262 VISITS TO MADAGASCAE. chap. x. 



by working the handles of the instrument signified, according 

 to their number and direction, the letters of the alphabet, and 

 thus spelt the words of the message that was sent, and also 

 caused the needles at the other extremity of the wire to make 

 the same deflections, signifying the same letters, whereby the 

 observer there could read the message as plainly and nearly as 

 quickly as a written communication. 



They seemed to comprehend and rejoice in the perception 

 of the simple mode of representing letters by motions of the 

 needles ; but what the power was which travelled so instanta- 

 neousl}^ and imperceptibly along the wire, moving the needles 

 so accurately at the distant end, they could neither compre- 

 hend nor imagine. I could only tell them that it was a force 

 or power very widely diffused, and performing an important 

 part in the operations of nature, which was called electricity ; 

 but what that electricity really was the wisest men amongst us 

 did not know, though they were able by means of its power to 

 perform things truly wonderful. It was not the blank unques- 

 tioning wonder of stolid ignorance, satisfied that the facts 

 were something beyond immediate comprehension, and there- 

 fore probably supernatural, which they manifested, but the 

 surprise and intense interest of thinking men who seemed to 

 feel that they had acquired a new mental treasure, though 

 they yet only half understood the wonders before them. 



The mystery of the telegraph seemed greatly increased 

 when they were informed that the fluid would ignite gun- 

 powder, and that a cannon could be fired off by a person many 

 miles distant by means of a wire extending from the galvanic 

 battery to the powder in the touch-hole of the gun. 



On my arrival subsequently at the capital, I heard that a 

 Frenchman residing there had, a short time before, received a 

 set of telegraphic apparatus, and, after exhibiting it on a small 

 scale, had offered to establish telegraphic communication 

 between Tamatave and the capital, and then present the 



