HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
439 
ing that every possible provision might be made for the 
wants of the people, should events occur still more unfa¬ 
vourable to the progress of their work. In the month of 
March, 1830, they had the satisfaction of completing an 
edition of 5000 copies of the New Testament in the Mala¬ 
gasy language. They had printed 1000 copies of different 
tracts, and a small system of arithmetic for the use.of the 
schools, 1500 copies of a catechism, and 2000 spelling- 
books. They had also 400 copies of the entire New Testa¬ 
ment, upwards of 2000 copies of single Gospels, and a 
number of catechisms and spelling-books. 
Discouraged as the Missionaries were by the unfavour¬ 
able circumstances of the people, they had the satisfaction 
of beholding, during a large part of the year, greater atten¬ 
tion on the part of those who attended public worship, and 
of putting into circulation many portions of the New Testa¬ 
ment and other books. These were read not only by the 
people of Imerina, but by numbers, in distant provinces, who 
had formerly been pupils in the Mission schools. It was 
also proposed about this time, to commence, with the aid of 
natives, the compilation of dictionaries in the English and 
Malagasy languages, for the benefit of the natives and their 
teachers. The Missionaries were also cheered by indications 
not a few, that their labours, and the books they had circu¬ 
lated, had, under the Divine blessing, been the means of 
decisive spiritual benefit to many who had received them. 
After noticing, in a communication dated July 1st, 1830, 
several instances of usefulness, Mr. Baker thus writes:— 
<( The above statements supply facts among the most cheering, 
perhaps, of any to be discovered in the present state of our Mission. 
They prove that some, in this land of heathen darkness, may, and 
do, manifest a love to the word of God. They show that such a 
sentiment may spread from one to another, aided by the means 
already in operation, without the intervening aid of ourselves: 
