SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION. 365 



for a country so recently emerged from semi-barbarism. 

 Almost every congregation has a school where instruction in 

 the simplest elements of knowledge is imparted. Normal and 

 training schools in the capitals of both Imerina and BetsiMo 

 have already supplied the most important towns and villages 

 with well-trained teachers, and it may be hoped that event- 

 ually every village will have one to instruct its children. 

 And although in the more ignorant districts there is still 

 much suspicion among the people as to the ultimate design 

 in obliging their children to attend school, the Government 

 has put strong pressure to enforce education, and has on this 

 point^wisely and rightly exercised its almost absolute authority. 

 Its action will certainly make the next generation an educated 

 and enlightened one, and earn for it the gratitude of posterity 

 in Madagascar, as well as the respect of European nations. 



Higher education has been greatly promoted by a theo- 

 logical academy in Antananarivo, which has recently been 

 expanded into a general college. Here it may be expected 

 that by imparting a thorough training to the sons of the 

 higher classes, they will be much better fitted than their 

 fathers to become the future rulers of the country, and to fill 

 the positions of governors, judges, and great officers of state. 



The spread of education has, of course, created a reading 

 class, and an extensive demand for popular and cheap litera- 

 ture. For several years the presses connected with the two 

 chief Protestant missions have been tasked to supply the need 

 of elementary school books and lesson-sheets ; and school ap- 

 pliances and first reading-books have been issued by tens of 

 thousands. But more advanced literature has also met with 

 a ready sale, and such books as Bible Dictionaries, exegetical 

 and hermeneutical treatises, and science text-books, have been 

 in great demand. It speaks something for the intelligence of 

 the young men of the capital that such a work as a Physical 

 Geography should be one of the most popular books, and 

 rapidly pass into a second edition, while an elementary Logic 

 is also a very popular work ! Besides this, 3400 copies a 

 month are sold of a cheap monthly magazine, Tiny Soa (" Good 

 Words"); a quarterly, Mpandlo-tsaina ("The Counsellor"), 

 supplying articles of a higher class, and commenced two or 



