392 VISITS TO aiADAGASCAR. cnAi>. xiv. 



up roots with, a knife or hatchet, -with beads and buttons, to 

 barter for provisions on their way. After journeying through 

 forests and swamps, over rivers and mountains, sometimes 

 ahnost famished for want of food, they approached the 

 western coast. There they were met by a party of Saka- 

 lavas, the people of the country, who seized them, plundered 

 them of their guns, &c., stripped them of their clothes, and 

 then sold three or four of them as slaves to an Arab trader 

 who was on the coast in a small vessel. From him they 

 were transferred to the French authorities at Nosibe, an 

 island on the north-west coast of Madagascar, whence they 

 were to be sent to Bourbon to be engaged as free labourers 

 for five years. 



Before leaving, however, the letter of which they were the 

 bearers had come to the knowledge of the French authorities, 

 who, in consequence, kept these men at Nosibe, and sent 

 other men taken out of the prison to Bourbon in their stead. 

 At Nosibe they were treated with great kindness by the 

 Eoman Catholic priests, who took them to their places of 

 worship and endeavoured to instruct them in the Roman 

 Catholic religion. Afterwards they sent them to Bourbon, 

 where the priests showed them much attention, and en- 

 deavoured to induce them to regard theu* religion with 

 favour. They were afterwards sent to the island of St. 

 Mary's, on the east coast, also occupied by the French ; 

 whence they proceeded to the mainland, and then hastened 

 up to the capital. 



I was deeply interested in the account which the chief 

 gave me of many of the incidents of the joui'ney, of the 

 former part of which he subsequently furnished me with an 

 account in wi'iting. He spoke of the uniform kindness they 

 had received at Bourbon, and of the endeavours made to 

 induce them to stay. But they did not appear to have 

 been at all inclined to adopt the religion of the people. In 



