182 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. chap. vii. 



in England, which I endeavoured to answer to the best of 

 my ability ; and thus, notwithstanding the fatigue of the day, 

 so gratifying and joyous was the circumstance of our meeting 

 together, that it was long past midnight before we retired 

 to rest. 



In subsequently recurring to the long evening thus plea- 

 santly passed, I was naturally led to reflect on the deep and 

 peculiar sympathy which we all seemed to feel. We were 

 inhabitants of different hemispheres, and belonged to com- 

 munities widely separated from each other by their relative 

 civilisation and social position ; yet we met and conferred 

 together with a degree of confidence, satisfaction, and even 

 enjoyment, as entire and sincere as if we had been long 

 united in the closest human fellowship ; and we felt, that we 

 cherished aspirations as identical as if we were ultimately to 

 be gathered into one common home. We know that sym- 

 pathy so entire and uniform under all the diversities of ex- 

 ternal condition, and so widely diffused, can spring from only 

 one source, and is only perpetuated by one Divine influence; 

 and it is a source of imspeakable pleasure to feel that it 

 not only brings with it a present enjoyment, but will ulti- 

 mately unite the estranged and separated members of the 

 human family in one hallowed bond of brotherhood and 

 peace. 



This was one of the ports by which Eadama, after the abo- 

 lition of the slave trade, endeavoured to connect the foreign 

 commerce of the country with his capital, and for this pur- 

 pose he sent in 1823 two thousand persons to Foule Pointe 

 to form an agricultural and commercial settlement, under 

 Eafaralahy, an enlightened and energetic prince, who spent 

 some time at Mauritius, and whose administration was eulo- 

 gised by Sir E. Farq\ihar when he visited the port. 



Foule Pointe has also been the scene of some remarkable 

 events in the earlier history of the people. It was one of the 



