CHAPTER VIII

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A Geographical and Historical Account of the Island of Madagascar.

With the exception of certain strips on the coast, the island of Madagascar is almost an unknown land; only here and there has a traveler been able to penetrate into the interior, and none have had an opportunity of studying the country at their leisure. So far as I am concerned, I have unfortunately not sufficient knowledge to describe the country in a scientific way. The most I can do is to give a simple but truthful account of what I have seen; beyond this my powers do not extend. It would, perhaps, be not uninteresting to my readers, therefore, if, before I relate my own experiences in Madagascar, I give an historical and geographical summary, compiled from the various works that have appeared concerning this island.

Madagascar is said to have been known to the ancients. In the thirteenth century Marco Polo makes mention of the island. The Portuguese visited it in 1506, and the first European nation that attempted to form settlements thereon were the French, in the year 1642.

Madagascar lies to the northeast of Africa, from which it is separated by the Mozambique Channel, seventy-five miles in breadth. It stretches from latitude 12° to 25° south, and from 40° to 48° east longitude. After Borneo, it is the largest island in the world. Its area is about 10,000 geographical square miles. Estimates of its population differ greatly, some writers giving from a million and a half to two millions, others raising the numbers to six millions.

The island contains woods of immense extent, far-stretching plains and valleys, many rivers and lakes, and great chains of mountains, whose summits rise to a height of from ten to twelve thousand feet, and even higher. The vegetation is exceedingly luxuriant, the climate very hot. The coasts, where there are many swamps, are very unhealthy for Europeans, but the interior of the island is more salubrious. The chief productions are some peculiar balsams and gums, sugar, tobacco, silk, maize, indigo, and spices. The forests yield the handsomest kinds of wood for buildings and furniture, and trees bearing almost every fruit of the torrid zone. Among the various descriptions of palms, the beautiful water-palm is frequently found. In the animal kingdom Madagascar also possesses some peculiar species; for instance, the maquis, or half ape, and the black parrot, besides much horned cattle, many goats, sheep, and beautiful birds. The woods and savannas swarm with wild cattle and pigs, wild dogs and cats; but there are no dangerous animals beyond these. The snakes are innocuous; and there are very few reptiles, none of them being poisonous except the centipede, and the little black spider which lives underground, and whose sting is said to be deadly; but this spider is seldom met with. In metallic substances, too, this island is said to be very wealthy, especially in iron and coal; but its mineral treasures have as yet been very little explored.

The population consists of four distinct races. On the south side dwell the Kaffirs, on the west the negroes, while the Arab race predominates on the east, and the Malay family in the interior. These chief races are subdivided into various tribes, among whom the Hovas, who belong to the Malay race, are the most numerous and most civilized in the whole island. The Hovas occupy the greater part of the interior; and as far back as the period of the first discovery of Madagascar, they formed a powerful empire, of which the capital was Tananariva, situated in an elevated plain in the district of Emir, and consisting of a union of many villages. Least known, or, to speak accurately, quite unknown, is the southwest coast, where the inhabitants are considered the most inhospitable of all, and the most inveterate foes of Europeans.

Like most nations in their infancy, all these various races and tribes are very indolent, superstitious, inquisitive, and unprincipled. As I have stated, the French have been endeavoring, since the year 1642, to establish themselves in Madagascar. They conquered certain strips of land, and erected _comptoirs_ and little forts here and there, but could never maintain their position. All their efforts failed, partly in consequence of the unhealthy climate, partly through the harshness and cruelty with which they treated the natives, and partly because they were never assisted with money and troops from home, when these were required.

Neither the French government nor the “Société de l’Orient” could ever come to a decision respecting this island. At one time they wanted to conquer it entirely, at another to abandon it altogether. Troops and ships were several times dispatched, and then left to their fate, and nothing was accomplished. The last of these undertakings occurred in the year 1733, under the command of the Polish Count Benjowsky, who received beforehand the title of Governor of Madagascar. Count Benjowsky seems to have been a very capable and resolute man, and as he had a larger force under his command than had been engaged in any previous expedition, he would perhaps have succeeded in annexing Madagascar definitely to France, or at least in founding a permanent and important colony on the island, had he not been treated as badly as, or even worse than, his predecessors; for not only did the promised succors fail to arrive, but the Governor of Bourbon, who was to have assisted him, proved a most dangerous enemy. Instead of sending him money and troops, he tried in every way, from jealousy, to weaken the power of his new rival; and so it happened that, in spite of his first successes, Count Benjowsky was soon scarcely able to hold a few unimportant forts and factories. After his death even these were lost, and in the year 1786 the French left Madagascar altogether. Of all their conquests they only retained the little island of St. Maria.

After the beginning of the nineteenth century the English attempted to found settlements in Madagascar, but they too were unsuccessful. They took possession of the harbors of Tamatavé and Foul Point, but only kept them a short time. Meanwhile the empire of the Hovas in the interior had increased considerably. Dianampoiene, the chief of Tananariva, carried on successful wars against the petty chiefs, and annexed their states to his own. He is reported to have been a very active and intelligent man, and to have given good laws to his people; under his rule the use of spirituous liquors and of tobacco was forbidden. Dianampoiene died in the year 1810, and left his kingdom, which had already become powerful, to his son Radama.

This potentate was only eighteen years old when he came to the throne. Like his father, he was intelligent, upright, and very ambitious. He loved the Europeans, and sought to increase his knowledge by consorting with them.

The English very cleverly made use of this disposition of the king’s, and managed to get into high favor with him. Radama was soon so prepossessed by them that he allowed them distinctions of every kind, and sometimes even wore an English uniform. He likewise made a treaty with England, by which he bound himself to give up the export slave-trade. As an indemnity he received money and presents to the amount of about £2000; and the English government farther undertook to send ten young men from Madagascar to England, and ten others to the Mauritius, to be instructed in various handicrafts and trades.

Radama kept the treaty strictly; but not so did the English General Hall, who succeeded Mr. Farquhar as Governor of the Mauritius. General Hall seems to have held the doctrine that savages are not men. He was not ashamed to declare openly that a contract made with a chief of savages was entirely invalid, and accordingly he constantly broke the treaty. A natural consequence of this manner of dealing was, that Radama again licensed the slave-trade, and began to favor the French at the expense of the English, giving his new friends a small strip of land in the Bay of Vanatobé.

The English strove for a long time to regain their influential position, but in vain. They had made themselves so hateful not only to Radama, but to the people, that every thing false and mendacious used to be called “English.” Nevertheless, they succeeded at last in getting the treaty renewed, and even obtained fresh privileges. They got permission to bring in missionaries, to build schools, and to teach the Bible. In consideration of a duty of five per cent. they were allowed to enter all the harbors, to carry on trade, to cultivate the ground, and to found industrial establishments.

Radama died in his thirty-sixth year, on the 27th of July, 1828.

Following out the ambitious projects of his father, he had succeeded in extending his rule over the greater part of the island, and had made himself King of Madagascar. Besides the country of the Hovas, the land of the Teklaves, on the northwest coast, with its capital, Bambetock; Mozangage, on the west coast, and the countries of the Antawares and of the Betimsaras, on the north, obeyed his sceptre; the southwest coast and the district of the Anossij, in the southeast, had alone maintained their independence.

Radama possessed great oratorical talents, and was very fond of exhibiting them. He was altogether very vain and exceedingly open to adulation: his people were obliged to worship him as if he had been a god, and the influence the missionaries obtained under his government they doubtless owed chiefly to the praise and flattery with which they continually plied him. They compared him to the First Napoleon, of whose great deeds the French had told him, and whom he appeared to have taken as his model. The parallel was not altogether inapplicable, however, and the title, Radama the Great, may be allotted to him when we consider how much he achieved during his short reign. The conquest of a great portion of the island, the abolition of capital punishment for many offenses, the prohibition of the export of slaves, the establishment of a tolerably well-disciplined army, the introduction of many European handicrafts--all this was his doing. He was the first to open a door to civilization in Madagascar; in his reign the first public schools were built, and the Roman letter taken as the character wherein the national language was to be written. Bent in every way upon improving the condition of his empire, he made an exception only in one particular--he set his face resolutely against every proposal to construct roads, declaring, like most rulers of half-savage tribes, that the bad roads were his best defense against the Europeans. During the last years of his life he unfortunately gave himself up to lamentable dissipation, which probably caused his early death; many, however, declare that he was poisoned.

At Radama’s death, not only the English, but all European influence ceased. His first wife, Ranavola, succeeded him on the throne, and added to her name the regal title “Manjaka.” This cruel, bloodthirsty woman began her rule by the execution of seven of the nearest relatives of the late king; indeed, according to the account given by a missionary, Mr. William Ellis, not only were all killed who belonged to Radama’s family, but those nobles also who stood near the throne, some of whom Ranavola feared might advance a claim to it.

The treaty which Radama had made with the English she abrogated at once. Her hatred for the British was very great, and extended to every thing that came from England, even to the cattle introduced from that country. All people of English descent were to be killed, or at least banished from her dominions; nor did the French find favor in her eyes. She set her face generally against civilization, and tried hard to stifle its every germ. She drove away the missionaries, prohibited Christianity, and made all communication with Europeans difficult. Her subjects, especially those who do not belong to the race of the Hovas, from which she came, she treated with great severity and cruelty: for the smallest offenses the most rigorous punishments were inflicted, and sentences of death were, and still are, executed daily.

One only among those related by ties of blood to the late King Radama had succeeded in saving his life by timely flight. This was Prince Ramanetak. This prince had just claims to the throne; and as Queen Ranavola soon made herself hated by the people for her cruel and bloodthirsty rule, he might well have succeeded, with French help, in effecting a revolution and taking possession of the throne. This would have been very advantageous to the French, for Prince Ramanetak was very favorably inclined toward that nation. But the government in France remained true to the policy pursued toward Madagascar for the last two centuries, and the magnificent aid they offered to the prince consisted of--sixty muskets and twenty kegs of powder.

As I have already stated, when describing my visit to Paris, the French were ultimately expelled by Queen Ranavola even from the strip of land given them by Radama in the Bay of Vanatobé. Whether France will demand satisfaction, and show the insolent rulers of Madagascar the might of a European people, or whether she will let the opportunity pass by as she has done on former occasions, I can not take upon myself to conjecture. Time will show.

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