MADAGASCAR. 



lished among the Telugus in India, with its 

 principal centre at Rajahmundry. 



Lutherans in France and Alsace, Since the 

 transfer of Alsace to Germany, the Lutheran 

 Church in France has been reduced to two dis- 

 tricts. The first is that of Montbeliard, which 

 comprises five consistories. The second is that 

 of Paris, which includes, besides the consistory 

 of the capital, the local Councils of the Lu- 

 theran Churches of Lyons, Nice, and Algeria. 

 The Church of Paris numbers eight full pastors, 

 four assistants, and two vicars. Before the 

 war there were twenty-one pastors. There 

 are nine Lutheran churches in Paris, and a 

 number of other places in which services are 

 held. Lutheran churches are to be found also 

 in five of the principal suburbs of Paris. The 

 Lutheran Consistory of Paris has forty-two 

 schools, which are regularly attended by 3,800 

 children. Ten of these schools are municipal 

 schools, and are supported out of the public 

 funds ; the rest are sustained by contributions 

 from the churches. Before the late war, six 

 German schools were taught, with 400 chil- 

 dren. The parochial schools are supported at 



a total expense of about 98,000 francs, or 

 $19,600. The Lutheran population of France, 

 according to the census of 1872, was 80,117, of 

 whom a little more than one-half belong to the 

 district of Montbfiliard. 



M. A. Racine-Brand, in the Tdblettes Histo- 

 riques du Protestantisme Francais, gives the 

 following statistical estimate of the Lutherans 

 in France and Alsace : " Taking the census of 

 1866 as a basis, we find 248,045 Lutherans in 

 the 240 parishes of the seven districts of Al- 

 sace and Montb61iard. But besides these there 

 exists a Lutheran population of 6,655 souls 

 outside of these parishes and districts. These 

 members of our Church live in localities where 

 there are Reformed but no Lutheran Churches. 

 For all pastoral services they apply to the Re- 

 formed minister, but at the taking of every 

 census they declare themselves as belonging to 

 the Lutheran Church. More than this, there 

 are Reformed Churches, one-half of whose 

 members and sometimes more than one-half 

 are Lutherans. Thus, at Guebwiller there 

 are 887 Lutherans to 321 Reformed; at Miil- 

 hausen, 3,687 Lutherans to 8,654 Reformed." 



M 



MADAGASCAR, a large island and kingdom 

 of Eastern Africa. Queen, since April 1, 1863, 

 Ranovalomanjaka I. The area is estimated at 

 229,000 square miles ; the population at about 

 5,000,000. Christianity is the religion of the 

 Government, the prominent men of the Kovas, 

 the ruling race, and a considerable portion of 

 the population ; the number of those who have 

 declared their adhesion to Protestant Christi- 

 anity is about 300,000; the number of Roman 

 Catholics, about 10,000. The capital, Tanana- 

 rive, in the interior, has from 70,000 to 80,000 

 inhabitants. The foreign trade is chiefly car- 

 ried on by English vessels from Mauritius. In 

 1867, 53 vessels, of an aggregate tonnage of 

 17,406, arrived from there, and 67 vessels of 

 27,064 tons went there. 



The missionary work in Madagascar has been 

 prosecuted, for the most part, under the care 

 of the London (Congregational) Missionary So- 

 ciety. The Wesleyan Missionary Society at one 

 time contemplated establishing stations in the 

 island, and in 1821 actually assigned two mis- 

 sionaries to the field; they were prevented from 

 going, however, and the society's committee 

 afterward determined to concentrate their 

 work upon the islands of the South Pacific, 

 and leave Madagascar to the London Society. 

 The operations of this society were prosecuted 

 with great rapidity and success, till the jealousy 

 of the heathen priests and nobles was excited, 

 when -it was opposed by persecutions of great 

 severity and long continuance. In 1869 Queen 

 Ranovalomanjaka I. embraced Christianity, and 

 the persecutions were stopped. The work of 

 the missionaries was encouraged by the Govern- 



ment, Christianity extended very rapidly, and 

 is now thought to be professed or countenanced 

 by a large proportion of the inhabitants of the 

 island. 



In the report of the London Missionary So- 

 ciety, made at its anniversary, May 14, 1874, 

 the advance which had been made in this coun- 

 try was declared to have been, in some re- 

 spects, so rapid and varied as to outstrip the 

 power of the missionaries, with their present 

 resources, to meet it. This, it was said, had 

 for some time been fully recognized by the 

 missionaries themselves, and had formed a sub- 

 ject of difficulty to which they had frequently 

 invited the attention of the directors of the 

 society. The directors had accordingly ap- 

 pointed the Rev. Dr. Mullens and the Rev. J. 

 Pillaus a deputation to visit Madagascar, to 

 review the work and consult with the mission- 

 aries respecting the best methods of meeting 

 its needs. The deputation arrived at the capi- 

 tal in August, 1873. They returned to Eng- 

 land early in the fall of 1874, and were shortly 

 afterward formally received at a large public 

 meeting, when they gave an account of their 

 visit. Dr. Mullens stated that, on arriving at 

 Madagascar, the deputation had at once pro- 

 ceeded to visit the mission-stations scattered 

 all over the island. They found so many indi- 

 cations of real spiritual life among the native 

 population, that their hearts were rejoiced, and 

 moved to thankfulness for so great a blessing. 

 It was not to be expected, they remarked, 

 that all of the 300,000 idolaters, who had sud- 

 denly abjured heathenism by destroying their 

 idols, would at once become matured and exem- 



