256 
MADAGASCAR. 
position in tlie south-east. But if they do not mean to 
land a sufficient force to hold all the country round, it 
will he as bad for their native allies there as it has been 
for those in the north-east. They have been worsted 
already by the Hova soldiers, and a strong expedition 
is being prepared to compel their submission to the 
central Government. 
“ The course of events is causing the people here to 
place more reliance on their former weapons than they 
were doing some time ago. Before this reaches you, it 
will be no secret that the Hovas have failed to secure a 
large supply of arms from Europe, through the blunder¬ 
ing of some of those commissioned to do the business. 
This has been a great disappointment, but the Govern¬ 
ment are making the best of the circumstances, and are 
stimulating the warriors to confide in the weapon that 
won for their ancestors the land. In the last G-azety 
Malagasy there is an article on ‘Our Ancestors’ Wea¬ 
pons/ in which the assegai as a weapon of offence is 
highly praised. Reference is made to the battle of 
Isandwhlana—by-the-by, this is the anniversary of that 
dreadful day—in which more than one thousand of our 
own brave English troops, besides numbers of their 
native allies, were done to death by the fatal thrusts of 
the spears of the Zulus. ‘ We see, then/ says the 
article, ‘ that the gun does not equal the spear if it be 
wielded with power. We won’t be discouraged because 
we haven’t breech-loading rifles. We still have the 
weapon of our forefathers. We are fighting for our 
own, and we have right on our side.’ 
“ The authorities, however, are not so foolish as to 
disdain the use of superior weapons when they can get 
them. Their workmen are manufacturing, as fast as 
