PREFACE.
Inadding another to the list of works written about Madagascar I have been anxious to confine its contents to what was special to our visit. During that visit my colleague and I enjoyed unusual opportunities of observing various matters relating to the country and the people in the principal portions of the island. Being deputed to visit the Government and the Churches, by those who had befriended them for more than fifty years, we were cordially welcomed everywhere, and were permitted to see and examine all we wished. The portion of the country which we visited was very extensive. We saw in all their length and breadth the two Central Provinces of the island, Imérina and the Betsileo: we visited the Sihánaka Province, and left the island by the north-west route and the Port of Mojangá. Everywhere we came into closest contact with the native Churches: to an extent that no Englishman, missionary or traveller, had ever done before.
We saw the religious life of the people on the large scale; not merely in its details in a single locality: but asit shows itself in all parts, the most advanced and the most ignorant. We can say much on the things we saw in various localities. We can also testify that the great religious revolution, which is said to have taken place in Madagascar, is aREAL THING: that it has affected and improved the nation most powerfully at its heart, in the Capital and Imerina: and that its effects are also real and truly beneficial far away in the interior, and even at extreme points on the coast.
We shared in most important consultations of the missionaries, respecting the actual position of things, and the form and extent to which Christian work should be carried on in the future. We were in constant communication with the members of the Norwegian, the Friends’, and the Medical Missions. We held most pleasant intercourse with the Authorities, and were present at several important public gatherings. We were honoured with a formal reception by the Queen and a formal farewell.
Being aware of great defects in our geographical knowledge of the interior of Madagascar, we prepared ourselves before leaving England to gather new information. In all our journeys we took observations: and we have prepared a new Map of the Country which we traversed. Among the special results of this geographical exploration, we may note, the discovery of a wide-spread volcanic region, including a hundred extinct craters; the delineation ofLake Itasy; the survey of the Sihánaka Province, with its fine Lake Aláotra; the survey of the Betsileo Province and of the District of Betáfo; and that of the route to Mojangá.
We have also gathered important information relative to the extent of the population. These questions were in many respects new to ourselves; we learned much respecting them: and that information we now lay before the many friends of the Mission.
Though deriving great help from the observations and views of my colleague, I alone am responsible for the statements contained in this little volume.
I will only add that in the pronunciation of the many Malagasy names which it contains, if the reader will kindly have regard to the accented syllables and pronounce the first three vowelsa,eandias the Italians do, and the voweloas they pronounce theiru, he will not go far wrong.
J. M.
Canonbury,March 29, 1875.