MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
69 
and surely the missionaries and apostles of hu¬ 
manity who have influence at the capital, might 
find in this work a most congenial and useful 
field for the exercise of their religious and phil¬ 
anthropic zeal. So far as we know, there is no 
mission as yet organised to the prisoners of 
Madagascar; but we venture to think that such 
an effort, carried out by even one zealous and 
single-hearted man, with the spirit of John 
Howard in his breast, would be most useful, 
and would be gladly welcomed by the degraded 
outcasts, who in many cases stand sadly in need 
of true sympathy and tender treatment. In one 
respect the convict system of the island differs 
from any probably which prevails elsewhere, in 
the amount of liberty allowed to the prisoner. 
The Government only provides a sleeping-place 
for the convicts to herd in at nightfall. After 
conviction they are shackled by the public execu¬ 
tioner, as we have described, and assigned to the 
charge of some prison-keeper. They then pro¬ 
ceed to find employment in the ordinary way, 
as they have to provide their own food and 
raiment, and support their own families as 
usual; but each night at sunset they have to 
return to the fixed location or prison to which 
they have been assigned, and report themselves 
to the officer in charge. Some few of the con¬ 
victs, however, who have friends in high places, 
