HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
73 
permission to erect fortresses; and an oath of friendship 
was entered into between him and several of the neigh¬ 
bouring chieftains. 
Various objections were made to his measures, partly 
through the influence and intrigues of the government at the 
Isle of France, on which he had been so injudiciously ren¬ 
dered dependent, and partly by the natives themselves, whose 
experience of the unprincipled conduct of European residents 
very naturally made them extremely unwilling to sanction a 
new settlement. By great prudence and decision of charac¬ 
ter, aided by an extensive knowledge of mankind, the Count 
was enabled to adopt such measures as eventually conciliated 
the natives; and, having succeeded in obtaining tranquillity 
in the neighbourhood of his settlement, he turned his 
attention to the interior of the island, with a view to the 
discovery of what resources it might afford in the probable 
event of support from the French government being re¬ 
fused. For this purpose he despatched the commander 
of the frigate up the river Tingballe; and, as it was a 
matter of great importance to the colony, not only to 
secure the alliance and friendship of the chiefs, but also 
to ascertain the resources of the country for trade, an 
interpreter was sent into some of the southern provinces, 
to a distance of a hundred leagues from Louisbourg, the 
name of Benyowsky’s settlement. A serjeant was also 
despatched with another interpreter, and one hundred and 
fifty blacks, with instructions to explore the country to 
the western coast, to enter into treaties with the chiefs 
of the interior, and convince them of the advantages that 
would result from a commerce with the white men, to 
discover the principal branches of trade, to observe their 
political strength, manners, and disposition, the nature of 
the climate, and, in short, to collect information of every 
