ISLAND OF MADAGASCAR. 
545 
There is a race of men in the neighbourhood of Fort 
Dauphin, and in other parts of the western coast, descended 
from some Arabs,, who were shipwrecked. They say they 
are not original inhabitants, but children of the sea; because 
it threw out their fathers on the island. They write the 
Madagascar language in the Arabic character, and claim an 
exclusive right to kill the bullocks; but those who eat swine's 
flesh lose this right. 
It is reported that a race of dwarfs, called Kimosses, dwell 
in the interior of Madagascar— that the medium size of the 
men is about three feet five inches; that they wear long 
beards ; and that the women are some inches shorter than the 
men. These people are said to surpass the rest of the 
Madagascars in point of intellectual abilities. At the Isle 
of France the existence of these people is called in question 
by the well informed, and treated as a mere fiction. 
In so extensive an island as Madagascar, there must be a 
variety of climates ; the interior is by all considered the most 
healthy, and the southern part more healthy than the northern, 
probably because further removed from the equator. In the 
months of January, February, and March, which are the 
most unhealthy seasons, a kind of intermitting fever fre- 
quently prevails. Behind the town of Tumetave, on the 
east coast, there is a vast morass, from whence unhealthy 
vapours proceed, which contaminate the air. The heats in 
the northern parts, at some seasons of the year, must be 
very great, which, from the fumes arising from stagnated 
water, and decayed vegetation, must render the climate 
unhealthy, at least at first, to European constitutions. How- 
ever it is probable that the vast mountains, and the many 
rivers and streams, must render the heat more tolerable, and 
the air more healthy. 
There is no doubt that the French garrison almost all 
died at Fort Dauphin; and that once they were massacred 
and driven out: but perhaps neither is the former to be 
wholly attributed to the climate, nor the latter entirely to 
the savage disposition of the people. Two reasons are 
stated by Abbe Rochon, which seem fully to authorise this 
supposition. 
First. The disingenuous conduct of the French towards 
the natives, and also to a Mr. La Case, a Frenchman, 
who found himself neglected by the Governor of Fort 
Dauphin, notwithstanding the signal services he had render- 
ed to the French government. He retired into the province 
4 A 
