364 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
amount actually expended by the Society; and if declined 
by him, and sold to any other purchaser, that the value of 
the ground, and of the convicts’ work upon it, should be 
paid to him. 
An agreement was afterwards made with Mons. le 
Gros to erect the building ; the whole cost seven hundred 
and twenty-two Spanish dollars. 
A plan was then formed for establishing a repository, or 
store of articles used in the schools, to be distributed gratis 
among the scholars, and of goods to be sold for the benefit of 
the School Society. So long as it was proposed to render it an 
integral part of the School Society, great difficulties were 
found to exist; some members of the latter being unwilling to 
take any part of the pecuniary responsibility that must neces¬ 
sarily be incurred, others being already engaged in business 
for themselves in town. Mr. Hastie, Messrs. Jones, Griffiths, 
Chick, and Canham, Missionaries, became responsible for 
different sums, with which the project was commenced; but 
it did not prove so advantageous to the cause of education 
as had been expected, and could scarcely be attended to by 
the Missionaries without some inconvenience. 
In the month of March, 18*26, the annual examination of 
the schools took place, and Radama, as usual, presided. 
Rewards were, on that occasion, presented by the king to 
those scholars who had made the greatest improvement. 
The king afterwards proceeded to a spacious plain in the 
centre of the town, where all the scholars and teachers, 
amounting to two thousand, assembled. Here he called 
for a list of the names of all the villages where schools were 
established, with their respective number of pupils^ and, 
having read it publicly, commended those which were pros¬ 
perous, and passed censure on the negligent. 
The schools of the respective districts having been 
