518 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
travellers that passed near their places of retreat These 
bands of robbers increased to such a fearful degree, that 
in the summer of 1835, a considerable military force was 
employed in suppressing them. Great numbers were with 
difficulty taken, and brought to the capital, where, in the 
second or third week in September, nearly two hundred 
were publicly executed, eighty-four were killed by the spear 
of the common executioner, seventeen were cruelly burnt 
alive, some were barbarously buried alive, and the rest 
having been declared guilty by the ordeal of the tangena, 
were accordingly killed on the spot. 
By these sanguinary proceedings the government sought 
to strike the people with terror, and deter others from en¬ 
deavouring to escape from their requirements, or elude their 
vengeance; but to their astonishment and rage, the number 
of robbers increased to an extent that rendered travelling in 
small companies, without a guard, unsafe in many parts 
of the country. On one occasion, several of the officers 
of the government had asked Mr. Johns how they could most 
effectually remedy the evil. He replied, with much pro¬ 
priety, by ceasing to oppress the people, allowing them to 
reap the fruits of their own industry, and to be taught to 
read the Bible. The answer, it is understood, was reported 
to the queen; to whom, as well as the officers to whom it 
was given, it was far from being welcome. 
The measures of the government were as unsuccessful 
as they were iniquitous ; the military sent to suppress the 
hostility to the domination of the Hovas, which became 
increasingly visible in every direction, were not more suc¬ 
cessful than the efforts of the civilians to maintain the tran¬ 
quillity of their own districts. The army sent against the 
inhabitants of the country adjacent to St. Augustine’s Bay, 
utterly failed in its object, and returned greatly reduced in 
