114 
MADAGASCAR. 
plunged into the streams and put an end to their 
miseries. If they attempted to return to their 
homes and families, their relatives drove them 
away with stones and weapons. Some in their 
delirium wandered through the woods, unclothed 
and raging, and at length lay down to die. We 
noticed several unburied corpses lying amongst 
the foliage, and more than once went out of our 
way to avoid contact with infected bodies float¬ 
ing down the streams. 
The real want of these people on the east coast 
is medical help, and a regular system of cottage 
hospitals in the chief towns, where medicine and 
advice can be given at a fair charge. There need 
not be any eleemosynary character about this 
work, as the Malagasy are not poor, or unable to 
pay for such real assistance as a medical dispensary 
would allow them. On the contrary, they are, as 
a nation, remarkably free from debasing grinding 
poverty, and there are few amongst them who 
have no shelter or food even in their worst times 
of depression. The time has come, therefore, 
when they should no longer be allowed to draw 
largely upon the alms and offerings of philan¬ 
thropic societies for the purpose of educational 
or hospital work in the island. They now 
know full well the value of both these great, 
and, to them, invaluable blessings; but they 
are not above taking advantage of the lavish 
