HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
13 
This purpose he effected, with five of his companions in 
arms, and went over to the sovereign of the province of 
Ambolo; who, availing himself of his dissatisfaction with 
his own countrymen, had made proposals to him to remove 
to his district. 
Soon after this, the old chieftain, who was declining in 
years, took advantage of the partiality of his daughter, 
Andrian Nong, to offer her in marriage to La Case; and, 
as the princess possessed many advantages of person and 
mind, the offered alliance was too eligible to be refused. 
On the death of the chieftain, which took place soon after 
this marriage, the princess was proclaimed sovereign of 
Ambolo; La Case, appropriating to himself no farther 
advantages than a share in her possessions, which he endea¬ 
voured to turn to the generous account of relieving the 
garrison at Fort Dauphin, at this period again reduced to a 
state of extreme want. 
On the departure of La Case, the governor had set a 
price upon his head, and those of the five Frenchmen who 
accompanied him; which so incensed the chiefs residing 
in the neighbourhood of the Fort, who entertained the 
highest respect for him, that they entered into a combina¬ 
tion, and unanimously refused to supply the colony with 
provisions. The garrison, wholly unprovided for such an 
event, was consequently thrown into a state of the greatest 
distress. Famine, with pestilence, its dreadful accompani¬ 
ment, were the consequence; and in the course of a few 
days the colony was reduced to eighty men, with a prospect 
of being completely annihilated. At this juncture a French 
frigate, commanded by Captain Kercadio, made its appear¬ 
ance, and relieved them from the state of misery to which 
they were reduced, and the destruction with which they were 
threatened. 
