HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
11 ] 
neighbourhood, named Chichipi, being disappointed in not 
receiving a present from the English, went to Mr. Burch, 
who was appointed to superintend the settlement, to de¬ 
mand a piece of blue cloth. This demand was refused, a 
quarrel ensued, and some abusive language being used 
towards Mr. Burch, the latter was imprudent enough to 
strike the chief, upon which one of the British party was 
instantly shot. 
By the intervention of other chiefs, the affair was made up 
apparently to the satisfaction of Chichipi, who requested 
Mr. Burch and his party to meet him the next morning, to 
settle the matter in a more formal manner. Unsuspicious 
of treachery, they went unarmed, in order to avoid exciting 
the jealousy of the natives, and to shew their confidence in 
the amicable measures to which they had agreed. On their 
approach, the natives betrayed some symptoms of alarm; 
but finding the English without arms, or any means of defence, 
they rushed upon them; and the whole party, except one man 
who made his escape in a boat, were massacred on the 
spot. 
As soon as this melancholy event was known at Mauritius, 
Governor Farquhar sent a deputation under the command 
of Captain le Sage, to make inquiry concerning it. On their 
investigation, it appeared that Chichipi was the only chief 
who had taken any part in the business, and that his conduct 
was so far from being approved by the rest, that he was 
obliged to abscond with his accomplices, and for some time 
subsisted in the woods, not daring to approach the coast. 
He was shortly afterwards apprehended by the natives, and 
having undergone a regular trial, was condemned by a tribunal 
of his country, and, although nearly allied to several powerful 
chiefs, was executed on the spot where the massacre had 
taken place. 
