, in the capital and
its vicinity, who were known to each other and mutually re-
cognized as disciples of Christ. Many of them were even hold-
ing offices of great responsibility, chiefly, if not solely, in
consequence of their ability, integrity, and known worth. It
was supposed that the Christianity of some of them was known
and connived at, on account of the value of their services to
the government.
The heir apparent at that time, the son of the Queen, was a
man of gentle manners and amiable disposition, and both he
and his wife were supposed to be members of the church, and
devoted friends of its persecuted and afflicted flock. His
manners were described to be more like those of an English
gentleman than of a Malagasy. Prince Rakodond-Radama, or
about twenty-three years of age, and he was marked as being
unlike any tribe of the islanders, resembling rather the Mol-
davian-Greek than the Malay, or the African race. His features
wore an expression of child-like goodness, and he was beloved
by the people, and especially by his mother. Yet he had bitter
enemies among the supporters of idol-worship, the chief of
whom was a nephew of the Queen, and his rival to the throne.
He was kind-hearted, as averse to the shedding of blood as his
the sentences of death, showed a fondness for the society of
76
Å SKÈTCH OF
Europeans, and often wore their dress. Yet, behind all this,
one might have perceived an ambition for the government, but
without that energy, firmness and ability which would be
necessary to render his reign safe to any great interest that
might be involved in it.
His rival, the leader of the anti-Christian party was repre-
sented to be a shrewd, ambitious, daring man, with con-
siderable business talent and large property. No efforts were
spared by him and his party, it was said, to prevent the acces-
sion of Prince Rakoto to the throne. He was represented to
the Queen as totally unacquainted with the business of govern-
ment, and bewitched by the Christians, and that to place the
sovereignty in his hands would be to promote dissatisfaction,
and to sacrifice the good of the Kingdom. And this was prob-
ably the Queen's own opinion, for she believed that the Chris-
tians had taken advantage of his amiable temper and inexperi-
ence to draw him over to their party, and this had excited her
extreme indignation.
It was concluded by the missionary agents that the way for
recommencing the labors of the Society in Madagascar was not
yet fully open, but that the time for that event was approach-
ing they had no doubt. In the following summer (1854) Mr.
Ellis visited the island again, and he found the greatest eager-
ness on the part of the Christians to have copies of the sacred
writings. One man assured him that for many years he had
spent his time in transcribing portions of God's word for those
of his brethren who were destitute of it, the Bible having been
destroyed, as far as possible, by the agents of the government.
The feeling in favor of Christianity and education was dis-
covered to be more extensive than had been supposed, and per-
sons who were little suspected of a leaning to Christianity,
were found to be either in the possession of Christian books, or
eager to obtain them. A strong conviction of the value of edu-
cation was prevalent among the middle and upper classes.
The chiefs and officers who were able to read and write, taught
their own sons, and deemed such a knowledge essential to
their holding any place under government, or making their
way in the world. As an evidence of the hold which Chris-
tian faith had taken upon the minds of the people, Mr.
Ellis referred to the letters, which, of their own free motion,
some of the Malagasy Christians forwarded to their “beloved
brethren in London." In their matter and spirit these letters
resembled not a little the epistles of the New Testament,
MADAGASCAR
CHAPTER V.
We have thus far followed such glimpses of the history of
Madagascar as the operations of the English and their mission-
aries furnish us, with occasional references to the long and
persistent efforts which the French have from time to time
made in that quarter; and we come now to speak of an attempt
to improve the condition of the government of the island and of
the people which appears to be wholly French, both in its de-
sign and execution. The object in view, in making this attempt,
would appear to be of the most philanthropic kind, but the pe-
culiar mode of effecting it, was more suited to the brilliant
genius of the French than to the slower and surer course of ac-
tion which characterizes the English. In short, a French gen-
tleman by the name of Lambert sought to accomplish by a
brilliant, diplomatic feat, by one single coup d'état, as much as
the English had done by long and toilsome years of patient
missionary effort. His combinations were of the most approved
kind, according to the ideas of those who proceed in this way
to carry out their benevolent designs, and the actors in the
diplomatic charade were all skillfully chosen, and artistically
assigned and arranged to their respective parts. The usual
simulated antagonism between the parties, some being in fa-
vor and some against, some coarse, brutul and offensive in their
manners, and some polite, smiling and kindly, in which the se-
cret societies of France are such adepts, was not forgotten, to-
gether with the skillfully manufactured false rumors which
are conceived so necessary by those societies to attain a good
end. These characters were Mr. Lambert himself, the celebrated
Madame Pfeiffer, the great traveler, Mr. Latrobe, a French
gentleman, residing at the capital of Madagascar, Madamoiselle
Julie and her two brothers, Prince Rokoto, Mr. Marius, and
severel French missionaries, who, in half disguise to escape
persecutions from the Queen, were residing in the island.
Mr. Lambert was a large sugar-planter, in the Island of Mau-
ritius, having under his control some six hundred laborers and
two thousand acres of land, which produced from two to three
millions pounds of sugar annually. Though like the planters
of the Mauritius and Island of Bourbon-generally, receiving the
beef and rice for his laborers from Madagascar, he never visit-
ed that island until 1855. Seeing the wanton wretchedness and
78.
A SKETCH OF
misery which the Queen inflicted upon her people, a generous
wish arose within his breast to free them from her tyrannical
control. He easily gained the friendship of the amiable Prince
Rakoto, who declared that he cared not who ruled over the
island so long as the government was good and just, and they
soon came to an understanding, and entered into treaty stipu-
lations, Mr. Lambert intending to seek assistance from either
the French or English government.
Accordingly, in the year 1856, he went to Paris, and in a
private interview with the Emperor, laid open the boundless
misery to which the people of Madagascar were exposed from
their government, and appealed to him for help in their be-
half. Failing to elicit the sympathy of the Emperor in a
philanthropic object which might not fully accord with the
political interests of France, Mr. Lambert proceeded to Eng-
land, and laid the matter before the English Minister, Lord
Clarendon. But instead of deriving aid from this quarter, he
imagined that obstacles were thrown in his way by the
London Missionary Society, who feared, it is said, that in the
event of the French occupation of the island, the Roman
religion might be the only form of worship introduced and
licensed, which, in their opinion, would be a much greater
misfortune for the inhabitants than even the cruel sway of
Ranavalona herself. It is even charged that the Society
determined to oppose Mr. Lambert's designs, and sent an es-
pecial missionary for this purpose to Tananarivo, to acquaint
the Queen of what his designs were.
On Mr. Lambert's return to the Mauritius in November, 1856,
he stopped at Cape Town, South Africa, where he met, as if by
accident, with Madame Pfeiffer. In her extensive travels over
the globe she had long entertained an ardent desire to visit the
Island of Madagascar. A native of Vienna, the capital of
Austria, she had now attained the age of sixty years, and was
on her second voyage to the Dutch East India possessions. On
arriving at Cape Town, Mr. Lambert went on board her ship,
introduced himself to her, said that he had heard while in
Paris of her intention to visit Madagascar, and invited her to
accompany him to that island. He had written to the Queen,
from Paris, he said, for permission to land in the island, for no
one was permitted to land there without her approval, and he
had no doubt but that he could gain permission for the land-
ing of Madame Pfeiffer also. But in consequence of the rainy
season, the voyage there could not be undertaken till the follow-
MADAGASCAR.
79
ing April. In the meantime, however, she could spend the
interval at his house in the Mauritius.
With equal surprise and delight Madame Pfeiffer accepted
this invitation. Though Sir George Gray, the Governor of the
Cape, offered to accompany her on a journey through the
territory if she would stay, yet nothing could induce her to
give up the prospect of a visit to Madagascar. At the Mauritius
she was warned against Mr. Lambert as a very dangerous man;
but whether she suspected any of his designs or not, she was
determined to accompany him on his journey to Tananarivo.
At length on the 25th of April, 1857, Madame Pfeiffer embark-
ed on board an old Trafalgar battle-ship, then a cattle transport
from Madagascar to Mauritius, for Tamatavé, where she was
joined by Mr. Lambert on the 13th of May. Previous to sailing
for Madagascar, Mr. Lambert visited Zanzibar and Mozambique
on behalf of the French Government, for the purpose of hiring
negro laborers for the Island of Bourborn. This was a new
species of slave-trade, invented by the French and acquiesced
in by the English. The negro was designed to be in servitude
only five years, and was to receive two dollars per month from
his master besides board and lodging. After his five years had
expired, he might find his way back to Africa if he had saved
money enough to pay his passage, which, however, one can
readily conceive there might be many obstacles and opposing
interests to prevent; for the interests of planters are hardly
more in accordance with the purer motives of philanthropy
than are the politics of States.
At Tamatavé, while waiting for Mr. Lambert, Madame Pfeif-
fer became the guest successively of Madamoiselle Julie to
whom Mr. Lambert had given her a letter, and of her two
brothers who had estates in the vicinity. These persons had re-
ceived a French education either in Bourbon or Paris, and yet
they preferred to lapse into barbarism instead of living up to
the standard of civilization. Madamoiselle Julie kept a harbor
boarding-house; and at times there were as many as five
vessels in the harbor.
At length, the journey for the capital was commenced on
the 19th of May. The party consisted of Mr. Marius, Mr.
Lambert and Madame Pfeiffer. Mr. Marius was a Frenchman,
who had resided on the island twenty years. He undertook
the office of interpreter and the general direction of the jour-
ney. It required four hundred men to bear the presents which
Mr. Lambert had provided, from his own purse, at a cost of
80
A SKETCH OF
nearly forty thousand dollars, for the Queen and Prince Ra-
koto. These presents consisted of rich Parisian dresses for the
Queen and Princesses of her family, a splendid uniform, em-
broidered with gold, for the Prince, valuable objects of art of
all kinds, including musical clocks, barrel organs, etc. The
carriers of these presents received nothing for their services,
such labor in Madagascar being compulsory. Besides these
carriers there were two hundred for the travelers and their
own personal baggage, who were paid by Mr. Lambert. For
the whole distance of two hundred miles from Tamatavé to
Tananarivo, each bearer is usually allowed only one dollar
without food; but in this case they were delighted in receiv-
ing rations besides their pay.
The objects along the route were new and full of interest to
Madame Pfeiffer, and everything went on smoothly and pleas-
antly, the journey seeming like a triumphal procession during
the latter part of the way. Among the curious objects that
arrested the attention, was the multiplicity of lightning rods
that were seen, every large house seeming to be provided with
one. These had been introduced by Mr. Latrobe, as a protec-
tion against the peculiarly violent thunder-storms that prevail
in that region. As many as three hundred persons were killed
annually, it was said, in Tananarivo alone, by lightning,
though this is doubtless a great exaggeration. On drawing
near the capital the procession was met by a young son of
Prince Rakoto five years old, whom Mr. Lambert had adopted
as his own at his previous visit, also by adherents of the Prince,
officers of high rank, a corps of singing girls, and throngs of
curious people. A band of music that had been sent out for
the purpose led the van, while a crowd of soldiers and citizens
followed up the rear. At length, after several delays, occasioned
by awaiting the Queen's final determination, which was never
arrived at until the Sikidy had been carefully consulted, the
party entered the gates of the city, and proceeded to the house
of Mr. Latrobe.
This gentleman was born in France, and was the son of a
saddler. He had served awhile in the cavalry, but after his
father's death, growing sick of the service, and having a rov-
ing disposition, he procured a substitute, and embarked for
the East Indies. In Bombay he established several work-
shops, repaired steam engines, manufactured weapons and
saddlery, and did a good business. But owing to a restless
spirit, he gave up his workshops to a friend, and in 1831 em-
MADAGASCAR
81
barked for the Indian Archipelago. The ship, driven out of
her course by a storm, was wrecked on the Island of Madagas-
car, and he not only lost all he possessed, but was reduced to
slavery and taken to the capital to be sold. His skill in manu-
facturing weapons and other articles coming to the knowledge of
the Queen, she entered into an agreement with him to give him
his liberty if he would serve her faithfully for five years. Estab-
lishing a workshop, he furnished the Queen with all kinds of
weapons, powder, and even small cannons, and so highly did
she esteem his opinions that she consulted him in several im-
portant affairs, yielding not unfrequently to his appeals in
behalf of those who had been sentenced to death. And not
only was he favored by the Queen, but he became very popu-
lar with the nobles and people, to whom he acted as phy-
sician, confidential friend and helper. The five years passed
away, and as he had received from his patroness house, home.
and slaves, and had married a native woman, by whom he had
a son, he gradually became radicated to the soil. Though free
to go, yet he chose to stay, and in course of time he estab-
lished other work-shops for glass-blowing, indigo dyeing, soap
and tallow boiling, and a distillery for rum. He also strove
to introduce European fruits into the island, though his ex-
ample in this respect was not readily followed by the natives.
At Mr. Latrobe's house the travelers were introduced to two
clergymen, Europeans, who, though missionaries, feared to
have the fact known, and in consequence were for the time
being under the protecting roof of their friend, one as a phy-
sician, and the other as a tutor to Mr. Latrobe's son, who had
returned from Paris, where he had been sent to be educated.
Mr. Latrobe's style of living was sumptuous in the extreme, his
table being loaded with luxuries served on massive silver, and
his champagne being drunk from silver goblets, a style which
he had introduced himself for economy's sake to save china
ware, and in which he had been initiated by the nobles.
While the travelers were at dinner, and the champagne was
being handed round, a slave came running in to announce
Prince Rakoto. In a moment afterwards, the Prince himself
entered and rushed into Mr. Lambert's arms, and the two re-
mained for a long time in each other's embrace, without find-
ing words to express their joy.
Thus far everything had gone on brilliantly and to the satis-
faction of the parties concerned. Nor were flattering appear-
ances destined to end yet. Mr. Lambert and his lady compan-
82
A SKETCH OF
ion had the honor of being introduced at Court; Madame Pfeiffer
was invited to play the piano before the Queen; a splendid
fancy ball was got up among the nobles, excelling in some
respects the flare and gayety of Paris itself, and, to crown all,
Mr. Lambert and Madame Pfeiffer were urged by the Queen to
dance together a pas de deux at Court! This reasonable wish
of the Queen was announced to the astonished couple by Prince
Rakoto in person, and when we consider the work in which
they were engaged it seemed rather like a bitter sarcasm than
as the mere curiosity of a simpled-minded barbarian. Sickness
was pleaded as an excuse for not complying with this request,
Mr. Lambert suffering from the fever.
At length, on the 6th of June, a grand dinner was given in
honor of Prince Rakoto by Mr. Latrobe in his garden-house.
The dinner-party was bright and cheerful, and Mr. Lambert
was in the highest spirits. The feast was followed by music
and dancing until ten o'clock at night, when, at the request of
Mr. Lambert, Madame Pfeiffer broke up the party, alleging the
effects of a previous indisposition for so doing. Favored by a
bright moonlight, the party marched away from the summer-
house to the strains of merry music, in a manner calculated to
lull all suspicions as to the covert conspiracy that was going
on under this fair exterior. The party being dismissed, Prince
Rakoto and Mr. Lambert called Madame Pfeiffer into a side
room of Mr. Latrobe's dwelling house; and the Prince assured
her for a second time that the private contract between Mr.
Lambert and himself had been drawn up with his entire con-
currence, and that it was a gross calumny that he was intoxi-
cated when he signed it. He said that Mr. Lambert had come
to Madagascar by his wish, and with the intention, in conjunc-
tion with himself and a portion of the nobility and soldiers, to
remove Queen Ranavalona from the throne, but without
depriving her of freedom, her wealth, or the honors which
were her due.
Mr. Lambert, on his part, informed her that the dinner had
been given at Mr. Latrobe's garden-house because everything
could be more quietly discussed there; that she had been
requested to break up the party in order that it might appear
to have been given in her honor, and finally, that they had
gone through town with noisy music in order that the object
might appear to be mere social entertainment. She was then
shown in the house a complete little arsenal of guns, sabres,
daggers, pistols, and leather shirts of mail for arming the
MADAGAŠCAR
83
conspirators, and informed that every preparation had been
made, and that the time of action might be looked for every
hour.
The decisive day, however, was not fixed upon until the 20th
of June, when the following plan was to be carried into ex-
ecution. The Prince was to dine at eight o'clock in the evening
with Mr. Lambert, Marius, Latrobe and his son, in the garden-
house belonging to the latter, and to that point all the reports
from the other conspirators were to be carried; in order that it
might be known how everything was progressing, and
whether every man was at his post. After the dinner, at
eleven o'clock at night, the gentlemen were to march home to
the upper part of the town, accompanied by music, as if re-
turning from a feast; and every man was then to remain quiet
in his own house until two o'clock. At that hour, all the con-
spirators were to steal silently into the palace, the gates of
which Prince Raharo, the Chief of the army, was to keep open,
and guarded by officers devoted to Prince Rakoto; they were
to assemble in the great court-yard, in front of the Queen's
appartments, and at a given signal loudly to proclaim Prince
Rakoto King! The new ministers, who had already been
nominated by the Prince, were to explain to the Queen that
this was the will of the nobles, the military, and the people;
and, at the same time, the thunder of cannon from the royal
palace was to announce to the people the change in the govern-
ment, and deliverance from the sanguinary rule of Queen
Ranavalona!
But unluckily, this bright scheme was not carried out. The
combination did not work. While the chief conspirators were
still at table, they received from Prince Raharo the disastrous
news that, from unforseen obstacles, he had found it impossible
to fill the palace exclusively with officers in the Prince's
interest, that he could not consequently keep the gates open
that night, and that the attempt must be deferred to some
more favorable opportunity. In vain did the Prince send
messenger after messenger to him. He could not be induced
to risk an attempt; and the plan wholly failed.
Prince Rakoto had headed a similar conspiracy in 1856; the
hour had been fixed on, but everything miscarried through the
apparent sudden defection of the commander-in-chief of the
army. It was suspected that this one of the principal actors in
the scheme was in fact false to his engagements, that he was
faithful to the Queen, and at heart a partisan of Prince Ram-
84
Å SKETCH OF
boasalama, the cousin and rival of Prince Rakoto, and whom,
previous to the birth of Rakoto, the Queen had declared her
heir and successor.
It was on the day succeeding this failure of Mr. Lambert's
diplomatic arrangements that he and his lady friend received
an invitation to dance the pas de deux at the palace-certainly
a provoking conclusion to such a brilliant and promising
beginning!
But if the affair had ended here, it would have been well.
Unfortunately the reaction fell in redoubled force upon the
native Christians. A great Kabary was called by the Queen
for the purpose of hunting out and punishing with death all
who remained true to their Christian belief. A considerable
number were discovered and put to the most insufferable
torture. One old woman was dragged into the market-place,
and had her backbone sawn asunder. The Europeans were
confined in their own quarters, and kept in a constant state of
apprehension as to their fate. One consideration alone seemed
to operate in their behalf; and that was that in case they should
be put to death, the European governments might exact from
the government of Madagascar a terrible retribution.
In the midst of the Queen's disfavor, however, she sent to
Mr. Lambert for the presents which he had brought, and they
were sent up to the palace. But they were presently returned,
and Mr. Lambert, Mr. Marius, the two other Europeans, and
Madame Pfeiffer were ordered to depart from the city within
an hour. Mr. Latrobe was allowed to remain twenty-four
hours longer, and to carry off all his movable property except
slaves. His son might choose either to go or stay, just as he
pleased. They were allowed' carriers for themselves and
property (including the presents), and a military escort was
assigned to them, which appeared to execute its orders to the
very letter, if we can judge by the inconvenience to which
they put the party. The journey from the capital to Tama-
tavé is usually performed in eight days; but on this occasion
the party were detained on the route fifty-three days, and at
times in low, swampy places, as if the design was that they
should die from the fever. At last, however, after suffering
every conceivable hardship, embittered by indignities of the
most disgraceful character, the party arrived at Tamatavé,
and the Commandant of the military escort saw them on
board of a vessel bound for the Mauritius, where they arrived
on the 22d of September.
MADAGASCAR.
85
When leaving Tananarivo, and while passing through the :
market-place, they saw, as a parting scene, and as a horrid
comment on their benevolent efforts, ten Christians who were
being tormented and killed i
Madame Pfeiffer asserts that the London Missionary Society
had sent a chosen member to forewarn the Queen of Mr. Lam-
bert's designs, to assure her that the English government desired
ardently to continue the same friendly relations with her coun-
try which had existed in the time of George IV., represented Mr.
Lambert as a spy in the employment of the French govern-
ment, and predicted that he would speedily make his appear-
ance, accompanied by a body of French troops, to depose her
in favor of her son: that the missionary read a long lecture
to Prince Rakoto on the exceeding turpitude of his conduct in
meditating a revolt against his royal mother, declaring that
the English government had been so shocked by the news as
to put on mourning: that the Prince consented to excuse
himself, by asserting in reply that had he indeed intended such
an act he would have merited reproach; but that such was not
the case, as he merely wished to deprive the Queen of the
power of perpetrating cruelties, every other privilege being re-
tained by her, and as for himself he asked nothing at all: that
the missionary had boasted everywhere that he had been in-
vited to Madagascar by the Queen, and that he had been
favorably received by her and the Prince, while the facts in the
case were that after a short stay at the capital of four weeks,
he was ordered to leave, against his remonstrances on account
of the unhealthiness of the season, the Queen being highly ex-
asperated against him for distributing Bibles, and the Prince
resenting his behavior toward Mr. Lambert.
We mention these charges merely to show more clearly to
the mind of the reader the great temptations to which mission-
aries are often exposed, to interfere with political matters, and
thus to overlook the first great principle of their Divine
Master, who rejected the offered control of all the Kingdoms of
the world. If there has been any one thing that operated more
than another to destroy the usefulness of the Romish mission-
aries in their long labors in the East, a field that has been open
to them more than three hundred years, and in which their
success in spreading the Gospel has amounted to little, or
nothing, it is a neglect of this vital principle, and an exhibition,
on the other hand, of a great aptness to proceed at once to
meddle with the political relations of the countries which they
86
A SKETCFT OF
visit. True religion possesses a moral dignity that rejects the
suggestions of mere political cunning the moment that they
are offered; and the missionary can seldom or never attain to
any desirable end unless this dignity distinguishes every trait
of his daily walk and ministration.
Another night of heathen superstition and darkness settles
upon the Island of Madagascar, in which idolatry and persecu-
tion prevail like feverish dreams. But this state of things was
not destined to a long continuance. Queen Ranavalona was
already advanced in years, being some seventy years or more
in age, and her death therefore was an event that might be ex-
pected to occur at any moment. It took place, in fact, in 1861.
Prince Rokoto ascended the throne as Radama II., and he
immediately sent a message to the Governor of the Mauritius
inviting free intercourse, stating that he had proclaimed com-
mercial liberty throughout his territory, with equitable customs
regulations at all the ports; that he had intimated that he was
not disposed to accept the protection of France or of any other
power, and to have appointed an Englishman, long a faithful
adherent, as his Prime Minister; that he had also declared his
preference for protestant Christianity, and had written letters
to protestant missionaries at the Mauritius and the Cape, in-
forming them that the land is once more open to the preachers
of the Gospel.
As might be expected, Mr. Lambert and Pere Jouan who
was one of the priests in disguise at the capital of Madagascar
at the time of Mr. Lambert's diplomatic visit there, made haste
to pay their respects in person to the new sovereign. They
were shortly followed by two Romish priests; and it became
manifest that it was their design to make Romanism the pre-
vailing religion of the island. The newspaper press in the
Island of Bourbon boldly asserted the right of France to the
supreme political power in Madagascar, and to the submission
of that island as a dependency of the Imperial government.
The press of Paris assumed the same ground; and on the doors
of Romish churches in Cork, Ireland, were posted the following
notice:-Young men wanted for Missionaries to Madagascar.
An embassy was sent to the island by the Governor of the
Mauritius to present the congratulations of the English Gov-
ernment to Radama on his ascension to the throne; and the
English Government prepared to maintain the independence of
the new sovereign. The directors of the London Missionary
Society at once took measures to resume its labors in that
MADAGASCAR.
87
island, using, for this purpose, funds that had been especially
donated many years before, and which had not been diverted
to any other object. Mr. Ellis embarked again for Madagas-
car in November, 1861, having concluded arrangements by
which he was to be followed in a short time by a corps of six
missionaries.
The Christians who had endured so long a persecution and
were still alive, now came forth from their hiding places,
from prison and places of torture, and the people were aston-
ished to see what a considerable number had escaped with
their lives. Subsequent events showed that there must have
been some 7,000 Christians in the island. Some of them could
not walk, from the enfeeblement occasioned by the heavy
fetters with which their limbs had been loaded. The King
told them to write to their friends in London, and to tell them
that King Radama II. reigned, and that whoever wishes to
come up can come.
Mr. Ellis arrived at Tananarivo about the middle of June,
1862, and was received with great cordiality by the King, offi-
cers of the government, and pastors and members of churches.
Thirty miles from the capital he was met by a large number of
Christians from there. As the two parties approached each
other, the party from the capital commenced singing praises
to God, in which the party with Mr. Ellis joined until they
met and halted. The welcome extended to the English mis-
sionaries was of the warmest and most impressive kind.
Hundreds crowded their doors continually, and thronged the
churches on the Sabbath from an early hour in the morning
till late in the afternoon.
Romish priests and sisters of mercy were present at the
capital urging their peculiar views upon the people; but the
preference for the protestant ideas, books, and modes of
worship was evident and decided. The King gave assurance of
perfect liberty of conscience to every one to worship as he
pleased. He opened the prison doors and set the Christian
captive free. He dispatched messengers to recall the remnant
of the condemned ones from remote and pestilential districts,
to which they had been banished, and where numbers had
died from disease and exhaustion, occasioned by the rude and
heavy bars of iron with which they had been chained, neck
and neck together. He sent to remote and hostile tribes pres-
ents and messages which made them his fast friends; and he
abolished the tangena, sikidy, and other idolatrous usages,
88
A SKETCH OF
But the King, who had been so forward to assume the
cares and responsibilities of the government, was little aware
of the troubles that were in store for him. The conflicting
interests of Paganism, Protestantism and Romanism, which
now centered upon the capital, and, it may be said, upon the
head of the State himself, were enough to disconcert a wiser
and more experienced man than he. If amidst the perplexities
thus occasioned he should become disconcerted, inconsistent
and confused, and should even take to drink, as a counter
excitement to the annoyances which he met with in the admin-
istration of the government, it is no more than we have
frequently seen in the United States on the part of men who
have been ranked among our ablest and best of statesmen.
The character of the King, in the course of a few months,
seemed to undergo a change. But though distinguished for
amiable qualities and an instinctive hatred of cruelty, he had
never become a Christian. An impulsive and excitable tem-
perament exposed him to certain evil influences thrown
around him; and while naturally inclined to superstition,
and when under the influence of strong drink, he behaved,
at times, it is said, like a madman. Without the ability
or experience to meet the requirements of the new con-
dition of things, he became a time-server, siding at one time
with the Pagans, at another with the Romanists, and at
another with the Protestants, and thus endeavored by excit-
ing the jealousies and self-interests of the various parties,
to keep the power in his own hands. He was a fit subject to
be acted on by crafty and designing men; and unfortunately
the temptation to act upon him was only too great. The con-
sequences to the King proved disastrous. He was assassinated
on the 12th of May, 1863, in his palace, by a party of nobles
led by his Prime Minister.
In the course of the contest between the King and his nobles,
he had claimed that he alone was sovereign, and that his word
alone was law; and that his person was sacred, and that he
would punish severely the oppressers of his will, an idea of
kingly authority natural to all those who exercise it, but which
the people of the Western world have succeeded in reducing to
some limitations. It was natural, too, that the King should strive
to maintain the authority and prerogatives which he had in-
herited from his ancestors, and claim to be the judge how far
the innovations being inevitably wrought upon it by the
labors of the missionaries should extend. It is needless to go
MADAGASCAR
into the details of this sad affair, and point out the last step in
in the line of action pursued by the Prime Minister that led to
the murder of the King; it is sufficient to state that a direct
issue was made between the absolution of the King and the
more liberal usages of the people of Western Europe, which
issue was perhaps inevitable, and in which one party must
meet with defeat, sealed and signalized by death. Yet we
may mention one of the incidents in the contest which will
serve to show the manner in which it was carried on. Form-
erly a certain form of respect had been paid to the idols when
they were borne through the streets of the capital, and alto-
gether unlike that which the Romanists exact for the host
when it appears in public; and the King ordered similar dem-
onstrations of respect, the lifting of hats, whenever the sick
were carried through the streets. This was a kind of a com-
promise with Romanism and Paganism which the English de-
cidely refused to comply with, and which of course served to
hasten matters to their final issue. It was plain that one of
the three conflicting powers must have the ascendency
The King, though surrounded by his faithful detective police
called the Mena maso, “red eyes,” from the supposed continued
strain to their eyes from difficult investigation, felt himself
at last reduced to the necessity of legitimatizing murder in
order to defend his authority from further encroachments.
He announced his intention of issuing an order that any one
who wished to fight with fire-arms, swords, or spears, might
do so with impunity, even though death should result as a con-
sequence. An order which, if carried out, would have placed
all Europeans and Christians at the mercy of the idolaters of
the island.
Under the direction of the Prime Minister the palace was
surrounded by troops; several of the Mena maso were captured
and killed, and the others demanded of the King. These he
felt compelled to deliver up, though stipulating for their lives;
and they were sent away to be ironed, as Christians had been
under the reign of Ranavalona. The few troops with the King
refused to fire upon those surrounding the palace, and the
people, though pitying him, did not take up arms in his defence.
Soon after the death of the King, four of the chief nobles
went to the Queen, with a written paper, which they handed
to her, containing the conditions on which they proposed that
the country should in future be governed. They requested
her to read it, stating that if she consented to govern accord-
Å SKETCË OF
ing to these conditions, they were willing that she should be
the sovereign of the country, but that if she objected or declined,
they must seek another ruler. The Queen, after reading the
document, and listening to it, and receiving explanations on
one or two points, expressed her entire and full consent to
govern according to the plan therein set forth. The nobles
then said, “We also bind ourselves by this agreement. If we
break it, we shall be guilty of treason; and if you break it,
we shall do as we have done now."
According to this document, the word of the sovereign alone
was not to be law, but the nobles and heads of the people, to-
gether with the sovereign, were to make the laws.
Perfect liberty and protection were guaranteed to all for-
eigners who were obedient to the laws of the country.
Protection and liberty to worship, teach, and promote the
extension of Christianity, were secured to the native Christians,
and the same liberty and protection were guaranteed to those
who were not Christians.
The wife of Radama II., who ascended the throne, was not a
Christian, but while personally devoted to her idols and the
sikidy, she remained true to her engagements. Instead of
throwing obstacles in the way of the missionaries, she even
encouraged attendance on religious worship and Christian in-
struction. She was of a mild and humane disposition, and the
labors of the missionaries thrived under her administration.
Ingenious reports were indeed spread abroad that the King
was not dead, that he was still living, that his treaty with Mr.
Lambert was valid, etc., well calculated to unsettle government
and society, but order gradually became established, and the
number of Christians increased to a degree that was almost
astonishing. The Queen was in fact so lenient that it was
suspected at times that she adhered to her idols merely as a
matter of expediency, in order to retain a hold of the ancient
prejudices of the country. The houses of worship were
crowded every Sabbath.
Through the agency of military officers and traders the
principles of the Christian religion became extended from the
capital into the provinces; and every convert that was made
among the natives, became a missionary, as it were, to his
relatives and friends.
At length, in 1865, a treaty was ratified between the Govern-
ment of Madagascar and Great Britain. In this treaty Earl
MADAGASCAR.
91
Russel, the English Minister, stipulated for provisions securing
civil and religious freedom, both to native Christians and to
missionaries. The Church has continued flourishing without
interruption. In 1866 there were eight large congregations in
the capital, which was then supposed to contain 30,000 inhabit-
ants, and sixteen churches in the surrounding villages, It was
estimated that in these villages there were 3,000 communicants
and 15,000 converts; and there is every evidence that the
Christian religion has taken a permanent hold of the people of
Madagascar. In another generation it bids fair to be reckoned
among the Christian nations of the earth.
From the year 1866 we do not meet with anything of much
special interest concerning Madagascar until 1874, when two
English gentlemen, Dr. Mullens and Mr. Pillan, visited the
island to see what farther might be done there for extending
the interests of the missionary cause. The result of this visit
was, in the words of Dr. Mullens, "to shape out the frame-
work of an enlarged mission.” It was proposed to thoroughly
fit up the training college for native pastors, to push forward
the normal school system, and to make native agency more
effective, and to encourage the missionaries by exciting a new
interest in the work at home. There were about a thou-
sand congregations organized in the island, though it was
thought that the membership of sincere Christians was not
over 30,000. The rolls did indeed contain 60,000 names, but in
view of the facility and eagerness with which native pastors
admitted members, it was believed that this number exag-
gerated the total of the true native Christians. But it
was certain that the entire 300,000 among whom the Lon-
London Society was laboring had renounced their idols and
were in the way of becoming true converts to the Christian
faith. The favorable report of these gentlemen doubtless
stimulated the friends of the Society to renewed efforts.
Besides the London Missionary Society, the Friends and
Norwegians had promising missions on the island, each covering
districts of about 100,000 people. In this year, 1874, an English
Bishop was appointed for the island.
The next notice of the island that arrests our attention, and
which needs to be recorded in order to give the reader an idea
of the progress of the English missionary operations, is contain-
ed in the following statements of the special envoy of the Brit-
ish government, Gose Jones, to the Queen of Madagascar, in
92
A SKETCH OF
1882. This gentleman stated at a public meeting in London that
on landing at Tananarivo, whither he was sent as Commander-
in-chief of the East Indian naval station to congratulate the
Queen of Madagascar, he was surprised to find what manner
of people the Malagasy were. He found Tananarivo to be a
really splendid city, with magnificent public buildings. The
house he lodged at was as good as any in London, and there
was a Roman Catholic church which would not disgrace
Paris,
The Prime Minister, who was, curiously enough, husband of
the Queen, and almost the most intelligent, astute, and clever-
est man he had ever met, occupied a splendid official resi-
dence.
· The Premier knew precisely how far he could advance in the
path of civilization, and where to stop. No outside people
could so well control the Malagasy as the present Prime Minis-
ter. During the Queen's reign of ten years he had publicly
abolished idol worship and embraced Christianity. The nobles
of the land as well as the mass of the population were now
Christians. The Premier was an educational reformer, and
had established numerous schools, He had abolished "trial by
poison,” a superstitious rite which used to decimate the country.
It was intended to make the Queen de facto as well as de jure
the monarch of the island, and it was a great pity that any
disturbance should come to the existing state of things.
Among other beneficient changes the Prime Minister had
wrought in the government of the island, at the hazard of his
life, was the abolition of the introduction of slaves from Africa.
He did this with one stroke of the pen, and in doing it he did
away with what might be called the "material wealth” of
Madagascar. A man had before been considered richer or
poorer in proportion to the number of slaves he owned. A
natural anxiety prevailed that a country which had so far pro-
gressed in civilization should not go back.
By the beginning of 1883 an embassy was received in England
from the Queen of Madagascar, and its members were enter-
tained by the government and people with the most respectful
and considerate attention, everything of interest being shown to
them in a way to heighten their regard for the Christian civil-
ization and power of Great Britain, as well as for the kindness
and benevolence of the citizens and missionaries.
This embassy subsequently visited the United States, where it
MADAGASCAR.
93
arrived in the month of March 1883, and entered into treaty
stipulations with our government. Thus, during the present
century, and chiefly through missionary agency, Madagascar
has passed from a state of pagan barbarism to one of Christian
civilization, in which it has entered and taken a stand among
the Christian nations of the world.
THE END,

29
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