HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
521 
excruciating torture; their wives, refusing to become the 
slaves of the barbarians by whom their husbands had been 
destroyed, were speared on the spot—a fate scarcely more 
severe than that of those who were carried into bondage by 
the Hovas. Numbers of these unhappy captives perished 
from fatigue and suffering on the road towards the market 
to which their captors were conducting them. The horrible 
barbarities of the Hovas, and the cowardly slaughter of 
those whom they had treacherously induced to confide in 
promises, justly caused their name and character to be held 
in execration throughout the southern part of the island, 
and while it inflamed, throughout the remaining provinces, 
the passion for revenge, forced on the chiefs and people the 
just dread of extermination, unless able to resist their forces. 
In these circumstances a number of the chiefs of the 
southern provinces sent, in the close of the year 1837, 
the most affecting and earnest application to the British 
government at Mauritius, denying all right of the Hovas to 
their country, and praying for assistance to save them from 
annihilation. 
A similar course was pursued by the British traders at 
Tamatave and other parts, as the supplies of rice failed, in 
consequence of the inability or disinclination of the people 
to cultivate. No native was allowed to sell rice to any 
foreigner, and constant impediments were thrown in the 
way of traffic for bullocks or other productions of the 
country. The cup of misery in the hands of the inhabitants 
of this ill-fated country, now seemed to be full. The govern¬ 
ment had oppressed the people till oppression itself could 
inflict no more. Their wretchedness scarcely admitted 
of any addition. The personal service required by the 
government had been so increased, as not to allow time for 
cultivating enough to support their families, and even their 
