HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
those in the neighbourhood of Bombay, have, without 
doubt, been accustomed for many centuries past to resort 
to Madagascar for purposes of trade: and though consi¬ 
derable numbers of the former have at different periods 
remained on the island, they have, when compared with 
the aboriginal population of the place, been but few, 
and, fyy intermarrying with the natives, have amalga¬ 
mated with the Malagasy, and, with but rare exceptions, 
have left no satisfactory or permanent traces of their 
origin or race. 
The Malagasy, ignorant themselves of the use of letters, 
have no records of their own history, and we are not 
aware of any that have been preserved by the civilized 
nations of antiquity. It has been supposed that Mada¬ 
gascar was known to the ancients, but there does not 
appear to be any valid foundation for the opinion. The 
existence of the island was first made known to the nations 
of Europe by the adventurous and persevering Marco 
Paulo. Wide, however, as his range of travel was, he did 
not visit the country, but brought to Europe the accounts 
he had received concerning it while in Asia. After the no¬ 
tice Marco Paulo gave of Madagascar, nearly three centuries 
elapsed before any accurate knowledge of its geographical 
position and extent was obtained, when Lawrence Almeida, 
son of the first Portuguese viceroy in India, discovered it 
on his voyage to the East in the year 1506. 
After the Portuguese had once made their way to Mada¬ 
gascar, it appeared to them too considerable and important a 
country to be neglected; they consequently sailed round the 
island in 1508, and constantly anchored at it afterwards in 
their voyages to the East Indies. In the province of Anosy, 
on a steep rock on the bank of the river Franchere, they 
established a settlement and built a fort. It was situated 
