l68 VOYAGE TO MADAGASCAR- 



*' may be, a tradUloa generally believed in 

 that diftriiSt, as well in the whole ifland 

 " of Madagafcar, of the a£1:ual exigence of 

 ** the Kimos, leaves us no room to doubt 

 ** that a part at leaft of what we are told 

 ** refpediiig thefe people is true. It is 

 ** aftooifliing thai every thing which we 

 ** know of this nation is collected from 

 *' their neighbours ; that no one has yet 

 *' made obfervations on the fpot where they 

 ** rcfide ; and that neither the governor of 

 ** the ifles of France and Bourbon, nor the 

 * commanders at the clifferent fettlements 

 •* which the French poiTeffed on the coaft 

 ** of Madagafcar, ever attempted to pene- 

 tratc into the interior parts of the coun* 

 ** try, with a view of adding this difcovery 

 *• to many others which they might have 

 ** made at the fame time. 



** To return to the Kimos, I can declare, 

 " as being an eye witnefs, that in the 



" voyage 



