32 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
parable to the land of Canaan and in his various plans 
and propositions for turning the possession of the island to 
good account, is one, which while it marks the political 
feeling of the times, is too curious to be omitted. 
“ It is a great pity,” observes Mr. Boothby, “ that so 
pleasant and plentiful a country should not be inhabited 
by civilized people, or rather Christians; and that so brave 
a nation, as to person and countenance, only black or 
tawny, should be so blindly led in their devotions, being, 
as some suppose, Mahometans, in regard to their manner 
and custom of circumcision; or rather, as some suppose, 
descended from Abraham. A happy thing it were, both for 
them and this kingdom, if that project had, or should go 
forward, which a gentleman in Huntingdonshire, bred a 
merchant, in love told me, which he heard from others, or 
rather, as I understood it, from bishop Moreton’s own 
mouth, that if the bishops of England, lately dismissed from 
voting in parliament, and tyrannizing in temporal authority, 
should still continue in disrespect with the king and par¬ 
liament, they, or most part of them, would go and plant a 
colony in Madagascar, and endeavour to reduce those igno¬ 
rant souls to Christianity. God grant that, by them or 
others, such a pious design may speedily take effect.” 
The writer then goes on to describe “ the cheapness of 
all sorts of food in Madagascar; the accommodation and 
means for dairies, brewing of beer, and powdering of meat 
for ships at sea; the means to make saltpetre cheaper than 
in India or elsewhere; how all sorts of excellent materials 
for building to be had in Madagascar; how poor artificers 
may live by their labours, in all sorts of manufacture, and 
outstrip all nations of the world for the fame of the same; 
and how trade and commerce, to and from Madagascar, 
may excel in profit all others whatsoever.” 
