230 
MADAGASCAR. 
pox first began to reveal its presence there, and 
I found the native authorities, as well as the 
various consuls of the European governments, 
were taking every precaution to protect the 
various families of the white as well as coloured 
people from the scourge. 
The question of vaccination had already been 
forcibly brought before the Hova authorities at 
the capital; and the Queen and prime minister 
had submitted to the operation, in order to en¬ 
courage the Malagasy generally to avail them¬ 
selves of the protection which Dr Jenner’s famous 
discovery affords. The^ native mind was, how¬ 
ever, some time before it grasped the importance 
of what appeared to it a somewhat trivial and 
childish surgical experiment. The only medical 
practitioner that Tamatave possessed had left 
for a holiday in Reunion, and I found myself, 
somewhat to my dismay, installed by the consul 
medical adviser and public vaccinator for the 
town and district. However inefficient I might 
have felt for such a responsibility, I determined 
to put a good face upon the matter, and I set to 
work to prepare my temporary surgery, and to 
obtain the necessary articles for the faithful dis¬ 
charge of my novel duties. The good consul 
supplied the lymph, which had originally reached 
him through the Governor of the Mauritius, and 
which was so precious that two tubes only were 
