HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
249 
discovery of the parties; but none of the principals in 
the transaction were found, 
A short time after the departure of Mr. Hastie for the 
coast, three slave-dealers arrived at Tananarivo, bringing 
with them no less than two hundred bearers of various 
articles of merchandise, with which they had expected to 
purchase slaves. The trade was, however, peremptorily and 
finally interdicted; and so strict were the injunctions, and so 
vigilant the care of Radama to see the treaty observed, 
that the traders were compelled, with no little chagrin, to 
retrace their steps to the coast, having been obliged to sell 
their goods at half price, without effecting the object of 
their journey to the capital. 
About the same period Radama received some handsome 
presents from both their majesties, the king of England 
and the king of France. A portrait of Louis XVIII. was 
presented to him by means of a French officer, who, at a 
public dinner given on the occasion, introduced some 
deistical opinions, and, in fact, advocated sentiments nearly 
allied to atheism. The tenour of the conversation was 
intended to unsettle the mind of Radama respecting the 
treaty he had just made with England, and more parti¬ 
cularly the permission and encouragement he had promised 
to the labours of Christian Missionaries. The king and 
his ministers defended the opposite side of the question 
with considerable energy, and supported Mr. Jones in the 
arguments he adduced, exclaiming loudly, “ There must be 
a God !” It is, however, in some degree uncertain whether 
the idols might not have been meant by this expression, 
rather than the true God, so indefinite is the meaning of 
that word in the Malagasy language; but in either case it 
shews the conviction of the heathen, that there must be 
some supreme being. 
