376 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
the purpose of drying some gunpowder in a pan over the 
fire. It soon exploded, and his own clothes and his sister’s 
caught fire. He had the presence of mind to drag her 
instantly to an adjoining pond, and succeeded in extin¬ 
guishing the flames; but his right eye was so severely injured 
as to lose the power of it, though the eye itself presented 
no appearance of defect. 
In pursuance of his youthful inclinations, Mr. Hastie 
was induced to enter the army. He joined the 56 th regt., 
and spent several years in India, where he served during the 
Mahratta war. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant, 
and obtained the notice and esteem of his officers, especially 
of Col. Barclay, for his diligence and ability in keeping an 
account of stores. In many of his expeditions he suffered 
extremely, and, but for a constitution naturally strong, he 
would most probably have sunk, like many of his comrades, 
under the hardships of the service. 
In the year 1815 , Mr. Hastie arrived at the Mauritius, 
and soon afterwards attracted the notice of Governor 
Farquhar, by his extraordinary and daring exertions in 
saving the government-house from flames, during a fire at 
Port Louis, in September, 1816 . The flames had come in 
contact with the roof of the building, and were there ex¬ 
tinguished by the intrepidity of Mr. Hastie, who, at the 
peril of his life, having tied a wet blanket around his neck, 
mounted a ladder, in the corner of the roof, that was just 
taking fire, and with a bucket of water, which he had carried 
up by his teeth, succeeded in arresting the progress of the 
flames. A large pier-glass, in the government-house, had 
been broken in pieces by the intense heat. Of this, Mr. 
Hastie obtained a fragment, and afterwards had it made 
into a small looking-glass, which he kept as a memorial of 
his able and successful exertions. 
