HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
481 
Mr. Canham had originally joined the Mission as an artisan, 
but not receiving sufficient encouragement from the govern¬ 
ment to enable him successfully to prosecute the preparation 
of leather, he had, in compliance with the request of 
the Missionaries, and the approval of the Society at home, 
devoted his attention to the religious instruction of the 
people. The order of the government for Mr. Canham’s 
departure was deeply regretted by the Missionaries, who 
made several attempts to secure for him a longer residence 
in the country; but these proving unavailing, excepting for 
a period of twelve months, he departed from Tananarive 
with his family on the 17th of July, and sailed from the 
island on the first of August, 1834. 
The desirableness and practicability of establishing a 
branch station, or a distinct Mission, at St. Augustine’s Bay, 
on the south-western coast of the island, occupied the 
attention of the Missionaries at this time; but, after 
collecting all the information they could obtain, they found 
that it could not be attempted without placing in jeopardy 
not only the new Mission itself, but also that existing in 
Imerina. 
The remaining Missionaries felt more urgently than ever 
the call to labour to the utmost while any means of useful¬ 
ness continued, and they renewed their exertions to complete 
the revision of the Scriptures, that the whole might be in 
the hands of the people, if possible, before their own labours 
should be closed. A new printing-house was erected, and 
every means taken to place the printing establishment in a 
state of the utmost efficiency. 
The labours of the artisans who taught the natives to 
work in wood and iron, continued to be highly prized by the 
people, and Mr. Cameron, who had just finished the erec¬ 
tion of a mill, was applied to by the government to under- 
2 i 
n. 
