522 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
scanty supplies thus obtained were reduced by exactions in 
the form of taxes. 
In the early part of 1837, great scarcity prevailed in 
many parts of the country, and multitudes, it was feared, 
died from want. The sufferings of the people induced no 
relaxation of the oppression and severity of the govern¬ 
ment. Between the departure of Messrs. Johns and Baker 
in July, 1836, and the month of March, 1837, nine hundred 
criminals, charged with various offences, were put to death, 
having been declared guilty by the tangena, fifty-six were 
burnt to death, and sixty killed by spearing and other 
means, making a fearful total of 1016 executions in the 
short space of eight months. That the country under these 
circumstances should prosper, was impossible ; and it is not 
surprising that agriculture was neglected, and that multi¬ 
tudes driven by despair had recourse to violence and plunder; 
universal anarchy and complete desolation was only pre¬ 
vented by the military forces of the government. 
In the year 1836, the queen determined on sending an 
embassy to England and France. It is probable that the 
reverses which the army had met with in the south, the 
favour shewn by the commanders of English vessels towards 
those whom her troops were endeavouring to subjugate, the 
uncertainty of the light in which the English government 
might regard the policy now pursued, and their conviction 
that the withdrawal of the friendship of the latter, and 
their countenance of any rival chieftain, would ensure his 
success in any attempt to wrest the government from her 
hands, led to the adoption of this measure. 
They were also, it is supposed, influenced by a desire to 
obtain the sanction of the British government to the change 
of their policy, which was now so widely different from that 
which had formed the basis of the treaty of the English with 
