8 WALTER HAMOND. 



a small map, and seven or eight engravings of the people, 

 and of the animal and vegetable productions. 



The earliest English book upon Madagascar of which I 

 have any knowledge is by one Walter Hamond, surgeon, 

 and published in 1640, entitled "A Paradox: Proving the 

 Inhabitants of the Island called Madagascar, or St. Law- 

 rence (in Things temporal), to be the happiest People in the 

 World." * This work may be almost regarded as a satire 

 upon the extravagance and luxury of the times, for its gene- 

 ral purport is to show that the inhabitants of Madagascar, 

 in their poverty and ignorance, are much better off than 

 civilised peoples, being not much troubled with clothing or 

 ornaments, or with the fatigues of commerce, navigation, and 

 civilisation, the varieties of food and drink, and the evils 

 arising from the use of gunpowder and the arms of European 

 nations. All this is argued out in a comically serious style. 

 Possibly a diligent search in the larger libraries would dis- 

 cover earlier books, or at least pamphlets or tracts on Mada- 

 gascar ; and doubtless there are many notices of the country 

 to be found in the narratives of the early English voyagers. 



The same author published three years later (1643) 

 another book, whose title-page may be given in full, as it is 

 curious from its quaintness, and as showing the great expecta- 

 tions formed of the island. It is as follows : — 



MADAGASCAR, 



The Richest 

 and most 

 Frvitefvll Island 

 In the World. 

 Wherein 

 the Temperature of the Clymate, the 

 Nature of the Inhabitants, the Commodities of 

 the Countrie, and the facility and benefit of a Planta- 

 tion by our People there, are compendiously 

 and truely described. 



* Reprinted in the Harltian Miscellany, a Collection of Scarce, Curious, and 

 Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print London 

 1S08. 



