86 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
panied with a permission for the Count to absent himself 
from Madagascar; but he having previously given in his 
resignation, and surrendered the command of the troops to 
M. de Sanglier, refused to receive these orders, and sent 
them to that officer, declaring to the inspectors that he had 
in future nothing to do with that establishment, any farther 
than he was disposed to promote their interests with the 
natives. 
The native chiefs expressed the highest satisfaction at 
Benyowsky having expressed himself so decidedly on their 
side; but, at the same time, he received the most press¬ 
ing solicitations from the soldiers of the garrison that he 
would again resume his charge of the establishment; and 
M. de Sanglier urging the same request, he at length con¬ 
sented, protesting that such a resumption should not be 
considered as a renewal of his obligations to the French 
government, which he had entirely renounced. 
In order to settle these affairs more decidedly, another 
kabary was held, at which the native chiefs expressed their 
real sentiments towards the French, and their desire to live 
at peace with the establishment; all which, Benyowsky 
assured them, he would communicate on their behalf to the 
French. 
On the 12th of October, the Count Benyowsky was 
awakened by the discharge of cannon: and the chief 
Rafangoro, with six others, dressed in white, came to his 
tent, from whence they conducted him to a plain, on which 
the natives, to the number of thirty thousand, were assem¬ 
bled. These had formed themselves into an immense 
circle, each nation being separate, with its chief attached 
to it, and the women on the outside of the circle. As soon 
as the Count appeared, the chiefs formed a smaller circle 
around him in the centre of the assembly, and silence being 
