HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
141 
his throne by effectually subduing the Betsimisaraka and 
Betanimena. Though his brother Fisatra was decidedly 
his superior in many high and honourable qualities, yet 
being an illiterate man, Rene was deemed more fit, on 
account of his better education, to transact the general 
business of a seaport town. 
Jean Rene has been described by Le Sage as possessing 
many qualifications for the transaction of affairs, both dif¬ 
ficult and delicate in their nature. He was extremely well 
versed in the finesse of the French language, and on all 
occasions acquitted himself with extraordinary address, as 
well as with zeal, intelligence, and capacity. His prede¬ 
cessor in the chieftainship of Tamatave had been a man of 
tyrannical, unjust, and overbearing disposition, so that 
neither his subjects nor the European residents under his 
government were at any time secure, either in their persons 
or property. After Jean Rene had obtained the chieftain¬ 
ship by the expulsion of the family of Laval, his conduct 
was exactly the reverse of that of his predecessor. He 
granted a firm and liberal protection, not only to the 
European residents, but to his own subjects, who both 
admired and confided in him; and such was the general 
manner in which his authority was exercised, that the 
government of Mauritius, and his excellency governor Far- 
quhar, deemed him worthy of a title of honour, with which 
Le Sage in his first voyage to Tamatave had the pleasure 
of investing him. 
In his natural disposition Jean Rene was extremely gay, 
fluent in conversation, and distinguished by great good 
humour. In war he displayed still higher traits of cha¬ 
racter, by his generosity in liberating his prisoners without 
ransom, instead of selling them as slaves according to the 
custom of the country. In directing and controlling popular 
