142 
CHAPTER VIII. 
IN PERILS BY SEA, 
Little of importance was known about the lan¬ 
guage or habits of the people, or the island of 
Madagascar itself, before 1702 , when a fine East 
Indiaman was wrecked upon the south coast 
near Fort Dauphin, and the ship and valuable 
cargo entirely lost. 
The progress of scientific knowledge in rela¬ 
tion to nautical matters has of late years ren¬ 
dered the navigation of the South-East Indian 
Ocean a comparatively easy task, but formerly 
it was an enterprise full of danger and diffi¬ 
culty. One can only admire the wonderful 
energy and patience of the old navigators, who 
opened out the water-way by the Cape to In¬ 
dia, and who had to thread their path across 
the then unknown ocean, in fear and doubt, 
yet full of hope and high endeavour. Amongst 
such men the names of Lawrence Almeida, 
Vasco de Gama, and others, will ever remain as 
